Simon Halabi v Michael Gaymer

Facts

Mr Gaymer is the freehold owner of two golf courses, a club house and ancillary buildings originally known as the Mentmore Golf Course and Country Club, land adjacent to Mentmore Towers, a Grade 1 listed house held ultimately for the benefit of Mr Halabi's family, where Mr Halabi once lived and where his eldest son is buried. In 1995 Mr Gaymer granted a reversionary lease of the golf courses for 99 years commencing in June 2012 at a substantial rent and subject to a lessee's repairing covenant. The lease passed through a succession of companies within the Halabi family trust structure, ending with Mentmore Greenland Limited, of which Mr Halabi was a director. After Mr Gaymer served a notice under s.146 Law of Property Act 1925 alleging disrepair, four sets of proceedings followed: proceedings under the Leasehold Property (Repairs) Act 1938, forfeiture proceedings which produced a possession order, and two later relief from forfeiture claims struck out as abuses of process. Costs orders against Mentmore Greenland went unpaid. On 9 July 2025 HHJ Murch, sitting at the County Court at Luton, made a non-party costs order against Mr Halabi under s.51 Senior Courts Act and CPR r.46.2, finding him the real party to the litigation. Adam Johnson J granted permission to appeal on a single ground.