Cecily practises all aspects of property law, including both residential and commercial landlord and tenant law and real property. She likes difficult legal problems.
Cecily has expertise in the Building Safety Act 2022. She has advised on the duty to undertake the type of remediation works caught by Part 5 of the Act, on the application of the service charge limits in Schedule 8, and the application of the associated provisions for recovery between landlords, and on the leaseholder and landlord certificate process including in cases with chains of leases, and in relation to Islamic finance mortgages. She was junior counsel for the Respondents, led by Jonathan Selby KC of Keating Chambers, in Triathlon v SVDP & Othrs [2024] UKFTT (PC), fully fought applications for remediation contribution orders under the Building Safety Act 2022, heard in the FTT by the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) President and Deputy President. Permission to appeal the decision has been granted.
Cecily has extensive experience in: Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 lease renewals including difficult opposed lease renewals; in complicated forfeiture claims; in property cases with issues as to trust or company ownership; in Party Wall etc Act 1996 work, on which she often gives seminars for the Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors and for the Pyramus and Thisbe Club; and, with Stephen Jourdan KC, on property issues arising out of the sanctioning of individuals (for example under the Russian sanctions regime).
Cecily has a particular interest in mortgage law, in particular the more difficult mortgage possessions. With her colleague, Stephanie Tozer KC, she authored a new book, Mortgage Receivership: Law and Practice (Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing, October 2018). The second edition, with Stephanie Tozer KC and Tricia Hemans, published by Wildys in May 2024, considers the application of new legislation such as the Building Safety Act 2022 to receivers, and the effect of sanctioning of the borrower.
Cecily is also the co-editor, with Michael Ranson, of Falcon Chambers’ book Charging Orders on Land: Law, Practice and Precedents, 2nd edition (Wildy, Simmonds and Hill Publishing, January 2024). She recently successfully led Taylor Briggs, pro bono, for the Fourth Defendant, in Barnard v Brandon & Othrs [2023] EWHC 3043 (Ch) which involved mortgagee sale to self and sale at less than the best price reasonably obtainable.
In April 2024, Cecily was shortlisted for the Junior Pro Bono Barrister of the Year at the 2024 Bar Pro Bono Awards. She was shortlisted for the John Collins Pro Bono Excellence Award at the 2022 Bar Pro Bono Awards.
Current and recent work includes:
Building Safety Act 2022
- Remediation orders and remediation contribution orders from case management hearing to trial. She was junior counsel for the Respondents, led by Jonathan Selby KC of Keating Chambers, in Triathlon v SVDP & Othrs [2024] UKFTT (PC)
- Landlord and leaseholder certificates including in unusual lease structures
- The source of duties to do remediation work
- Limits of service charges under Schedule 8 and the rights of recovery of service charges between landlords
Mortgage work
- Complicated mortgage claims including those raising regulatory issues under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and unfair relationships under the Consumer Credit Act 1974
- Mortgage subrogation
- Consolidation and tacking
- Mortgage receivers’ possession claims, and cases on breaches of receiver’s duties
- Cases on how to structure mortgage documentation
Real property
- Restrictive covenants including applications for discharge or modification under s84 of the Law of Property Act 1925
- Overage and other development issues
- Easements and boundaries
- Party Wall etc Act 1996 including issues on s10 jurisdiction, and limitation
- Land registration, including rights post completion and pre registration
- Rent charges and variation of estate management schemes
- Vendor purchaser summons and effect of Russian sanctions regime on buying property
Trusts of land
- TOLATA claims in difficult family circumstances
- Trusts in the context of bankruptcy
Commercial leasehold
- Unlawful forfeiture and relief from forfeiture in valuable commercial property
- Opposed and unopposed lease renewals under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
- Rent review
- Effect of Russian sanctions regime on leasehold obligations and rights
Residential leasehold
- Right to manage including the extent of the right once acquired as against landlord’s retained rights
- Licence for alterations in high value residential property
- Enfranchisement with issues about split freehold ownership
- Service charges in high value residential property
"Cecily is a very sympathetic adviser and a subtle, deceptively tenacious, advocate."
"A supremely intelligent advocate."
"She is very attentive, technically excellent and very easy to work with."
"She is able to quickly digest a lot of information and provide the most straightforward advice."Chambers and Partners UK Bar Guide 2024 (Real Estate Litigation)
‘Cecily has an incredible grasp of the detail. She is very detail orientated and she knows the black letter law inside out. Cecily is great on her feet and you always feel you are in good hands.’Legal 500 2024
"Cecily is excellent - a quietly tenacious advocate who seeks carefully and effectively to persuade the judge."Chambers and Partners UK Guide 2023
"Cecily Crampin is extremely technical. She's intellectually very bright, and a delightful advocate for clients."Chambers and Partners UK Guide 2023
"Cecily combines her strong drafting skills with strategic thinking, focusing on the end game from the start and charting a course to get there."Legal 500 2023
Cecily Crampin is widely acknowledged as an exceptionally promising property junior with a sophisticated practice. Her caseload includes landlord and tenant, mortgage and real property work. "Cecily is a solid advocate in both the tribunal and court." "My go-to for mortgage work; she is extremely thorough and bright." Recent work: Acted in a party wall appeal related to whether the join of a basement slab wall on one side of a boundary was a party wall under the Party Wall Act 1996.Chambers UK Guide 2022 (Real Estate Litigation)
‘ Cecily is a go-to barrister. She is a very tenacious advocate with a firm and nuanced grasp of the detail and the technicalities of the law, but a very human touch in dealing with clients. ’Legal 500 2022
Widely acknowledged as an exceptionally promising property junior with a sophisticated practice. Her caseload includes landlord and tenant, mortgage and real property work. She is also experienced in possession disputes. Strengths: "She has a brain the size of a planet." "Cecily is very easy to deal with, she is very calm and collected but ferocious and fiery before a judge." "Very diligent, approachable and clear in her advice."Chambers and Partners UK Guide 2021 (Real Estate Litigation)
'Cecily is very clever, well organised and always well prepared. She is approachable, a team player and easy to work with. We have had a number of notable successes for one particular client who is very impressed with her.’Legal 500 2021
Widely acknowledged as an exceptionally promising property junior with a sophisticated practice. Her caseload includes landlord and tenant, mortgage and real property work. She is also experienced in party wall work. Strengths: "Incredibly bright, capable of digging into the detail and a very good advocate." "Effective in cross-examination – very calm and impressive." "She does forensic, detailed analysis on the more complex work." Recent work: Continued to act for the Crown Estate Commissioners in a Court of Appeal matter concerning the extent of the no-Act assumption for lease extensions.Chambers and Partners UK Guide 2020 (Real Estate Litigation)
"Excellent on party walls and other neighbourly matters."Legal 500 2020
"Widely acknowledged as an exceptionally promising property junior, with a sophisticated practice. Her caseload includes landlord and tenant, mortgage and real property work. She is also experienced in party wall work. Strengths: 'A very clever and commercial team player.' 'A real authority on the Party Wall Act.' Recent work: Acted for the Crown Estate Commissioners in an application under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, concerning the share of premium payable on a lease extension to the freeholder and the head leaseholder." Chambers UK Guide 2019 (Real Estate Litigation)More published comments