Harriet Holmes

Property

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

Harriet is ranked as a leading property practitioner by all three leading directories – Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal (now Lexology Index).  She has previously been shortlisted for Real Estate Junior of the Year at the Chambers and Partners Bar Awards.

Recent career highlights include appearing in her own right in the Privy Council for the successful respondent in an appeal regarding the law of adverse possession, and acting as junior counsel for the successful parties in two important reported Court of Appeal cases, Bath Rugby v Greenwood (on annexation of restrictive covenants) and Wynne-Finch v. Natural Resources Body for Wales (on mines and minerals reservations, inclosure acts and awards, and adverse possession).

Harriet is appointed as Junior Counsel to the Crown (Attorney General’s B Panel).  Through that, she has acted as sole counsel for Government bodies, most recently appearing in the Chancery Division in a land registration matter.

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.

Her experience includes:

• Commercial and residential landlord and tenant, including ’54 Act renewals, rent reviews, dilapidations 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
• Mines and minerals
• 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
• Commons and open spaces, including public recreation trusts
• Trusts of land including settled land
• Proprietary estoppel
• Disputes concerning water and watercourses

Her significant recent or reported cases include:

• Almacantar Centre Point Nominee No.1 Ltd v De Valk [2026] 1 P & CR 16 (Building Safety Act; ‘cladding remediation’) – acting for the landlord in an appeal concerning the interpretation of Sch.8 para.8 (led by Martin Hutchings KC) (ongoing, appeal to Court of Appeal listed in Oct 2026)
• Rolle v Meadows [2026] 1 All E.R. 752 (adverse possession; Bahamas) – acted as sole counsel for the successful respondent in this appeal to the Privy Council concerning adverse possession
• Mentmore Golf Investments Ltd v Gaymer [2026] 1 WLR 408 (forfeiture; abuse of process) – appeal against strike out of a forfeiture claim (led by John McGhee KC)
• Bath Rugby Ltd v Anr Greenwood & Ors [2023] 1 P & CR 6 (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, [2022] 2 P&CR 20 (mines and minerals, inclosure, manorial rights, adverse possession of sub-strata) – acted for successful defendant and respondent at first instance and on appeal to the Court of Appeal (led by Mark Wonnacott KC).
• 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 in 2023)
• 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).
• 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 v Sainsbury’s Supermarkets [2019] EWHC 13 (Ch) (conditional contracts for sale; reasonable endeavours; estoppel; waiver) – 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:

Real property

• Acting for the seller of a housing development site in a dispute concerning mineral rights alleged to have been reserved by an inclosure award and/or statutory enfranchisement.
• Representing the Chief Land Registrar in an application to strike out / obtain reverse summary judgment in a claim for rectification of the register and indemnity, and damages for misfeasance in public office, breach of Art.1 Protocol 1 and public law duties.
• Advising on various other claims concerning mines and minerals, both for developers of sites apparently encumbered by mineral rights and interests and for prospective trustees of landed estates.
• Advising on open space covenants, public recreation trusts, and local government disposal powers.
• Acting in various rights to light claims, including for the defendant to a claim regarding property in Mayfair (which settled post-issue but before trial).
• Acting in various land registration disputes, including those concerning adverse possession, removal of restrictions, registration of easements, rectification of the register, opposed applications for first registration.

Development contracts

• Acting (as junior counsel to Joanne Wicks KC) in a confidential expert determination concerning a joint venture agreement for a prominent City of London development.
• Acting for the defendant to a claim concerning termination of a conditional contract for the sale of shares in a development company and a claim for a deposit (settled days before trial).
• Acting as junior counsel for the defendant to 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.

Landlord and tenant

• Acting as junior counsel for the appellant in the first appeal to the Court of Appeal on the interpretation of Sch.8 para.8 (cladding remediation) to the Building Safety Act 2022 (led by Martin Hutchings KC).
• Acting for the defendant to a claim for c.£3m in damages for terminal dilapidations of a large office building, principally for alleged failure to replace a heating and air conditioning system.
• Acting for a local authority claimant in a multi-million claim for rent under a pre-1996 lease of a shopping centre, which raises issues including the validity of s.17 notices and the effect of a ‘Transfer Scheme’ under FSMA 2000.
• Advising a tenant under a long lease of a Knightsbridge building in relation to a dispute concerning consent for alterations and the effect of the landlord’s neighbouring development.
• Acting for the landlord in a rent review dispute in respect of a valuable aggregates site.

• Representing (with Martin Hutchings KC) the landlord of the Brunswick Centre in Lazari 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).

Property damage/tort

• Acting for the defendant navigation authority in a claim in negligence concerning alleged damage following a flood.
• Acting for the claimant in a claim against a water undertaker for damages following an escape of water from water main.
• Advising a forward-funder landowner faced with a claim by a statutory undertaker alleging damage to a sewer as a result of construction works.

Property/trusts matters

• Advising a private bank on various strict settlements and trustee obligations relating thereto.
• Representing a well-known charity in a claim for a vesting order of property under the Trustee Act 1925.
• Acting in and advising on various trusts of land matters, including a claim to a beneficial interest in Kensington property following a relationship breakdown.

Property-related insolvency

• Advice and representation in various applications under the Insolvency Act 1986 for vesting orders following disclaimer.
• Advising on potential claims for specific performance against a company and the subsequent effect of a pending Part 26A restructuring plan.

Building safety

• Advising a group of leaseholders in relation to liability for costs of remedying defective / dangerous cladding.
• Advising owners and prospective owners of property in relation to the statutory requirements under the Building Safety Act 2022 for Higher Risk Buildings and relevant buildings and risk of liability for ‘associates’.
• Acting for the landlord of a relevant building seeking a determination that service charges for a Major Works scheme are payable – the main issue concerns whether Sch.8 para.8 to the 2022 Act prevents recovery against qualifying lessees (Almancantar v De Valk, above – appeal to the Court of Appeal listed in October 2026).

 

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