Michael Grant

Michael specialises in Chancery, Property Litigation, and Housing, and regularly appears in the County Court, High Court, and First-tier and Upper Tribunals.

As a former solicitor specialising in property litigation, Michael offers experience across both professions, which clients find invaluable not only at the pre‑litigation stage but in the run‑up to trial.

He is frequently instructed in complex matters requiring detailed and strategic analysis across all aspects of property litigation (including the Housing Acts 1988 and 1985, and the Landlord and Tenant Acts 1985, 1987, and 1954). His work covers, among other areas, service charges and consultation, estate management, possession, forfeiture, disrepair and unfitness, easements, adverse possession, trespass, party walls, and boundary disputes.

Michael also has a thriving chancery practice and is regularly instructed in matters concerning insolvency, probate, wills, transfer of beneficial interests and equitable estates, promissory and proprietary estoppel, constructive trusts, and TOLATA claims.

He is ranked in The Legal 500 UK Bar 2026 and is a member of both the Chancery Bar Association and the Property Bar Association.

He has published numerous property-related articles and presented podcasts on the Renters’ Rights Bill (now Act).

In addition, Michael has created and led several podcast initiatives for the Business & Property Team, including the “Trust Issues” mini-series on TOLATA and the “Forfeiture” mini-series, with further series planned on “Insolvency” and “Charging Orders and Enforcement”. See News and Articles below.

Chancery

Michael has a thriving and varied chancery practice, is a member of the Chancery Bar Association, and is regularly instructed in private client and wills, TOLATA and insolvency matters. See below a non‑exhaustive list of issues on which he is regularly instructed:

Breach of trust and fiduciary duties
Restitution and unjust enrichment
Undue influence and unconscionable bargains
Personal insolvency (bankruptcy, IVAs, Breathing Space moratoriums, substituted service, annulments)
Company insolvency (winding up, CVAs)
Trusts (common intention constructive trusts, resulting trusts, bare trusts)
Estoppel (proprietary and promissory, including life interests)
Co‑ownership and TOLATA applications (including orders for sale and declarations of beneficial interest)
Wills, probate and intestacy disputes
Contentious probate and estate administration (including executor liability and removal)
Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, including applications for reasonable financial provision and advice on prospects and limitation

Recent cases

Michael advised an adult child considering a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, analysing the merits of a reasonable financial provision claim in light of his needs, the size of the estate, and competing beneficiaries’ positions.
Michael advised and drafted a preliminary notice and letter of claim for a purchaser who was prevented by HM Land Registry from registering as freehold proprietor due to a suspected fraudulent sale. All identification documents provided by the purported seller were found invalid, and the purchaser is suing his former conveyancing solicitors for breach of trust in paying monies to someone other than the genuine seller.
He advised a beneficiary on his mother’s intestate estate where she and her ex‑husband had held the property as joint tenants in equity but had not severed the joint tenancy. The ex‑husband claimed survivorship rights; Michael advised there were good prospects of a section 14 TOLATA 1996 claim based on constructive trust and/or proprietary estoppel.
Michael acted for a creditor on a bankruptcy petition and was later instructed by the same creditor to oppose the debtor’s application to annul the bankruptcy order, successfully securing dismissal of the application.
He appeared for a creditor seeking an order for sale following a final charging order. The debtor opposed on the basis of occupation with her children, and the matter was adjourned so that the parties could file full evidence on that issue.
Michael advised professional trustees of a family trust, and a major beneficiary, on a planning promotion deal with a land promoter and developer. He analysed whether heads of terms were binding, assessed potential exposure (including unjust enrichment and estoppel) and evaluated how each option aligned with the trustees’ fiduciary duties when considering a better offer.
He advised a firm of solicitors named as executor in a will after estate funds had been distributed before inheritance tax was settled with HMRC. His advice covered the executor’s personal liability and restitutionary claims against beneficiaries, and he drafted letters of claim which led to most overpayments being repaid.
Michael advised an adult son who believed he had been effectively disinherited in relation to his late parents’ intestate estates involving the family home, a nursery business and farmland. He traced beneficial ownership under a deed of variation and notional will, identified evidential gaps and advised on realistic entitlement, the merits of challenging his sibling’s position and a potential section 14 TOLATA claim.
Finally, he acted in a contentious probate dispute between siblings where a settlement for the distribution of chattels had been reached but performance was obstructed by further demands. He obtained an order for specific performance with a costs order and helped manage expectations so that the parties ultimately complied with their obligations.

