First Multi-Disciplinary ABS Approved

After a long wait, the SRA has approved the first multi-disciplinary alternative business structure (ABS), with London property company Crabtree Property Management receiving a licence to establish a fixed-fee property litigation firm.

Crabtree, which was established in 1983, currently manages in excess of 17,000 properties across London and the south of England, including residential properties, retail units and offices.

James Naylor, who has been the Crabtree's in-house lawyer for two years, will become head of legal practice and the firm's sole legal adviser, which is presumably indicative of the fact that the focus will be on servicing litigation arising from the company’s managed portfolio, rather than soliciting instructions from other property owners or managers.  Running a property management portfolio involves a reasonably regular incidence of low-level litigation to deal with tenancy issues and dilapidation disputes etc, and therefore there is a clear logic for a company which has a significant number of properties under management to be able to handle the litigation arising from it, avoiding a degree of duplication of effort and cost.