Real Estate

Whether you occupy one site or many, making your property work for you can be key to your success. We’ll assist you, in often ambitious and time-pressured matters, to tailor property solutions to fit your specific operational needs.

Our experience covers advice on leasehold and freehold matters for a range of industry sectors from banks to builders’ merchants, retail to manufacturing and nightclubs to charities. 
  
We realise that legal terms might be completely alien to you and appreciate that you’ve got other things to worry about, so we work hard to make what might seem an odd process, as straightforward as possible. We’ve also got experience acting for landlords, so we understand both sides of the coin!
  
We can help with leases or transfers when you want to acquire a property, whether it’s your first or one hundredth, negotiate licences to alter when you need your landlord’s consent to that refurbishment you’ve planned, deal with documentation to reflect an extension to your lease when you’ve signed that new 5 year contract to supply distribution services to a major retailer or grant leases or sell your property when it no longer serves your needs.

We advise on the acquisition, disposal and management of all sorts of buildings across a variety of sectors, including offices, retail, leisure and industrial premises.

Whether you’re investing in or selling a single asset or a large portfolio, seeking capital growth or acquiring an income stream, we’ll work with you at every stage in the acquisition, management and subsequent disposal of your investment, so that we understand the property inside out.
  
We’ve advised a number of private and institutional funds, working closely with the client teams to provide practical commercial advice.
  
We understand the challenges you face and we’ll provide you with a service that reflects your needs. Let’s be honest, not every transaction will be straightforward but we’ll take a practical approach to achieve the best outcome possible in the circumstances.

We act for banks, buildings societies, peer to peer and private lenders whose loans are secured on residential buy to let or commercial property, including shops, offices, factories, pubs, restaurants and hotels.

Our team has a wealth of experience, including many years gained in-house, so when we say we understand things from the lender’s perspective, we really do.

As you’d expect, we’re well-versed in preparing certificates of title to suit lenders’ requirements and we’ve perfected security on thousands of matters. We have a particular specialism in dealing with volume real estate finance transactions and have developed slick processes which allow us to handle these efficiently.

If you need bespoke finance documents, like security and facility documentation or deeds of priority, we’ve got it covered. If we’re talking development finance, we’ll report on warranties and check step-in rights.

Whatever your lending business, we’re confident we can help.

We can advise you on the full range of residential freehold and leasehold matters and our experience covers property advice for a range of clients. 

Whether you’re buying or selling your home, we understand it can be an incredibly stressful time which is why we make sure we keep you up to date with progress. Maybe you’re a developer with plots to sell or a housing association with new or existing housing stock you want to dispose of (whether by right to buy, right to acquire, shared ownership or asset stock sales). We can help you too.

We’re accredited under the Conveyancing Quality Scheme – the Law Society’s recognised quality standard for firms providing residential conveyancing services - and panel members for all mainstream mortgage lenders.

Whatever the stage of your development, we really can cover every element of the process, from the moment you make an offer, through the planning, construction and development phases, and to completion, and if selling is your ultimate aim, we can cover that too.

With many years of experience, our development team deals with all types of property development and understands the many challenges developers face. We have specific expertise in residential and commercial development, healthcare, social housing, retail, leisure and investment. Our team includes experts in planning and construction, enabling us to provide all the services you need from the start of your project to completion.

Amongst other things, we can deal with development site acquisitions, sales and lettings, complex development documentation, infrastructure agreements, construction and planning advice…the list goes on!

We work with landowners and operators to provide specialist legal advice on telecommunications agreements and related issues.

The law surrounding this ever-advancing sector is complex and requires specialist expertise to understand the issues. We advise on the impact of the Electronic Communications Code on telecommunications agreements and work on high volume and time critical projects.
  
Our expertise extends to property litigation matters such as the procedure for the renewal of business tenancies and proceedings associated with the exercise of statutory rights by Code operators.

Many property disputes arise out of unforeseen circumstances. We seek to identify and prevent those risks at an early stage of a transaction but when things do go wrong, we’re here to help.

We believe in and encourage all forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution including mediation, arbitration and the appointment of an independent expert but we’re experienced in the court process if it comes to that.

Our work in this area is extremely varied; If you have an issue with trespassers on your land or damage to your property or you’re locked in a row over boundaries, we can assist.

If you’re a landlord or tenant arguing over rent reviews, service charges or perhaps terminal dilapidations at the end of a lease, our advice covers that too. We can also help you if you’re a tenant who wants to renew their lease under the 1954 Act or a landlord trying to resist such a renewal.

