Gemma is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution and Property Litigation teams.
She deals with property disputes arising between commercial landlords and tenants, with a focus on opposed and unopposed lease renewals, lease breaks, service charge disputes, rent recovery, forfeiture and dilapidations. Gemma is experienced in the prosecution and defence of court and tribunal proceedings and in alternative dispute resolution processes, including the specialist business lease renewals Professional Arbitration on Court Terms (PACT) scheme.
In addition, Gemma advises on residential lease termination and possession proceedings and a range of other property matters involving squatters and trespassers, claims of adverse possession and boundary disputes, contractual disputes, professional negligence and debt recovery strategies, including the instigation of corporate and personal insolvency proceedings.
Clients include Moss Bros, DW Sports, Oxfam and various property developers and business park owners including Frasers Property UK. She also acts for SMEs and private individuals.
Recent examples of how Gemma has supported clients include:
- securing the right to a strip of land through adverse possession on behalf of an individual whose claim was challenged by the Crown following the collapse into insolvency of the land’s registered corporate proprietor;
- successfully defending a well-known chain of gyms against a claim brought by a cleaning services company for payments due on contract termination by establishing the payment terms had not been validly incorporated into the contract agreement;
- settling unopposed 1954 Act lease renewal proceedings for a commercial tenant by persuading a previously uncooperative landlord that a negotiated compromise would be preferable to a trial; and
- negotiating and documenting the compromise of an end of term dilapidations claim on behalf of a commercial landlord where the exiting tenant heavily contested various sums claimed.