An elderly businessman whose family has interests in a string of London hotels has lost a High Court property fight with his sons.

Bal Mohinder Singh's claims against sons Jasminder and Herinder have been dismissed by a judge following a High Court hearing in London.

Mr Singh, who is in his 80s, had claimed that he and his sons were members of a joint Hindu family and that ''family property'' was held under a trust for male family members.

He said he was entitled to a third share.

Jasminder, who is in his 60s, and Herinder, who is in his 40s, had disputed their father's claims.

Judge Sir William Blackburne ruled against Mr Singh today following a trial late last year.

"There was at no time material time a common understanding of father and Jasminder that any property acquired and legally owned by father, Jasminder and Herinder, or any of them, would be subject to a common understanding that the concept of joint Hindu property ... applied," said Sir William, in a written ruling.

"The claim fails and the action must be dismissed."

Sir William had sat in a luxury London hotel to hear evidence from Mr Singh in November 2013.

A conference room at The May Fair Hotel off Piccadilly - which is owned by a Singh company - was turned into a court after the judge was told that Mr Singh was frail and not fit enough to travel to the Royal Courts of Justice near Fleet Street, London, where the hearing had started.

Lawyers had said Mr Singh would be more comfortable giving evidence in the hotel - where he had access to a room.

They said the Singh family would bear the costs of the use of The May Fair and the hotel sitting would not hit the taxpayer.

Sir William said a recurrent theme of Mr Singh's answers to questions put by lawyers representing his sons was "absence of any recollection" or "denial".

The judge said Mr Singh had been "unwilling to engage" when questioned.

"As a result his oral evidence was virtually valueless," said Sir William. "His written statements ... were scarcely less so."

But Sir William said he did not regard Mr Singh - or wife Satwant - as acting dishonestly in making the claim.

He said the root of the difference between the couple and Jasminder was caused by their "very different" upbringings and different perceptions.

Mr Singh had been brought up in rural British India and his wife in Kenya, said the judge.

Jasminder had gone to Christian Mission schools in Africa and completed his education in the UK.

The judge said Mr Singh's case had rested on the inference that his family was "undivided" and children would observe a Sikh custom of dealing with property as "joint family property".