Dale Timson

Dale handles real property and landlord and tenant disputes from first instance to the Court of Appeal: possession, forfeiture, lease renewals under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, restrictive covenants, easements and rights of light, boundaries, adverse possession, trespass, nuisance, party walls and unlawful eviction, as well as strike out, summary judgment and relief from sanctions. For insurers he handles complex liability and quantum claims for property damage across tort, contract, agency and statute (including the Highways Act 1980), with particular expertise in thickening claims.

Notable cases

• Al-Chaalan v Abri Group Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 946: sole counsel for the appellant tenant before Asplin, Newey and Baker LJJ, seeking to set aside a possession order made in his absence after the landlord had raised allegations of fraud. The court considered whether an address in a tenancy agreement is an address for service under CPR 6.8(a), and the CPR 39.3(5) analogy on set-aside applications. The appeal was dismissed.
• National Highways Ltd v McMinn [2024]: for the defendant’s insurer, obtained permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal on when one company may sue in the name of another. The claimant, represented by leading counsel, consented to the appeal being allowed the week before the hearing.
• Hastings Borough Council v Turner [2021] UKUT 258 (LC): with William Richardson, for the respondent leaseholder before Martin Rodger QC, Deputy Chamber President. The Tribunal gave guidance on the FTT’s approach to rehearing HMO licence applications, including the burden of proof and the weight to be given to the housing authority’s decision.
• Recovered over £150,000 in occupation rent at a multi-track trial, defeating a constructive trust counterclaim.
• Led by James Aldridge KC in possession proceedings concerning arrears of over £23m (settled on favourable terms).
• Successfully opposed a business lease renewal for a landlord under section 30(1)(g) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

Won an unlawful forfeiture claim for a tenant, with damning findings against the landlord and substantial damages and costs.

Dale acts for companies and individuals in the Commercial Court, the Circuit Commercial Courts and the Business List, across contract and debt claims, guarantees and indemnities, letters of credit, sale of goods and transfer of title, supply of services, bailment, force majeure and frustration, consumer rights and contractual construction. His fraud work covers deceit and breach of fiduciary duty, and the interim relief that goes with them: freezing orders, proprietary injunctions and the enforcement of disclosure obligations. He is used to acting at short notice.

Notable cases

• Re IAHP Group Holdings Ltd; Bucknall v Rizvi [2025] EWHC 2069 (Ch): led by Stephen Davies KC for the joint liquidators, obtained without notice a proprietary injunction and a worldwide freezing order for £5,159,709 before Mellor J. The judgment addresses an officeholder’s cross-undertaking in damages and when a limited undertaking may be accepted.
• Leggett v American International Group UK Ltd [2025] EWHC 278 (Comm); [2025] EWHC 614 (Comm): unled for 41 claimants in a two-day trial of a preliminary issue in the latest chapter of the Giambrone litigation: whether AIG, the professional indemnity insurer of Giambrone Law LLP, was liable under the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930 to meet judgments of over £3m.
• Ngubeni v LCJ & TN Accounting Services Ltd [2022] EWHC 3447 (KB): for the defendants, persuaded Freedman J to set aside an unless order made under a worldwide freezing injunction that would otherwise have struck out the defence and entered judgment for £1,275,995.
• Shahzad v Mazher (Queen’s Proctor intervening) [2020] EWCA Civ 1740: sole counsel for the appellant in the Court of Appeal. The court accepted that fraud going only to the court’s jurisdiction to grant a decree, rather than to entertain the petition, does not of itself make the decree void, rejecting the Queen’s Proctor’s argument. The decision has since been applied in Williams v Williams [2024] EWHC 733 (Fam).
• Plummer v Friedlander [2023] EWHC 3241 (Ch): obtained a General Civil Restraint Order before Miles J against a litigant who had brought repeated hopeless proceedings against his client.
• Halborg v Apple (UK) Ltd & O2 Holdings Ltd: the most authoritative judgment on the rights of solicitors’ agents, referred to in Bar Council guidance.
• Led by Stephen Davies KC in a joint venture claim alleging breach of fiduciary duty and deceit, together with professional negligence claims against the client’s former solicitors (settled before trial).
• Succeeded at trial in the Birmingham Circuit Commercial Court in establishing that a disputed contract existed and that the dispute had not been settled.
• Advising a cryptocurrency reward debit card provider on its terms and conditions.

