Christopher Cant

Christopher acts across a wide span of property, chancery, and related commercial work, including:

• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

• Land & property transactions, development agreements, and structuring

• Easements, restrictive covenants, rights-of-way and boundary disputes

• Enforcement of charges, guarantees, and security interests

• Leases, lease renewals, assignments, repairs obligations

• Adverse possession claims and title acquisition matters

• Overages, planning promotion agreements, and agricultural land deals

• Trusts, wills, charities, partnership and company work in a chancery context

• Professional negligence, non-contentious advice and drafting

Christopher Cant’s career spans more than five decades, built on a foundation of technical mastery, doctrinal insight, and versatility across property, equity, and commercial law.

Community Infrastructure Levy

• Community Infrastructure Levy is a particular area in which Christopher has a pre-eminent specialism, fitting in well with his general advisory work on behalf of developers and authorities. He enjoys the application of the legislative regime; planning to tackle CIL issues; and the consideration of general planning policy including section 106 planning obligations. This has led to his undertaking work concerning planning permissions and their enforcement.

• As well as advisory work, Christopher appeared in the Planning Court for the successful authority in the first judicial review case on the operation of the CIL regime and has acted on a number of statutory CIL appeals. He is now being asked to consider professional negligence issues arising from CIL.

Property & Development Practice

• His non-contentious work includes advising on refinancing, portfolio restructuring, restrictive covenants, Sharia-compliant leases, planning promotion agreements, and overage mechanisms

• He drafts bespoke agreements for development, site conveyancing, and pre-completion works strategies

• Works on both large-scale schemes (retail, residential developments) and smaller residential or mixed-use holdings

Contested Property & Chancery Disputes

• Handles boundary, access, and easement conflicts, covenant enforcement, and dispute over assured rights

• Acts in applications to register rights, oppose highway claims, or resolve path-width and rights-of-way issues

• Experienced in adverse possession claims to registered land

• Notable case work includes challenges under Insolvency Act section 423 and High Court covenant disputes in Chancery Division

Chancery, Trusts & Related Work

• Widely practised in trusts, wills, charities, partnership, and company law in a chancery context

• Acts in both contentious and advisory roles, combining his equity knowledge with property insight

• Works with local authorities, institutions, and private clients on governance, drafting, and dispute resolution

Approach & Reputation

• Renowned for tackling highly technical and complex issues with patience and clarity

• Clients value his precise drafting, foresight in structuring, and persuasive advocacy

• His long history gives him perspective on evolving legal doctrines in property and equity

• He blends academic excellence with a practical, problem-solving mindset

•  Called to the Bar in 1973