Many residential blocks in London are plagued by management issues. The common ones are service charges, alterations, and sub-letting. Lessees are usually concerned about service charges, whereas landlords are concerned about the other issues. In many cases neither the landlord nor the tenant wants to incur legal fees, so they do their best to try to resolve difficulties themselves. They may even resort to litigation and represent themselves. Sometimes this leads to resolution, but it can make the problem even more difficult to resolve. If a lease allows legal costs to be claimed through the service charge it makes it easier for landlords to decide that they should be represented, although it will not necessarily help if a landlord is asked to fund costs in advance. If a lease does not allow costs to be claimed through the service charge, then funding is a problem that a landlord may only be able to resolve by obtaining voluntary contributions.

Dewar Hogan specialises exclusively in advice and representation in relation to residential and commercial property issues. They include the full range of residential landlord and tenant matters, right to manage, lease extensions, and freehold acquisitions. Many cases involve landlords’ claims for forfeiture and lessees’ claims for relief from forfeiture. The firm also advises about related funding issues.

The firm offers a variety of fee arrangements from fixed fees to contingency fees. In some cases it may be possible to arrange funding for court fees and other disbursements, and after the event insurance. The firm is prepared to hold preliminary discussions on an informal basis in relation to cases which involve serious allegations and/or consequences.