Overview
Hugh Rowan joined Tanfield Chambers after successful completion of his pupillage in September 2022. During his pupillage Hugh gained a wide experience of Chambers’ practice areas through his supervisors: Piers Harrison, Daniel Dovar, and Carl Fain.
Hugh accepts instructions in all areas of real property, commercial law, and residential and commercial landlord and tenant law. Hugh has appeared a sole counsel in the High Court, the County Court, and the First Tier Tribunal in multi-track, fast/intermediate track, and small claims track cases.
Hugh is also involved a number of high-profile cases in Chambers, and was recently instructed as a Junior to Andrew Butler KC in a two-and-a-half-week High Court commercial trial, and is due to appear in the Court of Appeal twice this year.
Hugh is Direct Access qualified and happy to accept instructions on a Direct Access basis in suitable circumstances.
A regular contributor to the Practical Law Dispute Resolution Blog and to the Landlord & Tenant Review, Hugh often writes the Case Digest for these publications as well as topical articles and case commentaries. He is also a co-author of the recent authored ‘Building Safety Act 2022; A Guide for Property Lawyers’, and regularly travels to give talks on this topic.
Prior to joining Chambers Hugh undertook his GDL and BPTC (LLM) at City University, during which time he volunteered as a caseworker at the Free Representation Unit where he conducted a number of successful employment cases in the First-Tier Tribunal. Hugh was also a volunteer with Blackfriars Settlement Advice Clinic.
Hugh is also a freelance bagpipe player and an amateur beekeeper.
Residential Landlord and Tenant
Hugh has acted in a wide range of disputes, including possession proceedings, service charge disputes, appointments of a manager, RTM cases, enfranchisement, rent repayment orders, disrepair, breach of covenant, and tenancy deposit claims. Hugh regularly advises how these, and similar matters affect potential land developments.
Hugh recently appeared in a long running First Tier Tribunal appointment of a manager dispute relating to a multi-million-pound development in East London and is currently instructed on a six-figure High Court disrepair claim arising from the illegal conversion of a property into a cannabis farm. Hugh was instructed as junior counsel in the Upper Tribunal Appeal of English Rose Estates Ltd v Menon & Ors. [2022] UKUT 347 (LC), and was similarly instructed in a recent Court of Appeal case involving forfeiture which eventually settled.
Hugh regularly appears in the First-tier Tribunal, in both he Residential Property and Land Registration divisions. His recent published successful cases include:
- Baker v Leamington Court Management Company Limited (BIR/47UC/LAM/2023/0001, 20 August 2024)
- Victoria Road Management (SS17) Limited v Soanes (CAM/00KG/OCE/2023/0017, 14 June 2024)
- Horn v Knighten Street Freehold Company Limited (LON/00BG/LAC/2023/0024, 10 June 2024);
- Foundry Court (Wokingham) Management Limited v McGovern (REF/2022/0629, 31 May 2024)
- Link House – Bow Limited v Var. Leaseholders (LON/00BG/LSC/20230020, 12 December 2023);
- Gill v Hounslow LB (LON/00AT/HNA/2022/0049, 30 October 2023);
- Bluegates Management Company Limited v Thomas (CHI/43UC/LSC/2023/0062, 6 October 2023);
- Markham v Salanson (CHI/21UD/LIS/2023/0005, 4 September 2023); and,
- Barnet LB v Gabay (LON/00AC/LBC/2022/0077, 20 April 2023).
Together with a number of members of Chambers, Hugh has also co-authored ‘Building Safety Act 2022; A Guide for Property Lawyers’, and has given a number of lectures on topics and issues arising out of the 2022 Act.
Commercial property
Hugh is often instructed to advise or appear in County Court and High Court forfeiture proceedings, service charge disputes, lease renewals under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, dilapidations, breach of covenant matters, and commercial property development disputes.
Hugh was recently successful appearing unled in a commercial forfeiture appeal in the case of Maduforo v Adil Property Investment (unreported, 22 July 2024). Hugh successfully overturned the decision of the lower Court that there had been an effective tender of rent such as to disentitle the landlord to forfeit the premises.
