Lucy S Thomas

Lucy joined Kingsley Napley as a Senior Associate Solicitor in November 2010 having previously worked for a large City firm and a major West End practice.  

She has over 20 years extensive experience of advising on a wide range of property litigation matters in both the commercial and residential sectors.  

Lucy’s clients have included landlords, tenants, investors, landowners, leisure operators, retailers and private individuals.  She also works closely with surveyors and property managers.  

Lucy has first hand knowledge of all types of proceedings including the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, County Court, High Court and Court of Appeal and has had a number of reported cases. 

Lucy seeks to discuss and define the client’s strategic objectives at an early stage and combines technical expertise with practical and commercial advice to achieve these aims.  In addition to litigation, this may involve mediation or negotiation, where appropriate, to encourage the early and economic resolution of any dispute.

Areas of expertise

• Possession actions
• Forfeiture claims
• Applications seeking relief from forfeiture
• Rent and service charge disputes
• Enforcement of covenants in leases and over land
• Dilapidations and disrepair
• Rent reviews
• Contested applications for consent to assign / underlet / carry out alterations
• Break clauses and determination of leases and licences
• Business lease renewals
• Applications for injunctions and specific performance
• Original tenant and guarantor liability
• Property-related insolvency issues
• Property management disputes
• Removal of trespassers and squatters
• Adverse Possession claims
• Boundary disputes
• Party Wall disputes
• Rights of Light issues
• Lease extensions, freehold purchases, collective enfranchisement of the freehold and tenants’ rights of first refusal

Lucy also has experience of acting in relation to property and business sales involving licensed premises.

Recent experience

• Acting for two large national restaurant chains in relation to numerous issues arising in relation to their restaurants.  These included dealing with contested lease renewals, licences to assign and underlet, dilapidations, the interpretation of covenants in their various leases and a variety of management issues
• Acting for a household name retailer in connection with the management of their national chain of shops including lease renewals, licences, repairs and general management issues
• Acting for a large retail chain in a contested rent review of a prime site in a large shopping centre in relation to the hypothetical assumptions and comparables to be considered by the arbitrator on review
• Acting for a university in connection with a break clause to be operated to determine the occupancy of a retailer occupying part of their campus premises
• Acting for an investor in relation to a valuable West End property let to a Rent Act tenant and taking action to trial to remove the tenant due to breaches of the terms of the tenancy
• Acting for the residents and freeholders of an exclusive block of flats in Kensington in a dispute with their former managing agents
  Acting for the liquidator in connection with the sale of the freehold of a large block of flats and the rights of first refusal to be offered to the tenants
• Acting for a landowner to obtain a possession order and injunction to recover possession from a large number of squatters of over 100 flats in a group of three blocks of flats occupied also partially by lawful tenants

Professional societies and associations 

• The Law Society
• Property Litigation Association (PLA)
• Women In Property (WiP)
• Association of Women Solicitors
• RICS Dilapidations Forum
• RICS Telecoms Forum