While many TOLATA disputes arise from residential co-ownership, the same legal principles apply equally to commercial, agricultural and industrial land.
Our TOLATA specialists have extensive experience advising clients on complex ownership and trust issues across all sectors of landholding – not just homes.
Beyond residential property
Disputes involving land used for business or investment purposes often present additional layers of complexity.
- Commercial property: disputes between business partners or investors over the ownership, sale, or proceeds of jointly held premises.
- Agricultural land: co-ownership issues between family members, farming partners, or investors, often involving long-term occupation, improvements, or intergenerational arrangements.
- Industrial sites and development land: disagreements about contributions to purchase costs, redevelopment, or profit sharing, and the extent of beneficial interests, as well as valuation complications due to potential contamination or ‘hope value’.
- SIPP property: disagreements between SIPP beneficiaries or providers over whether to sell pension property, and the interpretation of the pension fund’s trust documentation.
In each of these cases, the same statutory framework under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA) applies.
We advise both individuals and businesses in:
- establishing or defending beneficial ownership claims
- applications for orders for sale or partition of land
- disputes about contributions, improvements or occupation
- negotiating exits from co-ownership or joint venture arrangements.
How Birketts can help
Whether the property in question is a family home, a farm, or an industrial site, our approach remains the same: to provide clear, strategic advice and achieve the best possible outcome – whether through negotiation, mediation or court proceedings.
We work closely with our agriculture, commercial property, and SIPP teams to deliver joined-up, sector-specific advice.
Our experience
- Representing one of three siblings in a dispute over commercial premises after a co-owner’s death, where the estate sought an open market sale. We guided the client through complex valuation issues, including contamination and redevelopment potential, to secure a successful buy-out at mediation. This enabled the client to retain ownership and continue operating their business from the premises.
- Representing a mother and two daughters in a dispute involving a large commercial and residential property portfolio across Cambridgeshire. We achieved a practical result at mediation and later guided the clients through the implementation of that settlement, including assisting with various issues pertaining to the sales arising out of a difficult housing market and statutory changes.
- Representing a client in relation to a residential property and farm. The dispute concerned beneficial interests: inheritance, ownership of the crops of the farm, rights of way, and commercial equipment stored at the property. We obtained an order for sale, a declaration that our client owned 50% of the beneficial interest, and indemnity costs.
