“With a unique mix of Building Surveying and Valuation expertise we are capable of dealing with a wide variety of residential and commercial property issues.”
LBB Chartered Surveyors is a highly regarded, award winning and well-established firm, having been in practice since 1994. We work throughout the UK, however, being situated near Fleet Street, we are ideally positioned to serve Central London and the South East.
01
Our Practice
LBB Chartered Surveyors has a history that dates back prior to 1994. John Byers joined the original practice in 1988. Its current structure evolved in 1994 where John Byers was one of the founding Directors. During those years the company operated from Bloomsbury before moving to Fleet Street in 2010. John was joined as a Director by Justin Bennett in 1999, and most recently by Iain Pendle in 2013.
Originally, LBB Chartered Surveyors was a mixed practice of Surveyors and Valuers with a wide variety of residential and commercial properties. In those early days the company managed a large portfolio of properties on behalf of clients and for some of those years as commercial agents. These days LBB Chartered Surveyors are much more specialist in being a practice that combines valuation work and building surveying only.
LBB are members of ALEP (Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners).
LBB are Regulated by the RICS.
02
Our Services
Arising out of the specialisations of John Byers and Justin Bennett as Chartered Surveyors, LBB has developed, with the addition of Iain Pendle, particular expertise in residential valuation work comprising of lease extensions and enfranchisement, a wide expertise in a variety of different property disputes, regularly acting as Expert Witnesses and Advisers appearing on behalf of clients in Tribunal and Court; Contract Administration; and, Party Wall Awards.
The Valuers normally deal with leasehold reform valuations, capital gains tax, ATED and inheritance tax matters. Justin Bennett acts in cases of professional negligence on behalf of valuers and solicitors. He also acts as Single or Joint Expert in matrimonial proceedings.
The building surveyors deal with a wide range of building surveying work including pre-acquisition surveys for all types of properties, dilapidations, administration building contracts, CDM, party walls, licences to alter. John Byers acts on behalf of clients in property disputes providing both advice and acting as Expert Witness. He deals with service charges, dilapidations and building disputes. Iain Pendle specialises in Party Wall matters.
03
Our Team
Everybody at LBB work very hard to ensure our clients receive excellent advice and service. All our professional staff continue to develop their expertise and education and are regularly trained in new legislation and property trends. They are all educated to degree standard and most are either qualified to a recognised property qualification (RICS) or are working towards such a qualification.
Our surveyors who undertake valuations are RICS Registered Valuers.
John Byers is an RICS Accredited Expert Witness.
Justin Bennett and John Byers are Associates of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Both are Fellows of the Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors.
Their respective CVs can be found on the following links:
Evening Standard: Section 5 of Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 – Right to First Refusal (JLB)
News on the Block: various articles including: Enfranchisement, Fire Insurance Valuations, Service Charge Disputes, Lease Extension Valuation, Planned Maintenance and Section 20 Notices.
Flat Living: various articles including: Purchasing a property in a block of flats and lease extensions.
Hertfordshire Business Independent: Dilapidations and Lease Extensions.
05
Notable Cases
2000 – Justin Bennett acted in Willingale v Globalgrange Ltd [2000] 2 EGLR 55 – relating to the price and terms following landlord’s failure to serve counter-notice.
2007 – Justin Bennett acted in Glen International v Triplerose Ltd (CA) [2007] 2 EGLR 81 – relating to the correct address for service of Section 42 initial notice.
2010 – Justin Bennett was appointed at Expert Witness at the Central London County Court (before HHJ Marshall QC) in Anstruther v Vidas (2010) – a case involving multiple valuation issues, including dilapidations and enfranchisement claims (Leasehold Reform Act 1967) on a substantial mixed use building in South Kensington.
2007 – John was instructed as Expert on the reported case of Ravensgate Estates Ltd v Horizon Housing Group Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 1368.
06
Industry Awards
News on the Block Enfranchisement and Right to Manage Awards
2013 highly commended – Justin Bennett for Valuer of the Year
2013 finalist – Valuers of the Year
2011 finalist – Valuers of the Year
2009 finalist – Valuers of the Year
2013 winner – Justin Bennett for Expert Witness of the Year
2016 winner – John Byers for Expert Witness of the Year
News on the Block Property Management Awards
News on the Block Property Management Awards
200+
TRUSTED CLIENTS
+
COMBINED YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
%
CLIENT FOCUSED
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CLIENT FOCUSED
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MEET OUR SURVEYORS
John Byers BSc FRICS ACIArb
DIRECTOR
Justin Bennett BSc (Hons) FRICS ACIArb
DIRECTOR
Iain Pendle BSc (Hons) MRICS
DIRECTOR
Sara Addis BSc (Hons) AssocRICS
BUILDING SURVEYOR
John Byers BSc FRICS ACIArb
DIRECTOR
Justin Bennett BSc (Hons) FRICS ACIArb
DIRECTOR
Iain Pendle BSc (Hons) MRICS
DIRECTOR
Sara Addis BSc (Hons) AssocRICS
BUILDING SURVEYOR
TESTIMONIALS
Iain completed the contract administration for the exterior repair and redecoration of a six storey Victorian residence in Notting Hill. While the work was straightforward, considerable people skills were required of Iain to deal with the six leaseholders involved. Altogether, Iain's knowledge, experience, foresight and timeliness in communications was of great support to me in see this work through. It took three months to complete the work despite adverse weather conditions, the later unexpected insolvency of the contractor and solving a structural defect discovered during works. All round excellent work!
