Jonathan has acted in a broad range of commercial disputes and insolvency process.

Recent work includes:

• Obtaining a Freezing Order and multiple Norwich Pharmacal Orders in the High Court to preserve and trace £440,000 overseas, resulting from a suspected authorised push payment fraud.

• Obtaining a Freezing Order and multiple Norwich Pharmacal Orders in the County Court to preserve assets of £100,000 and obtain information to ensure the efficacy of the Freezing Order.

• Representing the Defendant in a 2-day High Court trial to determine if certain clauses within a settlement agreement were unenforceable penalties, with some £680,000 at stake.

• Providing non-contentious advice on the application of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (pre and post Brexit) to a proposed new software application for use across the globe.

• Acting in a number of cases for the Administrators of a large goods manufacturer in collecting disputed trade debts and advising on resisting an application for leave to claim against the company in Administration.

Having spent over 3 years as a solicitor specialising in claims against lawyers and surveyors in the secured lending space, Jonathan has an in-depth knowledge of professional negligence claims for lenders and real estate investors.

At the Bar, Jonathan has acted in claims against solicitors for negligent advice with respect to defending bankruptcy proceedings and the prospects for annulment, and for negligence and for restitution involving issues of apparent authority and fraud.

Jonathan has provided advice on claims against solicitors concerning failure to include conditions as to planning permission in a contract for the sale of commercial property, failure to protect an option on land by registration, and failure to observe a deadline for serving notice to acquire a new lease under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.

Jonathan has a wealth of experience in many areas of property litigation.

Landlord and Tenant

Jonathan has acted extensively in commercial and residential landlord and tenant disputes, advocating and advising in such areas as contentious commercial lease renewal, breach of covenant, service charges, forfeiture of commercial leases, and possession.

Recent work includes:

• Advising on and successfully appealing a decision of the First-Tier Tribunal on the reasonableness of service charges (acting for landlord).
• Advising a commercial tenant on claiming the existence of a new lease by proprietary estoppel and the impact of a CVA on the landlord’s claims to rent.
• Advising a commercial tenant on the terms likely to be contained within a new lease awarded by the Court under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.

Trusts and competing rights

Jonathan has acted in cases concerning the avoidance of a property transfer for undue influence, an appeal on a novel point of law concerning the application of limitation periods to claims to equitable interests under a trust of land, adverse possession, and constructive trusts arising out of domestic co-habitation. He has advised on areas as diverse as the establishment of easements, wavier and estoppel in relation to leasehold covenants and trespass by satellite dishes.

Recent work includes

• Several successful claims by Trustees in Bankruptcy for possession and sale of the bankrupt’s home.
• Advising on and securing a High Court injunction preventing the sale of property pending the resolution of his client’s claim to be entitled to an equitable charge.
• Advising on and securing a High Court injunction to require the removal of a Notice registered on title at HM Land Registry.
• Successfully opposing a High Court injunction preventing the sale of property in the context of an undue influence claim.
• Applications under the Trust of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 and for Orders under sections 44 and 50 of the Trustee Act 1925.
• Advising on the claimant’s right to register an easement by prescription and on consequent Tribunal proceedings.
• Advising on the meaning of a restrictive covenant preventing the building of new dwellings on land.