Kelly Kirby

Expertise Kelly Advises Experience Highlights Career History

Partner

Property & Agricultural Litigation

+44 (0) 7903 478 778
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Accolades

Expertise

Kelly has specialised in property and land disputes since 2002.

She has extensive experience in providing estate management and dispute advice to both commercial landlords and occupiers, including lease renewal, rent recovery, breach of covenant, lease termination (including forfeiture) and dilapidations.  Her clients have included retail giant AS Watson (Superdrug, Savers, The Perfume Store and Hutchinson 3G), national estate agents Your Move, manufacturer Swarco Traffic, investment enterprise company The Peel Group, developers Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon and Strada/Coppa Club in the leisure industry.

Kelly also has a wide-ranging real property dispute practice dealing with matters such as rights of way, trespass, easements, rights by long use (prescriptive right), drainage/flooding and right to light.  She regularly utilises her legal knowledge and practical experience to assist landowners, occupiers and developers in establishing and resolving issues in relation to such matters.  Often involving facilitating and gathering evidence from diverse sources to ensure all rights and obligations are fully understood and evidenced with the aim of avoiding litigation.

Since marrying a fifth generation Yorkshire farmer in 2007, Kelly has built up a niche agricultural litigation practice.  Her ability to understand the unique challenges, motivations and personalities of the farming and landed estate community has made her the go to advisor for many land agents.  In addition to land agents, she is instructed by farmers, tenants, landed estates, developers and lenders in relation to both contentious and estate management issues.

Kelly clients range from PLCs to the local farmer.  She prides herself on being able to interpret, explain and discuss matters at a level appropriate and relevant to each individual client.  Her commercial approach and high rate of success in mediations motivates her to be cost conscious on behalf of her clients but mindful of matters other than costs.  Kelly’s approach is to naturally work as a team with her client and other professional advisors to ensure she understands the bigger picture as well and as the matter before her.

Kelly Advises

  • Commercial landlords and tenants
  • Developers
  • Landowners (including agricultural land)
  • Landed estates
  • Agricultural landlords and tenants
  • Insolvency Practitioners and LPA Receivers

Experience Highlights

  • Bringing a claim for specific performance against 50 investor purchasers in a new city centre apartment block development when value of apartments was significantly affected by economic climate.
  • Bringing a successful claim against a landlord refusing to renew a protected tenancy claiming the development ground.
  • Establishing a prescriptive right of way for the benefit of a rural property from an estate owner with 15 witnesses, by obtaining contrary evidence from 23 sources to discredit all the estate owners’ evidence at trial.
  • Forfeiting lease, defending relief form forfeiture proceedings and subsequently arranging and securing removal of 2 train engines and 17 train carriages.
  • Acting for a landed estate in relation to a fracking claim brought by trustees and local objectors.
  • Acting for developer to resist an adverse possession claim and claim of a right of way across a potential development site, which would have thwarted the development of 242 homes.
  • Acting for landowner in a professional negligence claim against a land agent and surveyor for the alleged non-disclosure of a bridle way.
  • Securing an injunction for national retailer in relation to breach of lease resulting in water ingress to flagship store; subsequently establishing a damages claim in relation to the loss of business as a result of the stores closure on 3 occasions as a result of the breach.
  • Successful claim against developer ensuring a redesign of an office building which would affect light to a neighbouring plot when the building on the plot had been demolished several years previous.
  • Establishing the fraud of a tenant in an Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy succession application, thus defeating the Tribunal application.

Career History

Previous Law firms

  • Endeavour Partnership
  • Weightmans
  • Langleys
  • DWF
  • Gordons
  • Walker Morris
  • DAC Beachcroft

Memberships

  • Property Litigation Association
  • Agricultural Law Association

Education

  • Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (BPP Law School)
  • Bar Vocational Course (Nottingham Law School)
  • LLB (Nottingham Trent University)

Other

  • Articles published in Estates Gazette, Yorkshire Post, York Press
  • Delivery of training for RICS

Expertise

Back to top

Kelly has specialised in property and land disputes since 2002.

