Niamh McKay

Niamh is a Senior Associate in our Dispute Resolution team and has been with us since qualification in 2016. She advises on a wide range of contentious matters with a strong focus on property litigation—both residential and commercial—as well as commercial disputes and contentious probate.

Niamh acts for landlords, tenants, managing agents, freeholders, leaseholders, and business owners on a variety of complex property related issues. Her experience includes:

• advising on and litigating over Landlord and Tenant issues such as breach of covenant claims, service charge disputes, dilapidations claims, possession and forfeiture proceedings.
• Advising on and litigating on general property matters e.g. boundary disputes, adverse possession claims, right of way disputes.
• Advising on lease renewals under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.
• Advising on enfranchisement under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967.
• Advising on collective enfranchisement, lease extensions, and right to manage applications under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.

In addition to property work, Niamh also advises on and implements effective debt recovery strategies, including the initiation of insolvency proceedings and enforcement actions. She also provides strategic support on contentious probate disputes.

Experience

Some of Niamh’s career highlights to date include:

• Winning an appeal in the High Court in a complex and highly publicised fly-tipping/trespass claim.

• Representing flat owners of a large apartment complex in Mayfair in a Judicial Review claim which was seen through to the Court of Appeal.

• Agreeing settlement via mediation acting for the beneficiaries of a will in a Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 claim where the estate was worth more than £4million.

• Obtaining possession for a residential landlord in a complex possession claim which lasted over 4 years, required multiple hearings including an appeal hearing and involved allegations of that a decision handed down by the court had been procured by fraud.

• Agreeing settlement via mediation acting for the applicant in an application under the Forfeiture Act 1982 where the value of the estate was in the region of £3million. Given the highly sensitive nature of the case, the settlement ultimately had to be approved by the High Court.

• Advising a charity seeking to recover a £1million investment which is suspected to have been procured by fraudulent means.

• Advising HNWI in respect of recovering £2million debt and obtaining vacant possession of high value London property.

• Agreeing settlement of a contentious probate claim acting for the claimant who claimed that the defendant applied undue influence on the deceased prior to her death which resulted in the transfer of shares in a company (worth in the region of £2million) from the deceased to the defendant.

Career to date

Niamh joined LBMW from Sibley Law where she trained. She is a member of the Property Litigation Association.