Foxtons has lost a protracted legal dispute with a landlord over unpaid commission.

A court has set aside an earlier ruling against the landlord, Jonathan Bloom, who is a lawyer for a hedge fund.

He said of Foxtons: “Their legal department would eat anyone for breakfast. People do not stand a chance against them.

“If I wasn’t a lawyer with the means to defend myself, it would be very hard.”

Foxtons declined to comment on the case, which stems from 2007 when it was instructed to let out a property in South Hampstead.

Bloom claims he had wanted the corporate tenants that Foxtons said it would look for. However, he allowed the young graduates the firm found to move in, on an 18-month contract, on the basis that he did not want the property lying empty.

When Bloom visited the house, he claims he found damage, drug paraphernalia and pornography. A neighbour had complained about the tenants’ behaviour, and he evicted them after a year in September 2008. He said he then spent thousands of pounds refurbishing the property.

Foxtons invoiced Bloom for the remaining six months of the contract, but he refused to pay – claiming there was a break clause in the contract after a year.

Five years later, in November 2013, Bloom was sent a draft court order for unpaid commission amounting to £1,749.82.

Bloom told the London Evening Standard that he notified Foxtons that he disputed the claim. However, he says that in January this year, Foxtons sent him an email enclosing a judgment in default against him from Northampton county court.

Bloom said he had not entered a defence because the court documents had been sent to an old address.

He said Foxtons offered to set aside the judgment in February, but that he wanted some of his costs paid. At Barnet county court last week, the earlier ruling was set aside and an award made to Bloom, thought to be some £800.