Hugh recently succeeded in recovering a seven-figure sum of arrears for a commercial landlord in West London, and has developed a particular speciality in advising on mixed-use developments. Hugh regularly advises and assists in claims concerning terminal dilapidations and 1954 Act disputes
COMMERCIAL DISPUTES
Hugh has been instructed in range of disputes, including breach of contract, construction, rectification, recission, mistake and misrepresentation. Hugh is often asked to provide a discrete opinions in these matters and has also conducted a number of successful County Court trials in these areas.
Hugh is often instructed to act in associated insolvency disputes, obtaining interim orders, advising in relation to the appointment of administrators, and has recently been instructed in a High Court dispute concerning an (alleged) transaction at an undervalue.
Hugh was recently instructed a sole counsel on a misrepresentation claim in the High Court worth more than £150,000. He has also appeared unled in a series of related ex parte commercial freezing injunctions, and in the High Court.
Real property
Hugh regularly advises and appears in disputes involving easements, freehold and leasehold restrictive covenants, boundary disputes, adverse possession claims, and land registration matters. Hugh also advises on disputes relating orders for sale under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996.
Hugh is regularly instructed to appear as sole in both the Land Registration division of the First-tier Tribunal and in the County Court. Hugh has attended a number of on-site mediations concerning boundaries, easements, and party walls.
Marc Glover also recently led Hugh representing the partly successful Appellants in the High Court appeal Centaur v Scott [2023] EWHC 2712 (Ch), a complex case involving proprietary estoppel in a commercial context and countervailing benefits.
Mortgages
Hugh has acted in a range of matters including receivership disputes, consumer protection legislation, and undue influence. He regularly appears in the County Court in possession matters acting for both the mortgagee and mortgagor.
Hugh is comfortable advising in a range of mortgage related matters including the validity of charges, and Consumer Credit Act matters.
Hugh was recently instructed a part of a long running receivership dispute in the High Court, and successfully extended an injunction preventing the Receivers from completing a contract for sale in exceptional circumstances.
Enfranchisement
Having gained detailed experience in this area under the supervision of Piers Harrison, Hugh is comfortable being instructed as a junior or sole counsel in this area and has previously been instructed in proceedings involving the validity of notices and valuation claims.
Hugh is happy to advise on a range of topics in this area from the applicability of the relevant Acts to the assignment of the benefit of notices. Hugh regularly appears in the County Court in particular in disputes under Chapter I and II of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, Part I of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967; and, Part I of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.
Building safety
Together with a number of members of Chambers, Hugh has also co-authored ‘Building Safety Act 2022; A Guide for Property Lawyers’, and has given a number of lectures on topics and issues arising out of the 2022 Act.
Hugh has developed a particular niche in advising on issues arising out of the 2022 Act and is due to appear in the Court of Appeal (acting Pro Bono) in Adriatic Land 5 Limited v The Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point(CA/2024/000196) later this year.
Wills, trusts & probate
Hugh has been instructed to advise on a number of discrete issues in this area including in relation to the powers of executors and administrators. Hugh has repeatedly advised disputes concerning the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975.
Hugh recently appeared in a three-day County Court trial in front of HHJ Johns KC concerning allegations of fraud concerning the deceased’s estate. Hugh successfully represented the executors in defending allegations of misrepresentation, deceit, and unjust enrichment.
Professional negligence
Hugh is happy to accept instructions in any matters of professional negligence related to property or commercial disputes, and often advises on professional negligence in the context of failed property transactions, and enfranchisement.
Procedural matters
Hugh regularly appears in procedural applications involving a range of procedural matters including jurisdiction disputes, summary and default judgments, disclosure applications, relief from sanctions, and service disputes.
Notable cases
- Butt v Butt & Ors (Judgment Pending), A four-day High Court trial concerning a dispute over Company shareholdings, raising questions of proprietary estoppel, constructive trusts, and resulting trusts.
