Profile

Ben is a partner in the real estate litigation team and leads the team’s fire safety practice. He represents a range of clients including landlords, tenants and developers.

He works closely with institutional landlords and social housing providers in relation to policy level guidance on fire safety strategy across their portfolios, and provides ongoing advice in relation to the Government’s Non-ACM Building Safety Fund. Ben is currently acting on multiple cladding remedial programmes, many in excess of £10 million. In addition, Ben provides holistic landlord and tenant advice regarding the effective management of their portfolios, including on development disputes, breaches of covenant, forfeiture and the recovery of arrears.

His expertise also extends to providing comprehensive advice on complex residential property issues including rent and service charge disputes (most recently the Court of Appeal case of Aviva v Williams), enfranchisement claims, party wall disputes, boundary disputes and adverse possession claims. He also specialises in property-related professional negligence claims and vacant possession strategies for large-scale development sites.

Ben has spoken at a number of events such as the National Housing Federation’s annual ‘Leaseholder and Tenant Service Charges’ conference and the Asset Management Conference (Housing Quality Network), where he led peer-to-peer discussions on service charges and fire safety works, discussing apportioning and charging for fire safety improvements. He contributes articles on the issue and has featured on a fire safety podcast for the leading real estate publication, Estates Gazette. In addition, he leads seminars and bespoke training sessions for clients and other property professionals.

Ben has been recognised by The Legal 500 as someone who can be ‘relied upon to spot all the angles and be on top of the matter’ and as ‘strong on the residential side’.