Serle Court

Jonathan’s cases invariably involve land and property but span commercial, company, fraud, trust and insolvency law disputes and related professional negligence. Jonathan is recognised as a leading senior junior having been providing advice and advocacy on these issues for almost twenty years.  He has appeared in courts and tribunals at all levels, including the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal (on many occasions without a leader). He is equally happy acting in large, complex litigation as part of a team as he is representing an individual landowner, developer or leaseholder.  Jonathan is frequently against silks as sole counsel.  He also acts in mediations and arbitrations.

Jonathan is acknowledged as a leading practitioner in the fields of restrictive covenants, rights to light and other easements, leasehold enfranchisement, tenants’ rights of first refusal, right to manage and service charges. Jonathan is particularly experienced on matters relating to mixed-use developments. His cases regularly involve large group litigation.

He is frequently instructed in relation to joint ventures, overage, contracts for sale, options, injunctions, specific performance and orders for sale.

Jonathan has particular experience of cases involving fraudulent dispositions, sham transactions and allegations of dishonesty. He is a seasoned trial advocate and has been involved in a number of cases involving the bona fides of a declaration of trust, including Tigris Industries Inc v Ghassemian [2016] EWCA Civ 269; Saranovic v Saranovic The Times, March 21, 2017; and Premium Jet AG v Sutton [2017] EWHC 186 (QB).

His trusts work encompasses co-ownership disputes and applications for orders for sale/TOLATA claims. He successfully argued for a resulting trust analysis in Chaudhary v Chaudhary [2013] EWCA Civ 758; [2013] 2 F.L.R. 1526; [2013] Fam. Law 1257, cited in all the leading texts. He successfully appeared in the Upper Tribunal (Fancourt J) concerning the First-tier Tribunal’s jurisdiction to determine an application by joint trustees in bankruptcy to register a restriction against a property held in joint names (Wolloff and Dante (as Joint Trustees in Bankruptcy of Alexander James Dhillon) v Patel [2019] UKUT 333 (LC)).

Jonathan has been ranked in Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 for many years. He is “the perfect package for complex and hard-fought property litigation. Jonathan is both technically brilliant and a creative advocate.” He “combines a sharp mind, deep knowledge, experience and seasoned advocacy with consummate client-handling skills”; he is “very cerebral, persuasive towards judges, prompt and easy to deal with”; and “a good all-round property barrister with both residential and commercial expertise”.

Jonathan also accepts instructions directly from members of the public under the Public Access scheme.

Year of Call: 2004

Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners

Chancery Bar Association

Property Bar Association