Rachel is an experienced advocate and is regularly instructed in a variety of property disputes, commercial, landlord and tenant, land registration, adverse possession, forfeiture, service charges, leasehold extension, Rule 13 Costs, right to manage applications, breach of leases (leasehold), dilapidations, right to light, business tenancy renewals, boundary disputes, tree preservation orders, enforcement of easements and covenants relating to land, trespass, unlawful eviction, injunctions, section 21 and section 8 notices, tenancy deposits, rent repayment orders, Housing Act 2004 appeals pursuant to sections 43 and 45 and disrepair. 

Recent matters include: 

Commercial Landlord and Tenant 

• Drafting pleadings and representing a purchaser of a commercial premises that is currently seeking possession post transfer, the seller having failed to vacate;
• Representing the vendor in a Post Office building and business transfer in the High Court;
• Drafting pleadings and representing the landlord in an ongoing business tenancy renewal dispute concerning when a counter-notice was served and whether the business was in occupation when the s.26 was served;
• Representing a lender seeking to enforce a charge against a commercial premises owned by the Guarantor in a 5-day trial. The lender was successful. The matter has been appealed. The appeal is to be heard in December 2021 in the High Court and concerns the interplay between the Statute of Frauds Act 1677 and a potentially defective deed that is underpinned by a valid loan agreement;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a freehold owner of a mixed-use premises concerning the Party Wall Act 1996, noise nuisance and alleged trespass in respect of a flu;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a care home in a mixed-use tenancy in possession proceedings;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a business in a matter concerning subsidence alleged to be caused by the adjoining property’s construction work/s;
• Representing an outgoing tenant concerning whether he left the premises vacant and/or whether he can take the mezzanine floor with him;
• Drafting and representing a Claimant seeking to obtain a specific performance order for a signed transfer form and TR5 following an agreement between the parties in mediation;
• Advising on the drafting of an Option Agreement;
• Advising about a tenancy at will in a marketplace.

Residential Landlord and Tenant 

• Drafting pleadings and representing a tenant in a challenge to an Emergency Prohibition Order;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a number of leaseholders in an ongoing service charge challenge;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a number of leaseholders in an ongoing matter in which they seek an extension of their lease at the correct premium that is now challenged;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a deceased’s daughter in a matter in which she resided in a property in which there was an Equity Release Mortgage that came to an end on the death of the deceased;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a vendor of residential property in respect of a Torts Act 1977 claim.

Real Property 

• Representing a bed and breakfast in an adverse possession application in respect of a cellar they legally owned;
• Drafting pleadings and representing an Applicant in that is currently seeking adverse possession of land next to a reservoir;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a landowner in an ongoing dispute in the High Court concerning the dredging of a lake on his land and remedial work/s to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty;
• Drafting pleadings and representing residents in a case concerning what constitutes a highway;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a private individual in a boundary dispute concerning parking;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a private individual about who owns an unregistered alleyway;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a commercial tenant in a right of way dispute concerning parking;
• Drafting pleadings and representing a private individual in a matter concerning an extension;
• Representing Respondents in Rule 13 Costs applications;
• Advising on the interplay between easements and section 77 Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998 in relation to playing fields;
• Advising about the High Hedges Regulations 2005 and right to light concerning a Grade I listed building;
• Advising a local authority about tree preservation orders;
• Advising about Japanese Knotweed;
• Advising a potential adverse possessor in a matter concerning estoppel.

Possession, Injunctions and Appeals (Private and Social Housing) 

• Section 8 notices
• Section 21 notices
• Local Authority Secure Tenancies and possession including succession, only and principal home, Anti-Social
• Behaviour, rent arrears;
• Disrepair;
• Tenancy Deposits;
• HMO licences;
• RROs;
• ASBIs;
• Homelessness Appeals.

Rachel’s private client practice covers wills and probate disputes, financial provision claims, the administration of estates, and contentious trusts matters (onshore and offshore). She has particular expertise in TOLATA 1996 and 1975 Act claims as well as litigation founded on breach of trust. 

Rachel also engages in international probate work with particular expertise on re-sealing under the Colonial Probates Act 1892.

Recent matters include: 

• Drafting and representing a Defendant in a 2-day trial determining beneficial ownership of property in circumstances where a property was built on a plot of land apparently sold to the Defendant’s ex-partner;
• Drafting and representing an Applicant in an ongoing matter seeking to set aside a TR1 alleged to have been signed when lacking capacity and/or under duress/undue influence;
• Drafting and representing a Claimant seeking a declaration of her alleged beneficial interest in a property;
• Representing an executrix concerning the burial of her mother in a foreign jurisdiction. This concerned a s.116 Senior Courts Act 1981 claim and application to remove the executrix as administrator;
• Drafting and representing a Claimant in a multi-track trial determining beneficial ownership of a family home in which there was a disputed declaration of trust;
• Advising a client about the failures of the executrix to set up a Nil Rate Fund Trust;
• Advising a beneficiary on the merits of an application to remove a personal representative. 

Rachel is experienced in a variety of commercial disputes, often with a property dimension. These include claims arising out of transactional agreements; shareholder, partnership and joint venture disputes; and sale of goods and services. 

Recent matters that Rachel has worked on include:

• Drafting and representing a company in an ongoing dispute concerning a pharmaceutical contract;
• Representing a large company in several ongoing disputes concerning breaches of directors’ duties, unfair prejudice under the Companies Act 2006 and the non-payment of loans;
• Advising a large property developer about a breach of a construction contract entered into with a large company domiciled in Germany, with a particular emphasis on any breaches relating to the Building Regulations 2010 with regard to the common JCT contract;
• Advising a director of a large company in an unfair prejudice claim under the Companies Act 2006;
• Representing a director in an ongoing case concerning an alleged breach of a covenant;
• Advising on the recovery of renovation costs against a negligent builder;
• Advising on the relevant jurisdiction in contract claims concerning Latin American companies;
• Advising a Brazilian company on the enforceability of a contract in the UK concerning PPE;
• Advising a partner about how to dissolve a partnership;
• Advising and liaising with the FCA about interest rate hedging products;
• Advising on an alleged repudiatory breach of a large cleaning contract for a hotel;
• Advising on the novation of a contract and warranty. 

