Earl wins Bournemouth Airport car park case
12.05.07
The Earl of Malmesbury has won a High Court action over negligent advice given about the lease of land at used for car parking at Bournemouth Airport.
The 60-year-old seventh earl, James Carleton Harris, launched a £100m legal claim from surveyors Strutt and Parker, alleging a breach of duty. He claimed the firm failed to negotiate rent based on car park turnover. The airport's earnings from car parks in 2006 amounted to £1.8m, the majority of which came from the car park on the leased land.
The earl's case was that Ian Ashworth, a partner in the firm who was later a consultant, should have negotiated leases with rents that reflected the turnover of the car park and provided for the estate to receive 80% of those earnings. In the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Jack said that the 80% figure was 'wholly unrealistic' but that, without a turnover rent having been agreed, the base figure rent of £9,000 was inappropriate.
He found that Mr Ashworth was in breach of his duty to the estate in respect of the negotiation of the 2002 and 2003 leases, which will run until August 2026. He said that, if Mr Ashworth had fulfilled his duty, the most likely outcome would have been that the estate would have agreed with the airport a rent of 10% of turnover on top of a base rent of £9,000. The amount the earl will receive will be assessed at a later date.
The firm, which became the land agent for the Hurn Estate in 1992, denied liability and the amount of any alleged loss. It is considering an appeal.
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