Mary is a Legal Director in the Property Dispute Resolution Team. Her expertise includes all aspects of residential Landlord and Tenant disputes, including Leasehold/ Housing Management. She provides advice to a variety of Public Bodies, Charitable organisations, Registered Providers of Social Housing and individuals. Mary regularly advises on upon residential leasehold disputes, ranging from breach of lease covenants, service charge disputes, and forfeiture.

Mary frequently advises upon matters within the jurisdiction of the First Tier Tribunal (“the FTT”), in particular challenges to the reasonableness of service charge demands and breaches of the consultation regulations, applications to vary defective leases and contested lease extension claims. Her housing management expertise includes commencing possession proceedings against assured, secure and rent act tenants, advising in respect of tenancy deposit issues, nuisance claims and succession rights. She also advises on a broad range of land issues, covering trespass, adverse possession, squatters and boundary disputes, often for ecclesiastical and Registered Provider clients.

Recent Experience

• Representing a Landlord in proceedings before the FTT brought by a tenant challenging service charge demands on the basis the works did not fall within the definition of repair in the lease
• Advising a Registered Provider as to whether a leaseholder was in breach of lease by renting their property via AirBNB
• Acting on behalf of a School in contested possession proceedings which concerned whether an employee held a secure tenancy or was a service occupier.
• Following a merger of Registered Providers, advising upon the implications under the service charge consultation requirements of changing the service providers for leaseholders and tenants across their stock
• Acting on behalf of an ecclesiastical client in possession proceedings in conjunction with our commercial litigation team where the tenant brought a separate action in defamation and securing settlement
• Advising upon a decanting strategy for an Estate to allow essential repair works to be undertaken