Conditional Contracts In The Spotlight

After Prince Charles expressed his dislike of the proposed designs for the Chelsea Barracks site, the public was treated to a court case with everything – royals from two nations, a peer with a penchant for modern architecture, rags-to-riches property developers and a battle over millions of pounds.

Strip all of that away, and the court challenge came down to something relatively common in property deals – the conditional contract agreed when the state-backed Qatari Diar and the Candy Brothers shook hands on the deal.

Legal property expert Elaine Dobson, of Bircham Dyson Bell, said: "The case may have had much in the way of hype and glitter due to the parties involved, but the root of it is really just a large scale version of a very ordinary, if sometimes complicated, legal agreement."