Harriet Holmes

Property

Harriet is a well-known property junior, who advises on and acts as sole counsel or as part of a counsel team in a wide range of real estate disputes.

She was recognised as an ‘up and coming’ junior for real estate litigation after only three years in practice and has since been ranked as a leading property practitioner by all the leading directories – Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal.

Harriet was, by some margin, the most junior of the three finalists for Real Estate Junior of the Year at the Chambers & Partners Bar Awards 2021.

She is a specialist property litigator with extensive experience of the ‘usual’ issues which arise (such as 54 Act matters, break clauses, easements and freehold land covenants etc.) but one who has experience of some more unusual or niche areas of land law (such as mines and minerals, pre-1925 Act land law, and rights of light) and is used to dealing with property cases which stray into other areas, such as property insolvency and trusts of land matters.

Harriet acted as junior counsel for the successful parties in the two important recently reported Court of Appeal cases of Bath Rugby v. Greenwood, which concerned annexation of restrictive covenants, and Wynne-Finch v. Natural Resources Body for Wales, a case concerning the interpretation of mines and minerals reservations and inclosure acts (and awards) and adverse possession of sub-strata.

More recently, she has been acting (with John McGhee KC) for the developer of a large office building in the City of London in a rights of light dispute, Adjoin Limited v FortyTwo House Sarl. She is also instructed as sole counsel for a claimant alleging infringement with rights of light to a commercial building in Birmingham. These cases build on Harriet’s previous experience of rights of light, acting in Beaumont v Florala at the interlocutory stages and for the developer in a rights of light dispute concerning a tower development in Leeds.

Harriet has acted in property disputes in the main domestic courts and tribunals through to the Supreme Court and Privy Council. She also has experience of property disputes from the Caribbean jurisdictions and on the Channel Islands.

She is a member of the Chancery Bar Association and the Property Bar Association. She sat on the PBA’s committee (and as the association’s Bar Council representative) for a number of years and is a contributor to Hill and Redman’s Law of Landlord and Tenant.

Her experience includes:

• Commercial and residential landlord and tenant, including ’54 Act renewals, rent review litigation and arbitration, forfeiture, break clauses etc.
• Contracts of sale, options and rights of pre-emption
• Development contracts, overage and construction disputes
• Joint ventures, and claims in contract and equity arising out of them
• Easements, land covenants and boundary disputes
• Adverse possession
• Land registration and conveyancing
• Mortgages, charges and other securities, including matters involving LPA receivers
• Property-related torts: nuisance, trespass
• Property insolvency
• Rights to light
• Other title issues, such as mines and minerals and commons
• Trusts of land including settled land
• Proprietary estoppel
• Agricultural tenancies

Her recent cases of note include:

• Adjoin Ltd v Fortytwo House SarL [2022] EWHC 2710 (Ch) (rights of light) – acted for the developer in this rights of light dispute; this application concerned amendments and alleged misuse of confidential information (led by John McGhee KC) (case settled at trial)
• Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v. Hackney LBC [2022] UKUT 210 (LC) (interim code rights, health and safety) – acted as sole counsel for operator.
• Quay House Admirals Way v Rockwell Properties Ltd [2022] EWHC 545 (Ch) (land registration, removal of restrictions) (led by Jonathan Seitler KC).
• Bath Rugby Ltd & Anr v. Greenwood & Ors [2022] 1 P & CR DG25 (restrictive covenants, annexation) – acted for successful intervener and second appellant (led by Martin Hutchings KC).
• Wynne-Finch v. Natural Resources Body for Wales [2022] 3 All ER 162 (mines and minerals, inclosure, manorial rights, adverse possession of sub-strata) – acted for successful defendant and respondent at first instance and on appeal (led by Mark Wonnacott KC).
• ARC Aggregates Ltd v. Branston Properties Ltd [2021] 2 P & CR 1 (corporeal vs incorporeal right, mines and minerals) (led by Mark Wonnacott KC).
• Whitacre Management Limited Sainsbury’s Supermarkets [2019] EWHC 13 (Ch) (conditional contracts for sale; termination) – acted for the successful defendant in this multimillion-pound claim (led by Mark Wonnacott KC).
• Gaia Ventures Ltd v. Abbeygate Helical (Leisure Plaza) Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 823 (overage; contracts for sale; reasonable endeavours) – acted for the successful respondent on appeal (and at first instance: [2018] EWHC 118 (Ch)) (led by Mark Wonnacott KC).

Current work and other recent experience includes:

• Acting for the landlord and owner of the Centre Point site in relation to a multimillion-pound scheme of works to replace the façade of the residential flats on that site (led by Martin Hutchings KC).
• Acting for the mineral owner in a claim against a developer for trespass into mines and mineral sub-strata.
• Advising a developer during the acquisition of a multimillion-pound site on various title issues, including mines and mineral reservations.
• Representing a well-known charity in a claim for a vesting order of property under the Trustee Act 1925.
• Acting as sole counsel in a claim for £6.5m in damages for terminal dilapidations.
• Advice and representation in various applications for vesting orders following disclaimer.
• Representing (with Martin Hutchings KC) the landlord of the Brunswick Centre in Lazari v. London Borough of Camden in a claim for declarations in respect of the obligations to repair the drainage system of the c.£150m building (case settled on first day of trial).
• Advising a private bank on various strict settlements and trustee obligations relating thereto.
• Advising a group of leaseholders in relation to liability for costs of remedying defective / dangerous cladding.
• Acting as junior counsel (led by Mark Wonnacott KC) for the defendant in a claim for £11 million damages for alleged unlawful termination of a conditional development agreement, alternatively for damages for the tort of misfeasance in public office.
• Acting as junior counsel (led by Joanne Wicks KC) for the defendant in a claim for specific performance of an alleged agreement for lease of a valuable railway sidings site.
• Acting for a retail bank in a claim involving mortgage fraud and a claim to sub-subrogation.

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