Martin Horne

Call 2015
Telephone 020 7831 0222 | Email [email protected]

Martin Horne

Call 2015
Telephone 020 7831 0222 | Email [email protected]

Martin maintains a broad civil practice with particular expertise in business, property, housing, and personal injury.

He is known for clear, commercially focused advice and compelling courtroom advocacy. Instructed at all stages of litigation, Martin is valued for his thorough preparation, sound judgment, and practical approach. His work includes acting as sole counsel for both claimants and defendants in a variety of costs, case management and application hearings, and at trial.

Martin’s experience includes credit hire, personal injury, property, and housing. He has over a decade of advocacy experience. Prior to coming to the Bar, he worked in business and financial services, initially qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and later completing an MBA.

Business and Property Law

Martin acts in contractual disputes, insolvency matters (including bankruptcy and winding‑up petitions), and enforcement proceedings such as charging orders and orders for sale. He has represented mortgagees and LPA receivers in possession proceedings, and landlords or tenants in service charge, forfeiture, and related real property claims.

Recent work includes:

HI v J — advised on a possession claim concerning an alleged service occupancy granted to a contractor; secured immediate possession following service of a notice to quit.

Y v B & G – acting in a long-running intermediate track dispute over a debt and retention of construction equipment associated with the construction of a conservatory.

Housing Law

Martin regularly acts for private and social landlords in possession claims, warrant suspensions, access and anti‑social behaviour injunctions, closure orders, contempt proceedings, trespass, disrepair, and EPA prosecutions. He has also acted for local authorities in council tax and business rates matters before the Magistrates’ Court and Valuation Tribunal.

Recent work includes:

London Borough of Lewisham v L — secured dismissal of a last‑minute application to suspend a warrant, enabling the eviction to proceed.

K v I & K v M — secured possession of rooms let in a HMO, facilitating sale of the property by estate beneficiaries.

London Borough of Southwark v J – successfully persuaded a deputy district judge in the magistrates’ court that a pest infestation coupled with a refusal of access constituted a nuisance, sufficient to justify the grant of a full closure order.

Personal Injury

Martin acts for claimants and defendants at trial and in procedural applications in matters on the fast‑track and intermediate track arising from road traffic accidents with liability and/or quantum in dispute and issues including claimed personal injury, vehicle damage, storage and recovery, credit hire, dishonesty, QOCS and applications to add a third party for costs.

Recent work includes:

L v S — achieved dismissal of the entire claim for credit hire by establishing the claimant’s lack of need with evidence of a second available vehicle.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

ADR Group Accredited Mediator (Commercial and Civil)
BPTC – Very Competent
Post-graduate diploma in law

Memberships & Committees

Member - The Chancery Bar Association
Barrister - The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn
Fellow (FCA) - The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (non-practising)