Residential Property

Michael has 17 years' experience in property litigation and is known across the circuit for his attention to detail. He is regularly instructed on a wide range of residential landlord and tenant disputes, and the following are some of the issues on which he is most frequently instructed:

Residential Property

Possession (HA 1988, Sch 2)
Compliance with statutory documentation requirements (including pre‑Renters’ Rights prescribed requirements and the current Renters’ Rights Act regime)
Deposits/Prohibited Payments/Tenant Fees Act
Unlawful Eviction and Harassment (injunctive and monetary relief)
Covenant for Quiet Enjoyment and Derogation from Grant
Disrepair/Unfitness
Nuisance
Forfeiture
Service charges and administration charges
Ground rent recovery and demands
Surrender agreements
Notices to quit
Boundary disputes
Adverse possession (registered and unregistered land)
Trespass
Injunctions
Rent increases
Consent for alterations and improvements (unreasonable withholding)
Easements / rights of way

(The above list is non-exhaustive)

Recent cases

Michael was successful in the First-tier Tribunal in obtaining an order for adverse possession for clients seeking first registration of railway arches occupied exclusively for 30 years, defeating multiple challenges to title and possession.
He advised a local authority on the section 20 consultation procedure for a multi-million-pound major works scheme, identifying a discrete element requiring dispensation and later advising that an overly broad dispensation application was misconceived and carried res judicata risks.
In a three-day trial, Michael appeared for a leaseholder in a service charge dispute, identifying serious flaws in the landlord’s accounting system, including evidence of back-dated demands.
He acted for a tenant in a two-day preliminary issue trial on whether a notice of assignment under section 3 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 had been served; following cross-examination, the court found the landlord’s evidence untrue and ordered indemnity costs in the tenant’s favour.
In another matter, Michael represented an intermediate landlord at a one-day hearing under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 concerning the reasonableness and payability of service charges, addressing the Tribunal’s concerns and securing clear directions on applicants, authorities and procedural obligations.
He acted for a tenant in a claim for unlawful eviction and harassment, obtaining an injunction and damages of around £50,000.
Michael also acted for a leaseholder seeking a declaration that consent for alterations had been unreasonably withheld, achieving a settlement that included retrospective consent.
He has further been instructed in boundary and trespass disputes, including a long-running matter involving a substantial extension built in breach of planning permission and without notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, as well as cases involving farmers obstructed from accessing their land, some settling pre-litigation and others requiring injunctive relief and damages.

Commercial Property

Michael has 17 years' experience in property litigation and is known across the circuit for his attention to detail. He is regularly instructed on a wide range of commercial landlord and tenant disputes, and the following are some of the issues on which he is most frequently instructed:

Commercial Property

Lease renewals
Leasehold termination
Rent increases
Rent recovery
Leasehold interpretation
Break clauses
Surrender agreements
Repairing covenants
Consent for alterations and improvements (unreasonable withholding)
User
Trespass
Forfeiture
Mixed use (commercial and residential)
Frustration

Recent cases

Michael advised a commercial landlord on whether to elect forfeiture following the tenant company’s entry into a CVA and on the risk of waiving the right to forfeit by voting at a creditors’ meeting in relation to the CVA.
In another case, he advised a commercial landlord on opposing a tenant’s claim for lease renewal in reliance upon section 30(1)(b) of theLandlord and Tenant Act 1954, based on persistent delayed payment of rent, and on the prospects of success.
Michael advised a commercial tenant operating a hotel business on a potential claim for damages, by way of diminution in value and loss of profits, arising from substantial loss of light caused by an adjoining owner’s extensive construction works.
He also advised a commercial tenant on waiver of the right to forfeit where the landlord had sought injunctive relief within the same possession proceedings without properly pleading such relief in the alternative.
In a further matter, Michael was instructed by a commercial tenant seeking advice on the exercise of a conditional break clause in circumstances where poor drafting raised questions as to the applicability and enforceability of the clause.
He successfully acted for a commercial tenant applying to set aside a money judgment for arrears of rent, despite the order having been made two years earlier. Although promptness was a key concern, the tenant’s conduct over the preceding period was inconsistent with knowledge of the order, and once he received the order from the landlord’s solicitors he applied to set it aside within seven days.
Michael acted for a licensor in urgent, contested injunction proceedings concerning a substantial commercial car park, opposing a licensee asserting security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. He identified fundamental procedural defects in the licensee’s application, resulting in the refusal of injunctive relief while securing undertakings on the licensor’s terms, and subsequently drafted a detailed defence and counterclaim to the amended claim.

