Martin Thomas

Martin Advises

• Real Estate Investors
• Investment Funds/Fund Managers
• Developers
• Property Companies
• Landlords
• Tenants
• Housing Associations
• Government/local government
• Telecoms companies
• Mineral and Construction companies
• Waste Companies

Experience Highlights

• Cornerstone v Compton Beauchamp; Cornerstone v Ashloch [2022]: clarified key points on Telecoms Code interpretation
• TfL v City of London and Southwark BC [2018]: addressed highway ownership in central London and interpreted relevant GLA statutes

• On Tower v A P Wireless (C App January 2026) on the meaning of “party to the agreement” under the Telecoms Code ( also acted in the FTT, and appeal by APW to Upper Tribunal);
• Five ground-breaking Telecoms Code Paragraph 33 cases in the Lands Tribunal during 2023;
• Managed trial of 14 renewal cases in 2024 in Lands Tribunal; 17 similar cases progressing together towards a 2026 Central London County Court trial
• Telecoms Code applications (including advocacy) for new rights, interim rights, and for surveys

• 1954 Act renewals
• Lease/licence distinction (FTT and Upper Tribunal)
• £30 Million breach of covenant claim relating to a future development site
• Advising a government department in the strategic review of their property portfolio of @400-500 leases
• Rights to light:
  • defending a rights to light claim, including arguments over the correct methods for assessing impact and damages in the West End;
  • acting for the claimant in relation to a major redevelopment in the City
• Redevelopment: devising and implementing vacant possession strategy for listed west-end offices, including opposed 1954 Act renewals, telecoms and wayleave issues
• Dilapidations disputes
• £45 million dispute over completion accounts following a portfolio acquisition
• Landlord and tenant: breach, service charges, possession and forfeiture claims
• Residential: service charge; enfranchisement and dilapidations claims

• Service charge dispute on the recoverability of BSA-related costs
• Advice on liability for repairs and portfolio review/risk strategy
• Section 20 Tenant consultations on the cost of works
• Advice on cost recovery from former owners/developers and from the GLA fund

• £20 Million negligence claim re construction defects in a Manchester residential development
• £11 Million negligence claim for a Housing Association against solicitors for incorrect drafting of long residential leases, and resolving the highly complex title issues which had been caused
• Acting for a landowner in a £4 million claim for negligence relating to expert valuation

• Advocate in a successful S.84 application to discharge covenants relating to a development in Mayfair
• Section 84 applications to remove/vary restrictive covenants affecting developments variously in Hammersmith, Cheshire, and Birmingham

• Defending a challenge to a business rates mitigation scheme
• Advice on business rates relief during COVID-19
• Precedent-setting business rates valuation case relating to EFW sites
• Business rates valuation appeal

Career History

Previous Law Firms

• Partner, gunnercooke (2026 – Present)
• Partner, Gateley Legal, (2024 – 2025)
• Partner and Head of Real Estate Litigation, Wragge & Co, now Gowling WLG (2012 – 2024)
• Partner and Senior Partner (head of) Commercial and Property Litigation, Dundas & Wilson (2007 – 2012)
• Partner and Head of Property Litigation, Herbert Smith (1987 – 2007)

• Property Litigation Association

• 2005 CEDR Mediator
• 2002 Solicitor Advocate
• 1989 Solicitor

• Worcester College, Oxford.