Goodman wins dispute over sale of north London office block

Property tycoon Louis Goodman has won a High Court dispute over the sale of a 98,000 sq ft north London office block. In 1989, Goodman’s City Site Properties bought the 13-storey Northway House at 1379 High Road, Whetstone, London N20. The main tenant of the premises was Heathmill Village Ltd, which was owned by father and son Ivor and Aaron Gershfield. In December 2004, Transview, which was a special purpose vehicle for Heathmill, paid City Site £13.5m for the building. Following completion a dispute arose regarding an overage provision in the agreement, under which City Site was to receive 50% of any increase in the property’s value either on resale or the obtaining of planning permission for the residential development of the property. Transview claimed that a further clause, which provided that the overage would not be payable in certain circumstances, had been removed by City Site without Transview’s knowledge. Dismissing Transview’s claim for rectification of the agreement, Briggs J held that there was “no intention by either party, at the time of its execution, that the sale agreement should contain an overage abatement clause”. Transview Properties Ltd v City Site Properties Ltd Chancery Division (Briggs J) 3 June 2008. Lord Anthony Grabiner QC and Marcus Smith (instructed by Charles Fussell & Co) appeared for the claimant; Romie Tager QC and Mark Warwick (instructed by Jeffrey Green Russell) appeared for the defendant.