- Maduforo v Adil Property Investment (unreported, 22 July 2024), An appeal concerning the proper construction of a forfeiture clause, and the principles of tender in the context of a commercial lease. Hugh was unled in representing the successful Appellant.
- Hedges v Ironmonger (unreported, 1 May 2024), A three-day County Court trial in front of HHJ Johns KC concerning allegations of fraud concerning the deceased’s estate. Hugh successfully represented the executors in defending allegations of misrepresentation, deceit, and unjust enrichment.
- Kulkarni v Gwent Holdings Limited [2024] EWHC 1357 (Ch D), Hugh was led by Andrew Butler KC in a two-and-a-half-week commercial dispute concerning principles of materiality, remediability, persistence, estoppel by deed, and the role of repudiators breaches outside the common law mechanism.
- Centaur v Scott [2023] EWHC 2712 (Ch), An appeal to the High Court involving proprietary estoppel and rights of way and parking in a commercial context and countervailing benefits. Hugh was led by Marc Glover.
- Gupta v Shah [2023] EWHC 540 (Ch), A two-day High Court summary judgment application on a $14million international commercial fraud claim. Hugh was led by Marc Glover.
- English Rose Estates Ltd v Menon & Ors. [2022] UKUT 347 (LC), An appeal to the Upper Tribunal (lands Chamber) concerning rectification by construction and issues of procedural fairness in the First-tier Tribunal. Hugh was led by Daniel Dovar.
Publications
- Co-author of: Building Safety Act 2022; A Guide for Property Lawyers (2024, The Law Society)
- ‘The dangers of not providing a section 48 address for service’, L & T. Review 2024, 28(1), 30-32
- ‘Entitlement to forfeit and peaceable re-entry’, L. & T. Review 2024, 28(1), 32-34
- ‘RTM companies having breaches of covenant determined in the First-tier Tribunal’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(6), 248-250
- ‘Uncertain start date of term: no binding agreement for a lease’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(5), 215-216
- ‘Once is enough: defining eviction and differentiating harassment under the 1977 and 1997 Acts’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(4), 161-164
- ‘Rent repayment orders: insufficient evidence of reasonable excuse?’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(3), 109-110
- ‘Rent repayment orders: reasonable excuse during whole period of dispute?’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(3), 111-112
- ‘The four-step approach to rent repayment orders’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(1), 25-26
- ‘Failure to licence an HMO: management or control?’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(1), 26-28
- ‘Mad hatters – the dangers of double hatting’, L. & T. Review 2023, 27(1), 28-30
- ‘Rent repayment orders – subletting no excuse’, L. & T. Review 2022, 26(6), 243-244
- ‘Selective licensing – the councillor’s choice’, L. & T. Review 2022, 26(6), 244-245
- ‘Rent repayment orders – companies and control’, L. & T. Review 2022, 26(6), 245-247
- ‘Rent repayment orders – the role of inference in HMOs’ L. & T. Review 2022, 26(6), 247-248
- ‘Substance over form: the importance of evidence in establishing development value’, L. & T. Review 2022, 26(1), 19-20
- ‘Absurd results: a paradigm of the arbitrary and irrational’, L. & T. Review 2022, 26(1), 21-22
- ‘Reasons, Reductions and Respondents: Refining the Scope of Rent Repayment Orders’, L. & T. Review 2022, 26(3), 93-96
- Various Case Summaries
- Regular contributor to the Practical Law Dispute Resolution Blog
Qualifications
- City Law School (2020): Bar Professional Training Course (LLM) (Outstanding with Distinction on LLM)
- City Law School (2019): Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction)
- Oriel College, Oxford University (2018): B.A. (Hons.) Philosophy & Theology
Memberships
- Chancery Bar Association
- Property Bar Association
Awards
- Grand Finalist in the Vis International Arbitration Moot (April 2019)
- Gray’s Inn Wilfred Watson Scholarship (2019)
Related resources
