Enterprise Chambers remains the leading set in the North East for real estate litigation. Bruce Walker primarily focuses on commercial property matters, though has experience in cases involving agricultural and residential property as well. He recently represented the first respondent in Procter v Procter, a partnership dispute heard in the Court of Appeal concerning a family farm in Yorkshire. Ultimately, the court ruled that the respondent in question was entitled to a quarter share in the property notwithstanding her unilateral resignation from the partnership, as the other partners had accepted this resignation and therefore effected a technical dissolution of the same. Fiona Todd’s varied practice sees her handle property disputes on a regular basis. In Cedar Investments Limited v Cain, she acted for a couple in a boundary dispute pertaining to their garden which bordered agricultural land, challenging the hedge and ditch presumption that the boundary lays along the farthest edge of the ditch from the hedge. Stephanie Jarron has considerable experience spanning rights-of-way and boundary disputes as well as landlord and tenant disputes. She acted for the claimant in Speight v Pickersgill, an uncommon case concerning a profit à prendre, namely the right to fish along the banks of the River Tees near Darlington.
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Profile
Position
Bruce specialises in property advice and litigation. He is also very experienced in wills, trusts and probate, as well as partnership disputes, banking, construction, insurance and professional negligence matters.
Property
Bruce has extensive experience in real property litigation and advice. Some key areas in which he regularly advises and litigates are:
- Conveyancing: contracts, transfers, s.2 LP(MP)A 1989, construction, rectification, specific performance, termination for breach, options, pre-emptions, overage clauses
- Land registration: priority of interests, alteration and rectification of the register, applications to the First Tier Tribunal
- Mortgages and charges: legal, equitable, priority, undue influence, mortgagee’s duties, charging orders
- Restrictive covenants: whether binding, enforcement in the courts, removal or modification in the UT Lands Chamber
- Boundaries and adverse possession
- Easements and profits: acquisition by express grant / reservation, implication and prescription, rights of way, rights to park, water rights, rights of support, shooting, interference, injunctions
- Trespass
- Nuisance: tree roots, water, noise etc
- Co-ownership: express, constructive and resulting trusts, equitable accounting, TLATA 1996
- Joint ventures and partnerships
- Proprietary estoppel
- Licences
- Professional liability
- Planning
Landlord and Tenant
Landlord and tenant work is a mainstay in Bruce’s practice. Regular work includes:
- Commercial, agricultural and residential tenancies, licences and service occupiers
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 renewal
- Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 including succession, and Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 farm business tenancies
- Termination and possession: including forfeiture, relief and waiver, surrender, disclaimer, break clauses, merger
- Covenants against assignment or other alienation
- Dilapidations
- Rent review
- Construction and rectification
Wills, Trusts and Probate
Bruce regularly advises and litigates in the fields of wills, trusts, probate and administration. His work includes:
- Probate claims (due execution, testamentary capacity, knowledge and approval, undue influence, forgery, fraud)
- Challenges to inheritance, including ademption, satisfaction, election, deathbed gifts, promises to leave property by will, setting aside lifetime gifts for undue influence or lack of capacity.
- Construction and rectification of wills.
- Administration actions (beneficiary and trustee disputes, removing executors and trustees, restraining powers to appoint new trustees, trustees’ duties and powers, distribution and winding up).
- Construction of trusts and powers, distribution, perpetuity.
- Trusts in the home (express, constructive and resulting trusts, equitable accounting, TLATA 1996).
- Claims under the Inheritance Act 1975.
Commercial
- Partnership
- Banking (mortgages and guarantees)
- Construction
- Insurance
- Professional negligence
- Confidential information injunctions
Career
Called to the Bar 1994 - Gray’s Inn
Memberships
Northern Chancery Bar Association
Chancery Bar Association
Property Bar Association
Education
Prince of Wales Scholar 1993, Gray’s Inn
Prince of Wales Scholar 1992, Gray’s Inn
University of Westminster
Sheffield University
Downing College, Cambridge University
The Manchester Grammar School
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Testimonials
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- 'Joanne Caunt is a first-class clerk.'
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