Rawdon Crozier

Property Law

Rawdon appears for and advises both landlords and tenants in cases involving residential, business and agricultural/farm business tenancies and has been involved in some of the leading cases on leasehold holiday homes and service charges.

Specific areas of expertise include -

• Leasehold holiday homes

• Service Charges

• Construction of Leases

• Leasehold enfranchisement and/lease extensions

• Claims for breach of covenant and derogation from grant

• Claims for Possession

• Catering concessions - Lease/Licence

• Estoppels giving rise to security of tenure

Land Law

Rawdon acts in a wide variety of property-related cases and represents clients in the Courts, Lands Tribunal, in Land Registry adjudications and also on mediations. His familiarity with other specialist areas of law, such as professional negligence and trusts of land and experience of ancillary relief, are of particular use in a field in which overlaps with those disciplines are common. . In 2018 Rawdon co-authored four modules for the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme Update Training, including that on leasehold conveyancing.

Specific areas of expertise include -

• Interpretation of Contracts affecting land and leases 

• Sale of land

• Boundaries, easements and rights of way

• Claims for Possession

• Restrictive Covenants

• Adverse Possession

• Torts affecting land

• Proprietary estoppel

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Rawdon's practice encompasses cases involving:

• Trusts of Land, including:

· Disputes between former cohabitees about beneficial ownership under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996

· Trusts arising under sell and rent back arrangements

· Joint venture constructive trusts

• Rawdon has been involved in TOLATA cases in both the Family and Chancery jurisdictions and appeared in Mortgage Express v Butcher & Martin [2012] EWCA Civ 18, which was consolidated with North East Property Buyers Litigation, Re [2012] EWCA Civ17 in the Court of Appeal

• Contentious and non-contentious probate

• Providing advice to executors, trustees and beneficiaries on estate matters and the execution of trusts generally

• Applications under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975

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Rawdon's experience encompasses a wide range of contractual disputes, which extend from straightforward cases such as debt actions and claims relating to the supply of goods or services to complex commercial litigation, examples of which have been a quantum meruit claim for electrical mechanical design work against a major car dealership and a substantial claim by a taxi firm arising out of the supply of defective telecommunications equipment. In the wake of a previous recession, Rawdon was involved in multiple claims by an insurance company seeking to recover advances of commission from tied agents. Rawdon has been involved in a number of bankruptcy matters.

Specific Areas of Expertise include -

• Sale of Goods and supply of services

• Commercial contracts

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Rawdon's experience encompasses not only a wide range of contractual disputes, which extend from straightforward cases such as debt actions and claims relating to the supply of goods or services to complex commercial litigation, but also advising on the construction of contracts before disputes have formally arisen. Examples include a quantum merit claim for electrical mechanical design work against a major car dealership,  and a substantial claim by a taxi firm arising out of the supply of defective telecommunications equipment, advising on the interpretation of overage and options and, recently, advising on the status of multiple Mobile Home Act Agreements as security under separate eight-figure loan agreements. In the last year (2023/4) a long-running international (but English Law) software licensing dispute in which Rawdon had been involved from its inception was settled at a mediation in which Rawdon represented the English and American licensors. In the wake of a previous recession, Rawdon was involved in multiple claims by an insurance company seeking to recover advances of commission from tied agents.  Rawdon appeared in the Court of Appeal and in the Supreme Court in Arnold v Britton [2015] UKSC 36, which remains one of the most significant and frequently cited cases on the interpretation of contracts and leases of the current Century.

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Rawdon Crozier has experience in all areas of Family law but now focuses on TOLATA & Care Proceedings. In Care Proceedings, Rawdon has represented parents, guardians and local authorities throughout the courts in the South West. His work load involves Fact-Finding hearings, concerning allegations of domestic violence, sexual abuse and non-accidental injury.

Rawdon was involved in two of the leading cases on the placement of children outside jurisdiction for the purposes of assessment in the context of care proceedings - Plymouth City Council v R (unreported) 13 June 2006, Coleridge J and G (A Child) (Adoption: Placement outside Jurisdiction), Re [2008] EWCA Civ 105; [2008] Fam. 97. He was also involved in one of the earliest, successful post Z v United Kingdom claims against a local authority for negligence in failing to institute care proceedings. More recently Rawdon appeared for one of the two successful appellants in the Court of Appeal in S (A Child: Findings of Fact), Re [2023]EWCA Civ 346 and before Judd J in Cornwall Council v M [2023] EWFC 188, whichis one of the only cases to give any guidance on re-interviewing children for ABE purposes after an initial ABE Interview has been conducted in breach of the ABE Guidelines. 

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