Developing affordable housing

“Everyone has the right to safe, decent, affordable housing”

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WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU

As a leading regional adviser with extensive sector expertise, we are proud to work with many Housing Associations and can safely say as a team we believe in and share your vision.

Whatever your affordable housing development legal requirements, our specialist team really can cover every element of the process, from the moment you make an offer, through the planning, construction and development phases right through to completion if selling is your ultimate aim. We have that covered too with our conveyancing team.

JOINT SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT

It’s 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.

WE ASSIST, GUIDE AND
ADVISE WITH:

Our clients include regional and national housing associations, as well as private developers selling their affordable homes in accordance with their Section 106 obligations.

Whether you are acquiring land to build out yourself, or selling or acquiring units on a Section 106 scheme, we can lead you through the process. We will carry out full due diligence and title investigation, advising and working with you when there are issues we need to overcome. We are pragmatic, proactive and responsive and will work with you to ensure that your timescales for delivery (and those of the developer) are met.

We have in-depth experience in the negotiation of land sale agreements, conditional contracts, development agreements, option agreements, overage agreements and joint venture agreements.

To help ensure that we best protect you we encourage you to engages us before signing the Heads of Terms to ensure a number of key points of principle are agreed. We know that having these in place significantly reduces the time taken to negotiate the documentation.

We have a team of dedicated planning lawyers who have worked with our Housing Association clients for many years and understand the particular requirements of Housing Associations in all planning documentation.

We will provide guidance in particular on the mortgagee protection clause in the Section 106 Agreement and will work with you and the local authority if and where the wording needs to be varied, and at an early stage highlight any other issues that may arise from the planning history, planning conditions or Section 106 Agreement.

We can assist with all planning related issues, from pre-planning application stage to infrastructure agreements and managing and discharging of planning conditions and obligations.

We are experienced in the negotiation of all ancillary section agreements and nominations agreements that may need to be entered into with statutory undertakers or the local authority and our close links to the local authorities allow us to quickly and efficiently progress these agreements with the council. Many of our planning lawyers have previously worked in-house at local authorities.

We understand that making sure the homes can be occupied by or sold to your customers is the most important part of the process for you and that structuring a scheme for sale can be a daunting task.

We aim to make the sales process a smooth and transparent one. Our team put together a sales pack for the homes to be sold, uploading this to a shared online platform/data room, giving the buyers’ solicitors immediate access to it and all relevant documentation required during the sales process.

Our highly experienced plot sales team will then lead you through the sale process itself, keeping you updated at all times and working hard to ensure that any exchange deadlines are met.

We are always mindful of our clients’ need to charge sites at open market value where possible and appreciate that your financial model depends on this. As well as identifying issues during the acquisition, such as with the mortgagee protection clause in any Section 106 Agreement, when the time comes to charge sites, we have a dedicated property finance and banking team who can advise on any funding documents required by your lender and deal with all conditions precedent that may be imposed by the lender.

Key members of the team

TALK TO US
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“Brampton Valley Homes Ltd would have no hesitation in recommending EMW to anyone who asks and look forward to continuing our working relationship with Josh and his EMW colleagues for many years to come.”

Jordan Hamilton, Brampton Valley Homes
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Having supported us through the buy-out process in 2014 and remained our go to lawyers since, EMW were the obvious choice to support the Springboard shareholders through the exit process. We certainly made the right choice. EMW are responsive, collaborative and pragmatic, always achieving the right balance between representing our best interests and delivering on our wish for the transaction to proceed to close as quickly as possible. I couldn’t be more satisfied with the outcome and the quality of service that EMW provided.

Stephen Booth, Springboard
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This acquisition provided an exciting opportunity for Produce Packaging and Innavisions to benefit from their respective strengths and resources. The EMW team supported us very effectively in completing this transaction.

Gordon McKechnie, H.L. Hutchinson
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The EMW team provided us with professional and invaluable support and guidance throughout the transaction process and I would like to thank them for their hard work and diligence. We look forward to continuing to work with them as we move to phase two for Invu Plc.

Mark Wells, Invu Plc
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I wholeheartedly recommend EMW to other business owners looking for first class legal advice.

James Harrison, Burbage Realty Partners

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