Matthew Bonye

Matthew Bonye is a litigation specialist dealing with high value commercial dispute resolution in the Real Estate sector. Matthew has advised on, and acted in, the full range of commercial real estate disputes, including large-scale transactional disputes, restrictive covenant issues and cases in the landlord/tenant sector such as dilapidations, rent reviews, business lease renewals, service charge disputes and forfeiture.  Matthew's expertise spans Court claims, arbitration references and mediation, as well as strategic advice often in the context of a client's prospective transaction.

Alongside the usual categories of traditional real estate disputes, the Real Estate Dispute Resolution group focuses on "big ticket" disputes, and Matthew has in particular acted in very large scale compensation cases, typically following Compulsory Purchase Orders or Lands Tribunal references. In 2003 he acted for Guinness in their landmark Court of Appeal victory over Railtrack, a case relating to a Lands Tribunal claim by Railtrack for over £50,000,000. 

Matthew is a long-standing Solicitor Advocate holding full Higher Rights in the Civil Courts since 1998.

Among other cases, Matthew has acted in the following matters:

• Postel successfully in the ground-breaking Postel v. Boots [1996] 2 EGLR 60 dilapidations case, concerning multi-million pound repair works at Milton Keynes Shopping Centre
• Standard Life on a win in the Court of Appeal in Standard Life v. Unipath Ltd. (CA) (1998) P&CR 473, rent review/lease construction case
• Guinness winning in a Lands Tribunal reference relating to compensation under CPO principles against Railtrack and London Underground, believed to be the Lands Tribunal's largest ever claim (£50+ million), and successfully in the Court of Appeal case that followed, Railtrack Plc. v. Guinness Ltd. (CA) [2003] 1 EGLR 124
• London Borough of Hackney in Hackney v. Side by Side (Kids) Limited [2004] 1 WLR 363, a victory which created case law forging new rights for landowners enforcing High Court land possession claims

• University College London Hospital advising on land-assembly and acting in Lands Tribunal proceedings relating to the development of its new central London hospital site

  
  
• Hemingway in 2005 Matthew acted for this major landlord in successful Court proceedings against Ince & Co, its tenant in City of London offices. This victory led to the termination of the tenant's office leases and freed up the building for development.  The case forged new law on business lease termination issues (Knollys House Ltd v. Sayer [2006] PLSCS 55)
• European Property Investment Company in 2004 Matthew acted successfully in High Court proceedings on behalf of a FTSE 100 Real Estate company in a dispute involving non-completion by a purchaser on a property sale contract valued at more than £120,000,000