Alice Hawker

Property

Alice is ranked as a leading junior in Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500 for property litigation. A recent career highlight was making submissions in the Supreme Court in the case of Jalla v Shell International Trading and Shipping Company arising from a large oil spill on the Nigerian coast, regarding the ‘land user requirement’ in the law of continuing nuisance.

Alice’s practice encompasses all aspects of property litigation. She is regularly instructed on both commercial and residential property matters, including: 

• Development contracts, overage and construction disputes
• Property-related torts: nuisance and trespass
• Easements, restrictive covenants and boundary disputes
• Trusts of land, proprietary estoppel and co-ownership
• Rights to light
• Title issues such as mines, minerals and sporting rights
• Landlord and tenant issues including forfeiture and lease renewals under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954
• Adverse possession
• Property cases raising insolvency issues
• Property-related professional negligence
• Mortgages and charges including issuing involving LPA Receivers
• Land registration and conveyancing
• Property fraud including imposter fraud

Real Property

• Junior counsel for the claimant in the Supreme Court in the matter of Jalla and anor v Shell International Trading and Shipping Company ([2023] UKSC 16) concerning the law of continuing nuisance and raising three issues: (1) whether the continuing presence of oil on the claimant’s land constituted a continuing nuisance such that a fresh cause of action accrued de die in diem; (2) whether a defendant to a nuisance claim must be using land; (3) whether a nuisance can arise from an isolated escape. Led by Jonathan Seitler KC.
• Acting for a residents’ management company representing 43 flats in a prestigious Knightsbridge building, responding to light obstruction notices in a ‘rights to light’ case raising issues of the construction of “dwelling-house” under the Rights of Light Act 1959 and the operation of s.4 of the Prescription Act 1832 when read together with s. 3(4) of the Rights of Light Act 1959.
• Advising a developer on shooting rights (so-called ‘sporting rights’) on a large plot of rural land.
• Acting for the claimants in a three-day trial of a boundary dispute, raising issues of T- marks on plans and adverse possession (Simic and Simic v Gray [2021] 4 WLUK 453).
• Acting for the defendant in a four-day trial regarding breach of repair covenants, breach of contract for sale, breach of the Defective Premises Act 1972 and nuisance.
• Advising on the enforceability of restrictive covenants on freehold properties on an estate comprising over 35 houses and 60 flats.
• Representing the appellant in a matter arising from a boundary dispute in an appeal against the trial judge’s refusal of relief from sanctions. (Lakhani v Mahmud [2017] EWHC 1713 (Ch)).

Development Contracts

• Acting for a developer by advising and drafting written representations in an expert determination regarding whether certain conditions in an SPA were “onerous”.
• Acting for a developer of a luxury residential and commercial development in Knightsbridge in response to a claim for specific performance of a sales contract.
• Advising a developer on the prospects of registering easements at the Land Registry for the purpose of negotiating an option for lease.

Landlord and tenant 

• Acting for the claimant in its application for a declaration that three options in leases, worth a total of £13million, had been validly exercised and an order for specific performance (IAA Vehicle Services Ltd v HBC Ltd [2024] EWHC 1 (Ch)).
• Acting for a landlord to resist attempts to challenge an arbitration award made under the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022.
• Advising a landlord of four residential blocks in respect of a handover under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
• Acting for the successful claimant on an 8-day trial in a service charge claim for c. £2.3million concerning central London property. Led by Nicholas Trompeter KC. (Criterion Buildings Ltd v McKinsey & Co Inc [2021] EWHC 216 (Ch)). 
• Advising a tenant and surety whether a settlement agreement constituted a variation to a lease with an annual rent of over £12million.
• Advising on whether a lease demised the attic, roof and/or airspace above a commercial premises.
• Advising on and drafting proceedings for a tenant of a well-known Belgravia restaurant alleging unlawful re-entry and seeking associated damages, and alternatively seeking relief from forfeiture.
• Advising in connection with pandemic rent claims, including rent cesser and insurance provisions. 
• Acting for both claimants and defendants on claims for terminal dilapidations of commercial premises, raising issues such as the effect of insolvency on guarantees under the lease. 

Property-related insolvency

• Acting for the applicant seeking to re-vest UK-based property worth over £50million to a BVI-incorporated company that had been dissolved and subsequently restored to the Register.
• Acting for the landlord in its claim for possession of a London-based pub and associated litigation to resist an injunction to restrain a winding up petition.
• Acting for Joint Receivers to obtain possession forthwith of two commercial units (on the basis of either s.127 of the Insolvency Act 1986 and/or that licences were shams) and injunctions to prevent the dissipation of assets in insolvency proceedings concerning Maker&Son.
• Acting for two respondent landlord companies to an application by 164 tenant applicants to appoint administrators.
• Representing the respondent to an application for a vesting order of leasehold property pursuant to s. 1017 of the Companies Act 2006. The case raised issues of whether a Notice of Disclaimer was properly constituted, and whether the applicant had standing under s. 1017(1)(a) of the 2006 Act (McWalter v (1) Her Majesty’s Attorney General (as representative of the Crown) (2) Executors of the Estate of Jeffrey Mattey [2018] EWHC 563 (Ch)).

Property-related professional negligence

• Advising on and drafting proceedings against valuers arising from their valuation of a property to raise lending of £2,250,000.
• Acting on a multimillion-pound professional negligence claim in the Chancery Division of the High Court, involving underlying questions of adverse possession and easements. Led by Gary Blaker KC. The case settled during the trial before Nugee J.

Mortgages 

• Advising and representing corporate lenders in high-value mortgage claims involving complex issues of service, capacity, and enforcement as well as the interaction of associated proceedings both in the UK and Hong Kong.
• Representing the respondents to an application to set aside a possession order arising from the applicant’s refusal to vacate under the terms of a Tomlin Order. 
• Representing LPA Receivers in their claim for possession of various properties arising from a settlement agreement. 

Land registration and conveyancing 

• Advising a developer on the prospects of registering easements at the Land Registry for the purpose of negotiating an option for lease.
• Representing the third defendant to a claim for a declaration that the claimant held a leasehold interest in one of 262 flats raising issues of the validity of the transfer, land registration rules and the freeholder’s authority to grant a sub-lease. 
• Advising on a claim for an indemnity from the Chief Land Registrar pursuant to Schedule 8 of the Land Registration Act 2002 arising from omissions and errors in the Register.

Property fraud

• Acting for lenders in respect of claims against the Land Registry for an indemnification pursuant to Schedule 8 of the Land Registration Act 2002, and claims against conveyancing solicitors for both the borrower and the lender for breach of undertaking, breach of trust and professional negligence.
• Acting for a bridging loan provider bringing claims against high-net-worth borrowers for deceit, breach of warranty and breach of contract.

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