Michael is listed as a leading junior in The Legal 500 and is regularly instructed on cases involving issues of:

Possession of secure tenancies (Housing Act 1985 / Housing Act 1996)
Possession of assured tenancies (Housing Act 1988, as amended by the Renters’ Rights Act)
Deceased tenants and personal representatives
Succession
Abandonment
Unlawful subletting
Notices to quit and notices seeking possession
Disrepair and unfitness, including quantum and specific performance
Breach of Tomlin Orders
Anti‑social behaviour injunctions and committals

He has obtained numerous injunctions on behalf of local authorities and housing associations under the Anti‑social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and frequently appears in committal hearings for breach of such injunctions.

Michael is commonly instructed by local authorities, housing associations and tenants to appear at trials and interlocutory hearings concerning disrepair and fitness claims, as well as applications for specific performance, and he regularly advises on quantum.

He also appears in possession proceedings for local authorities, housing associations and tenants, including mandatory and discretionary grounds, and advises on the Housing Acts 1985 and 1988, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, the Housing Act 2004 and the new Renters’ Rights Act.

Recent cases

Michael is regularly instructed to appear at residential disrepair and fitness trials, acting for both social landlords and social tenants.
He was instructed for a secure tenant in a long‑running disrepair claim against a local authority involving damp, mould and leaks. After drafting a detailed skeleton argument on breach, notice, causation and quantum, the landlord settled the claim before the relisted trial.
Michael has drafted pleadings in relation to breaches of schedules to Tomlin Orders in disrepair matters, seeking damages, penal notices and specific performance, and continues to attend hearings arising from such breaches.
He appeared for a social landlord defending a disrepair claim brought by a social tenant, successfully exposing deficiencies in the tenant’s case on notice and expert evidence, and he regularly advises on quantum in disrepair and fitness claims, including cases where damages have been assessed at 100% diminution in value.
Michael acted for a registered social landlord in a possession claim against trespassers who had entered a property unlawfully and asserted, without documentation, that they held a tenancy. The court accepted that they were merely occupiers without consent and made an order for possession forthwith with indemnity‑basis costs, which was transferred to the High Court for enforcement.
He acted to resist both an out‑of‑time appeal and an application to set aside a possession order, drafting a skeleton argument on delay, the conditions under CPR 39.3 and the absence of a viable succession defence under the current Housing Act 1985 regime. At the appeal hearing, permission to appeal and any set‑aside were refused, and the possession order stood.
Michael has also acted for a tenant in a claim for unlawful eviction and harassment, obtaining an injunction and damages of around £50,000.

Direct Access

Michael is authorised to accept instructions direct from members of the public. He encourages clients who are considering this route to contact Chambers and discuss their problem.

In suitable cases, Michael can provide client conferences, written advices and representation at court. Michael accepts public access work across Chambers’ areas of expertise.

News & Articles

Michael has written many articles which have assisted property practitioners and lay individuals alike and such articles can be accessed at www.lettingsbarrister.co.uk, which website is in affiliation with 42BR Barristers.

Podcasts & Webinars

Podcasts

Webinars

Are You Fit to Deal with Unfitness?

Other Information

In his spare time, Michael enjoys travelling, chess, learning French and playing piano. When time permits, he enjoys a glass of wine and has an unfortunate penchant for good quality Burgundy reds.

For updates in the world of property law follow Michael on Twitter at @lettingsbar1 and on LinkedIn.