St John’s Chambers remains the ‘go-to set in Bristol’ for property litigation and is recognised as being ’able to compete with most London sets’ in this field. Brittany Pearce’s varied experience spans boundary disputes and adverse possession claims as well as claims concerning restrictive covenants and easements.
Charles Auld recently acted for the respondent in McDonagh v Reeve, a High Court case concerning an application to demolish an existing house in Sandbanks and to build a larger replacement house on the land, which was subject to a restrictive covenant that ‘no additional buildings whatsoever shall be erected’ on it. Ultimately, the judge held that no ’additional’ buildings would be constructed and therefore the building project was not prevented by the restrictive covenant. Joss Knight has notable experience when it comes to disputed easement claims; he recently represented the respondent in Privett v Runic Holdings Ltd, in which the claimant sought to establish a right of way over land based on missing historic conveyances, while the respondent maintained that the right has never been exercised and in any case had been abandoned.