SERVICE

Real Estate Litigation

Key contact

Morton Fraser Partner Kenneth Carruthers
Kenneth Carruthers
Partner
Ken is a partner in our Litigation division which is one of the largest and most experienced litigation teams in Scotland.
0131 247 1130

We have an experienced team of commercial litigators specialising in real estate and development disputes. Across a wide range of sectors our team acts for investors, developers, commercial property owners and occupiers, house builders and others in advising on, litigating and resolving property disputes.

Benefits we bring to your business

Our Commercial Real Estate Disputes team is believed to be unique in Scotland in that it includes lawyers with expertise across the whole development process from land acquisition, consent procurement, site development (including construction), development occupation to the ultimate disposal of the completed development. We are regularly instructed to resolve title and registration disputes, we seek the removal of title conditions and burdens and handle disputes relating to missives and development agreements.

Our team include highly rated planning lawyers with extensive expertise in obtaining all forms of statutory consent. We regularly run major planning and related inquiries and legal challenges including CPO objections and compensation claims. Once the project is procured and constructed, we frequently deal with the whole cross section of occupational disputes relating to commercial leases and property ownership. We also have extensive experience in both pursuing and defending claims against contractors, surveyors, engineers, architects and other professionals arising out of commercial development projects.

Commercial real estate disputes come in all shapes and sizes. In the last year we have handled

  • A multi-million pound arbitration concerning the disputed valuation of the property portfolio
  • An alleged breach of a complex green energy agreement involving 80 photo voltaic panels on property owned by our clients
  • The successful defence of the leading Scottish case in which a tenant claimed that his lease had been legally frustrated due to the Covid-19 pandemic
  • We have sought rectification of registered titles through application to Lands Tribunal of Scotland and made the subsequent compensation claims to the Keeper
  • We have handled numerous high value compensation claims relating to land compulsorily acquired for major road building schemes in Scotland; and
  • Dealt with several dilapidation claims, both for landlords and for tenants, arising at the end of commercial leases