Dale acts for officeholders, the Official Receiver, directors, creditors and companies in distress. His corporate work includes misfeasance, fraudulent and wrongful trading, unlawful dividends, proofs of debt, extensions of administration and injunctions restraining the presentation or advertisement of winding up petitions. His personal insolvency work includes bankruptcy and annulment, insolvency administration orders over deceased estates, transactions at an undervalue and setting aside statutory demands.

Notable cases

• Re Alba Insulation [2026] EWHC 832 (Ch): for a proving creditor, defeated an application under rule 14.8 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 to extend time, by over a year, to challenge the admission of a proof of debt of over £1m.
• Official Receiver v Sanders & AXA Insurance Plc [2024] EWHC 3591 (Ch): instructed by the Government Legal Department, drafted the Official Receiver’s appeal and appeared before Leech J. The appeal, on the effect of a stay of bankruptcy on the automatic discharge period, was allowed and the bankrupt was refused permission to appeal.
• Taylor v Savik [2024] EWCC 7; [2024] EW Misc 18 (CC); [2024] EWCC 10: defeated a trustee in bankruptcy’s claim, after a five-day trial before HHJ Paul Matthews, that a Bristol property was held for the bankrupt under a sham. At the outset of trial he obtained a stay of the section 339 and 423 claims, in the first reported decision on their interplay with section 419 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and afterwards secured indemnity costs, interest on costs and a substantial payment on account.
• Re Shahi Tandoori Restaurant Ltd; Brown v Bashir [2021] EWHC 337 (Ch): for a former director in a three-day trial of a liquidator’s claim under sections 212 and 234 of the Insolvency Act 1986. The court rejected the liquidator’s case that liability should follow HMRC’s figures (£771,918, of which £321,252 was claimed against Dale’s client jointly) and ordered an account instead.
• Advised and represented a German bank in applications to annul bankruptcy orders obtained in England and Wales by German nationals engaged in bankruptcy tourism.
• Currently instructed for both liquidators and former directors in complex claims concerning breaches of duty, misfeasance, impugned transactions and unlawful dividends.

Dale acts for lenders and financiers, and for corporate and individual borrowers, in disputes over mortgages, charges, guarantees, facility agreements and LPA receivership, including assignment, limitation and enforceability issues.

Notable cases

• Marsay v Barclays Bank UK Plc [2023] EWHC 2301 (Comm): struck out a commercial borrower’s claims against the bank over an alleged sale at an undervalue and goods left at a repossessed property.
• Rainer Hughes v Liverpool Victoria Insurance Co Ltd [2024] EWHC 585 (KB): for the appellant solicitors before Martin Spencer J, on proportionality in wasted costs applications and the procedure where no application notice is issued.
• Succeeded at trial for a long-term savings and retirement business in a lifetime mortgage possession claim defended on limitation and the chain of assignments.
• Succeeded on appeal for a bank against the strike out of a possession claim where the claim form was said not to have been properly signed.
• Acting for mortgagees in several complex, high-value claims raising assignment, limitation and enforceability issues, and for a defendant challenging a mortgage under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Dale regularly acts for clients on a Direct Public Access basis, meaning clients may instruct him without a solicitor. He is also authorised to conduct litigation and will accept instructions to do so in suitable cases, where agreed in advance and recorded in the client care letter. The Bar Standards Board’s guide to instructing a barrister under the public access scheme is available here.

Dale is transparent and upfront about costs. Potential clients may contact Dale or his clerks for a quotation, providing sufficient information at the outset, including the names of the parties, so that conflict checks can be carried out.

Most Direct Public Access work is undertaken for a fixed fee agreed in advance, for example a fixed fee for considering the papers and advising in conference or in writing, or for preparing for and attending a hearing. Fixed fees are calculated by reference to Dale’s hourly rate, which is £350 plus VAT per hour (£420 including VAT) as at October 2026. By way of example, work estimated at five hours would be quoted at £1,750 plus VAT (£2,100 including VAT).

Once Dale has seen the relevant papers and understands the case and the services required, the proposed fee will be set out in writing. All fees are subject to VAT where applicable. If the fee is agreed in principle, a client care letter setting out the conditions of the instruction will be provided before any work begins. Timescales depend principally on Dale’s existing professional commitments and will always be agreed in advance and recorded in the client care letter.