I could not recommend Mr Bennett highly enough. I believe him to be an extremely good valuer who has a deep understanding of the market and the surrounding issues. I have always found him and LLB as a whole to be extremely efficient and highly competent.
Unrivalled understanding of freehold enfranchisement practical issues as well as knowledge on existing and recent case law. Appreciated having full-circle service of valuation and LVT expertise.
I have known Justin Bennett for over five years and we have worked together on both collective and lease renewal claims. I regard Justin Bennett very highly. He is knowledgeable, forward thinking, commercial and extremely professional. Justin Bennett is extremely hard working and this together his approachable manner makes it a pleasure to work with him. He is a formidable opponent. Justin Bennett is also one of the few valuers I consistently recommend to new clients. I believe that clients like his easy manner but more importantly his tenacity to get the best deal for them.
My clients instructed Justin Bennett as the valuer expert in a very difficult collective enfranchisement case where the main valuation issues were redevelopment value and how the change to the service charge provisions in the leasebacks retained by the landlord would affect the value of the premium. He was up against a well known valuer and was cross examined by a silk. Justin did very well indeed and the Tribunal preferred his evidence and the client achieved an excellent result at the Tribunal – paying £200K rather than the £3m the landlord originally wanted. I would certainly recommend Justin as a valuer.
As a practice, Bolt Burdon have worked closely with LBB for a number of years. Enfranchisement and Leasehold Reform work is a topic very close to both Justin and John and they believe passionately in securing the best possible deal for our mutual clients. It is unusual, perhaps more so in current times, to deal with a business that puts people before profit. A business that has managed to blend perfectly advances in technology with the personal touch.
I have instructed Justin Bennett of LBB on behalf of a number of clients (both landlords and tenants) to carry out a large number of valuations for enfranchisements and lease extensions over many years. I have always found Justin to be extremely professional in his approach. His valuations are very thorough and comprehensive. He is a skilled negotiator and understands the commercial imperatives of these types of cases. He is well supported by his team at LBB. I have no hesitation in recommending Justin Bennett and continue to do so to other clients.
Justin has a professional manner and importantly has always given 100% in answering questions and concerns. I therefore would like to express my sincere gratitude for the exceptional work Justin and his team have achieved in reaching a satisfactory agreement. Based on their work, I enthusiastically recommend LBB as an effective company in the ever critical area of lease enfranchisement
John advised us and represented us as an expert witness during service charge proceedings before the First Tier Tribunal. From the first meeting, John was a reassuring and professional individual. He rapidly grasped the situation and established the gaps in the information that needed filling. John reviewed all our information and arranged to meet with the previous contract administrator. He recalculated the cost breakdown, made estimations where necessary and negotiated these figures with the tenants’ expert witness. We were very impressed with the speed and efficiency with which John tackled the problem. His attention to detail was outstanding. John’s input to the many telephone conference calls that were needed prior to the hearing were invaluable and he was the epitome of calm and measured diplomacy in his dealings with the tenants and their surveyor. He was outstandingly credible in front of the FTT. It is safe to say that we would not have achieved the result we did without his input and efforts.
I have found John Byers to be an excellent and reliable expert. In the last matter we dealt with before the Tribunal he was responsible for saving the clients around £1million in the claim through his careful and meticulous scrutiny of the figures and costs put forward by the landlord. This was a fantastic result for the clients. His consistency of approach over the years has well-earned him the respect of his peers and the Tribunals that he appears before. This means that whoever instructs him knows that they will have an expert who will not only give them a frank and honest appraisal of their claim, but that if it goes on to fight, they have an expert who will be listened to seriously and his opinion will carry weight both with the other side as well as with the Tribunal.
Mr Byers has provided invaluable advice throughout. He explained to us in straightforward language so that the whole group could understand. He has attended meetings with us out of normal office hours so that group members can be there and ask him questions. Without Mr Byers we would not have made it to the final stages of this litigation, which has now concluded. His work has gone beyond what we expected of a regular surveyor, assisting us with both case management and legal issues.
We have used LBB services for over 2 years now and find LBB has a very professional yet personal approach. They are thorough with their tenders which makes working with tenders easy as well as they are very reliable with checking the work to ensure all has been done to the correct standard. They are also easy to get hold of and respond to emails usually within few hours.