Rachel has acted in a broad array of corporate and personal insolvency matters. She has acted in asset recovery proceedings and has particular experience of applications to restrain presentation and advertisement of petitions and to set aside statutory demands.

Recent matters include:

• Representing a company in proceedings against HMRC. The litigation concerned tax liabilities arising as a consequence of Construction Industry Scheme credits having not been processed and VAT returns requiring updating;
• Advising and representing companies on costs issues arising out of winding up petitions, see reported case in the chancery division at [2019] EWHC 1079 (Ch);
• Representing a director of a business in an application to set aside statutory demands served in respect of a disputed deposit and bounced cheque;
• Representing public bodies and companies in winding-up proceedings founded on non-payment of non-domestic rates.

Rachel advises and represents individuals, shareholders, partners, directors or other third parties on corporate governance issues, including directors’ duties and remuneration, and unfair prejudice claims.

Recent matters that Rachel has worked on include: 

• Advising a director of a large company on making an unfair prejudice claim, under the Companies Act 2006.
• Representing a director in an ongoing case in respect of a loan that remains unpaid by a former co-director that is alleged to be personal and unrelated to the company and not a company asset
• Representing a director (and his Company) in an ongoing case concerning an alleged breach of a covenant entered into with his former company to not compete with it in a set period of time and geographical area.

Rachel Coyle has specialist expertise on all matters relating to costs stemming from her time working as a Costs Paralegal for numerous national insurance companies in personal injury cases. Rachel is able to undertake drafting and advisory work on all forms of funding arrangements as well as advising on costs budgeting and estimates. 

• Right to Light
• Do’s and Don’t of Conveyancing and Title Plans
• Business Rates and the decision in Monk
• The decision in R (Gaskin) v Richmond Upon Thames LBC [2018] EWHC 1996 (Admin) Divisional Court
• Rent Repayment Orders
• Hedging and Misselling
• Homelessness Update
• GRG
• Japanese Knotweed: Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams and Anor [2018] EWCA Civ 1514
• IR Amendments
• Obtaining writs of possession: What clarity do we now have in Partridge v Gupta [2017] EWHC 2110 (QB)?
• Domestic Abuse Act and Housing
• The decision in Cooper Estates Strategic Land Limited v Wiltshire Council [2018] EWHC 1704 (Admin)
• Recourse against Landlords
• Prohibition Orders
• Leasehold Extensions for the London Boroughs Legal Alliance
• Homeless Reduction Act 2017 and Housing and Planning Act 2016 for London Boroughs Legal Alliance
• Hoarding and Mental Health for Housing Practitioners
• Hate Crime for Capsticks
• Section 21 Notices - Where Are We Now?
• Personal Contract Purchase – A Quick Guide
• Money Laundering Regulations – Mitigating Risk
• Homelessness Case Law Update
• Challenging Prohibition Orders
• Eviction and Coronavirus Act 2020
• Unlawful Eviction and Harassment
• Housing and Planning Act 2016 – An overview 

…and others 

• ‘A Practical Guide to Hoarding and Mental Health for Housing Lawyers,’ Law Brief Publishing, 2020;
• ‘A Practical Guide to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS)’, Law Brief Publishing, due to be published January 2022
• Shared Ownership: Leases of Flats and Right to Manage,’ LEASE website and Flat Living, July 2018
• ‘Goodbye Grayling’s Employment Tribunal fees’Local Government Lawyer, 10 August 2017
• Benefit cap and lone parents with children under two, Local Government Lawyer, 3 August 2017
• ‘Right to Manage: A Brief Overview.’ 19 October 2016, featured on Lexology and LEASE.

• Property Bar Association,
• Commercial Bar Association,
• Chancery Bar Association,
• South-Eastern Circuit,
• Advocate,
• Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association;
• Association of Women Barristers,
• WINRS (Women in Law, Reed Smith),
• Inner Temple,
• St Thomas More Society.

•       Direct Access Qualification                                                                            July 2017 

•       -New Practitioner’s Course                                                                            April 2017

•       Manchester Metropolitan University                                                            September 2012-June 2013 

Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) 68.8%

•       The College of William & Mary (WM) Williamsburg, VA (USA) (Draper Scholar) August 2011-May 2012 LLM American Legal Studies, GPA 3.42 

•       Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL)                                               September 2008-June 2011 

Law - First Class with Honours (LL.B) Hons

•       Aquinas College (Sixth Form)                                                                        September 2006-June 2008

A Levels: 3A’s (History, Law, Theology – top 10 in UK). AS: 1B (Classics). HEA: Distinction  

•       Harrytown Catholic High School                                                                  September 2001-June 2006

GCSE: 3 A*’s, 5A’s 2B’s, 1C & European Computer Driving Licence, British Computer Society

Inner Temple Award (International Legal Ethics Conference 2014), 

Mayor Award (2013), 

CEDR Negotiation Competition Regional Finalist Award (2013), 

The Drapers’ Company Scholarship funding an LLM in the USA (2011-2012)

QMUL Legal Advice Centre award (2011), 

Various national moot awards (2009,2010,2011), 

QMUL Law School Bursary Winner (2008-2011), 

Aquinas College Von Hugel Institute Funding for Leadership Conference (2008).