Alexander Bunzl

Alexander Bunzl is a barrister with a broad civil practice spanning insolvency, commercial, property, landlord and tenant, and family finance work. He appears regularly in the County Court as well as the Senior Courts, and has won multiple appeals.

In insolvency, he has brought and defended bankruptcy petitions, including defending a petition of approximately £750,000 where the client had agreed to pay the debt, and a matter in which the court found genuine and substantial reasons to consider the debt unenforceable under the Consumer Rights Act. He advises on setting aside statutory demands, appealing bankruptcy orders, the powers of a trustee in bankruptcy and the status of residential property, and accepts corporate insolvency instructions. He frequently represents parties through the Chancery Bar Association's Bankruptcy Representation Scheme.

In family finance he appears in the Family Court and the High Court, recently obtaining judgment for a large proportion of the equity in a family home by arguing that a short marriage should be considered in the context of five years' cohabitation. He is experienced in financial remedies, third-party disclosure orders, injunctions to prevent the sale of matrimonial assets, child arrangements orders, and non-molestation and occupation orders.

His property and landlord and tenant work covers illegal eviction, disrepair and Equality Act claims (acting for landlords, tenants, local authorities and management directors), relief from forfeiture, grounds for possession, section 25 notices, adverse possession, boundary and easement disputes, and applications to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). He also accepts planning inquiry work, drawing on a background in economic consulting.

Notable cases

• Glaser & Anor v Atay [2023] EWHC 2539 (KB), junior counsel for the successful appellant/defendant; the payment term was held unenforceable under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
• Santander Consumer (UK) plc v Reut [2023], acted for the defendant, establishing that he was a good-faith purchaser of a vehicle without notice of a conditional sale agreement.
• Glaser and Miller v Atay [2024] EWCA Civ 1111, junior counsel for the defendant in the first Court of Appeal review of the relevant statute; all five grounds of appeal dismissed and the contract term held unfair and unenforceable.
• Sadiq & Sohn Orientteppich GmbH & Others v Talib [2025], acted for the debtor in the High Court; established that a personal guarantee was not executed as a deed and was unenforceable for lack of consideration, and the bankruptcy petition was dismissed.

Professional & academic

• M.Sc. Economic and Social History, University of Oxford
• B.A. (Hons) History, First Class, University of Warwick
• Graduate Diploma in Law; Bar Professional Training Course
• Basil Neild Award and Scholarship, Inner Temple
• Member: Chancery Bar Association; Commercial Bar Association; Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
• Publications include articles in the Law Society Gazette (2023) and the City Law Journal (2017)