Real estate

“They are very thorough and make sure they have all the ducks in a row before we take action. They are efficient, have a balanced view and are commercially savvy.”
Chambers UK 2017

Our national Real Estate team is one of the largest of its kind in the UK, with more than 100 lawyers specialising in all aspects of commercial property, construction and procurement, development (including complex landlord and tenant, acquisition and disposal issues), regeneration, property litigation and estate management.

Our clients include developers, housing associations, construction specialists, development agencies, local authorities, land owners, as well as investors and funders.

We invest in the best property, planning, environmental, construction and procurement specialists and encourage them to work together to provide a genuinely connected service. By connected we don’t just mean seamless (although, that’s one benefit of our approach); we also mean working together to look for business opportunities for our clients. For instance, we aim to open doors to potential developments or, where we can, to source land.

We can offer expert advice relating to large regeneration schemes and work with regional development agencies on major regeneration projects and on many gap funding transactions. We have extensive experience in acting for developers in respect of site acquisitions, development and overage agreements, conditional contracts, complex land assembly and associated planning issues, including highway and other infrastructure agreements, together with the subsequent sales of developed plots.

We provide specialist advice given by lawyers with the highest technical ability, but also with an interest in and understanding of the property market. We understand the pressures faced by our commercial property clients in today’s market and we are proactive in pushing a transaction to completion. We take a commercial and pragmatic approach – fighting for the issues that really matter and managing those that don’t to avoid them causing delay.

We don’t just think in terms of legal property services. We also look at it from our clients’ perspective. Our approach is sector specific as we understand that our clients would rather work with lawyers who understand the climate in which they operate, and the way their business actually works on a day-to-day basis. Our dedicated Real Estate sector means that people in our team are not only excellent lawyers but are also fully aware of the specific requirements of our clients, the market in which they operate, as well as the challenges and opportunities within the sector.