She has extensive experience in providing estate management and dispute advice to both commercial landlords and occupiers, including lease renewal, rent recovery, breach of covenant, lease termination (including forfeiture) and dilapidations.  Her clients have included retail giant AS Watson (Superdrug, Savers, The Perfume Store and Hutchinson 3G), national estate agents Your Move, manufacturer Swarco Traffic, investment enterprise company The Peel Group, developers Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon and Strada/Coppa Club in the leisure industry.

Kelly also has a wide-ranging real property dispute practice dealing with matters such as rights of way, trespass, easements, rights by long use (prescriptive right), drainage/flooding and right to light.  She regularly utilises her legal knowledge and practical experience to assist landowners, occupiers and developers in establishing and resolving issues in relation to such matters.  Often involving facilitating and gathering evidence from diverse sources to ensure all rights and obligations are fully understood and evidenced with the aim of avoiding litigation.

Since marrying a fifth generation Yorkshire farmer in 2007, Kelly has built up a niche agricultural litigation practice.  Her ability to understand the unique challenges, motivations and personalities of the farming and landed estate community has made her the go to advisor for many land agents.  In addition to land agents, she is instructed by farmers, tenants, landed estates, developers and lenders in relation to both contentious and estate management issues.

Kelly clients range from PLCs to the local farmer.  She prides herself on being able to interpret, explain and discuss matters at a level appropriate and relevant to each individual client.  Her commercial approach and high rate of success in mediations motivates her to be cost conscious on behalf of her clients but mindful of matters other than costs.  Kelly’s approach is to naturally work as a team with her client and other professional advisors to ensure she understands the bigger picture as well and as the matter before her.

Kelly Advises

Back to top
  • Commercial landlords and tenants
  • Developers
  • Landowners (including agricultural land)
  • Landed estates
  • Agricultural landlords and tenants
  • Insolvency Practitioners and LPA Receivers

Experience Highlights

Back to top
  • Bringing a claim for specific performance against 50 investor purchasers in a new city centre apartment block development when value of apartments was significantly affected by economic climate.
  • Bringing a successful claim against a landlord refusing to renew a protected tenancy claiming the development ground.
  • Establishing a prescriptive right of way for the benefit of a rural property from an estate owner with 15 witnesses, by obtaining contrary evidence from 23 sources to discredit all the estate owners’ evidence at trial.
  • Forfeiting lease, defending relief form forfeiture proceedings and subsequently arranging and securing removal of 2 train engines and 17 train carriages.
  • Acting for a landed estate in relation to a fracking claim brought by trustees and local objectors.
  • Acting for developer to resist an adverse possession claim and claim of a right of way across a potential development site, which would have thwarted the development of 242 homes.
  • Acting for landowner in a professional negligence claim against a land agent and surveyor for the alleged non-disclosure of a bridle way.
  • Securing an injunction for national retailer in relation to breach of lease resulting in water ingress to flagship store; subsequently establishing a damages claim in relation to the loss of business as a result of the stores closure on 3 occasions as a result of the breach.
  • Successful claim against developer ensuring a redesign of an office building which would affect light to a neighbouring plot when the building on the plot had been demolished several years previous.
  • Establishing the fraud of a tenant in an Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy succession application, thus defeating the Tribunal application.

Career History

Back to top

Previous Law firms

  • Endeavour Partnership
  • Weightmans
  • Langleys
  • DWF
  • Gordons
  • Walker Morris
  • DAC Beachcroft

Memberships

  • Property Litigation Association
  • Agricultural Law Association

Education

  • Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (BPP Law School)
  • Bar Vocational Course (Nottingham Law School)
  • LLB (Nottingham Trent University)

Other

  • Articles published in Estates Gazette, Yorkshire Post, York Press
  • Delivery of training for RICS