We can assist with all aspects of licensing in the hospitality and leisure sector. We know that having the right licence for your business is crucial to its success, so whether you need a temporary events licence for that event you’re hosting, a brand new premises licence for a new pub or to ensure that your existing licence is up to date following changes to the way you operate, we can help.

When applying for a new premises licence, it’s important to ensure your application includes all of the regulated activities and that the operating schedule is drafted in a way which limits the scope for objections, whilst at the same time making it flexible enough to let you get on with your proposed activities. In the long run it’s often cheaper and quicker to instruct specialists like us to assist from the very outset to deal with these applications.

Although it’s a key requirement, your licence is often just one part of a bigger transaction. On property purchases, for example, we can help manage the timescales in connection with new licence applications, as well as transfers of existing premises licences and DPS transfers, so that your acquisition isn’t delayed by licensing hiccups. We also make sure that the licensing provisions in the purchase contract reflect the commercial process agreed and ensure that you’re fully protected.

If you encounter an issue with your licensing arrangements, we can advise how best to deal with the situation, to give you the best chance of being able to keep your licence on acceptable terms.

Don’t let licensing mistakes stop the party! Speak to Marco Mauro for assistance.

Our planning team deals with all aspects of planning and development work from householder schemes to large development and regeneration projects including advice on environmental aspects. We provide representation on appeal in respect of applications, listed building and conservation area matters and enforcement actions.

We work with developers, applicants, landowners and mortgagees as well as third party objectors, in addition to a number of local planning authorities. Commissioned by the Solicitor’s Journal to write their guide to the Planning Act 2008, we also write regularly for a number of national publications such as Estates Review and Property Law Journal, so our expertise is well-known.

Needless to say, the list of services we can provide in connection with planning advice is a long one so here are some key words which encapsulate some of this expertise:

Initial site appraisal and investigation - advising on planning policy - drafting support statements – checking acceptability and drafting of planning conditions - applications to vary conditions – checking certificates of lawfulness - Judicial Review and other Statutory Challenges - compulsory purchase and compensation issues - planning and development related agreements - infrastructure agreements - highways issues - village greens…

We could go on but it’s probably best that you call our planning expert, Marco Mauro, who’d be happy to discuss your specific planning requirements!

Our specialist lawyers deal with all aspects of construction, engineering and development work, ranging from small residential schemes to major commercial developments and infrastructure projects.

We advise on both non-contentious and contentious matters and, as well as acting on stand-alone construction projects, we work closely with colleagues in our Real Estate, Corporate and Banking teams to provide construction advice as part of larger corporate or real estate transactions.

Our non-contentious services include advising on procurement arrangements and all forms of contract including all the usual ones with the acronyms like JCT, NEC, ICC, FIDIC, CIOB, ICE, I Chem E, GC Works and PPC2000. We negotiate building and engineering contracts, performance, payment and retention bonds, collateral warranties, from both sides of the fence and we naturally get involved in the construction aspects of development and funding agreements which our development team deal with. EPC and power purchase agreements are also in our repertoire!

On the contentious side, we can deal with payment disputes, where you’ve done the work and they just won’t pay, or delay and disruption claims where you’re frustrated and inconvenienced by a missed deadline. Where things go wrong, we can help resolve disputes through adjudication, expert determination, arbitration or mediation, or, if it comes to it, through the County Court and the Technology and Construction Court, depending on how far it goes.

We act for a variety of clients on a broad range of Scottish commercial property matters including advising on property acquisitions, disposals and leases.

We have a breadth of knowledge and experience to help you with managing your property north and south of the border, making sure the entire transaction is dealt with swiftly.

If you are looking to invest, have a property transaction or have any other queries in relation to Scottish property please contact Shabnam Hanif.

With skills and experience as great and varied as those of our real estate team, it’s little wonder that we have a client base to match.

We are proud to work with Housing Associations and we believe in and share your vision. It is widely accepted that England is facing a housing crisis and Housing Associations are at the forefront of the drive to build and provide much-needed affordable homes. We want to stand right beside you.

We understand our clients’ vision to create not only homes but communities, the importance of sustainability and a sense of space, and above all to improve lives. For us, it’s about the sense of achievement we get when we see the end product and keys being handed over to those in housing need.

We pride ourselves on being pragmatic, proactive and approachable. Clients frequently comment on our clear communication and we strive to present issues in a way which is easy to understand and without jargon. We will work with you to drive deals forward and have a proven record of consistently completing transactions within our clients’ preferred timescales and in line with their commercial objectives. Click on the links below to see how we can help you through all stages of development, from Heads of Terms to plot sales and charging.