Forsters team supports Ministry of Defence in settlement of landmark litigation, bringing Armed Forces housing back into public ownership
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Annington Homes have today announced that they have reached a major deal to bring the Armed Forces housing estate back into public ownership. MOD will re-acquire c36,000 houses from Annington Homes for a total purchase price of £5.9945bn, as well as unwinding the complex and costly set of contractual arrangements between the parties which has governed their relationship since 1996.
The transaction marks the culmination of landmark litigation between the parties concerning the scope of MOD’s enfranchisement rights. Forsters has advised MOD in relation to the enfranchisement and subsequent litigation since 2020 and the firm was also selected to handle the transactional elements of the deal, which is one of the largest property transactions in UK history. The entire Forsters team has worked immensely hard on behalf of MOD, alongside Slaughter and May who advised on the public law aspects of the litigation, to help bring matters to a successful conclusion.
The Forsters team comprised Senior Partner Natasha Rees, Real Estate Disputes Partner Julia Tobbell and Commercial Real Estate Partner Ben Brayford. They were supported by Senior Associate James Carpenter (Real Estate Disputes), Counsel Andrew McEwan, Senior Associates Alexandra Burnaby and Alex Harrison and Paralegal Kelly Pryor (Commercial Real Estate).
