Site Acquisition, Conveyancing and Commercial Finance
Serving the commercial property area including retail, office, leisure, industrial and hospitality sector, our commercial property division operates with a specialist team of solicitors who are able to act on your behalf. We are able to provide expertise to organisations of all sizes from the small and medium size enterprise through to global, corporate entities.
We offer support for those organisations who seek to acquire, sell, lease or develop properties of all types and are also able to provide security services for both private and commercial lenders.
Acting with both speed and precision our commercial property solicitors deliver fast and efficient responses whenever required and combine a high level of service with unparalleled expertise within this sector. Our knowledge and experience will help guide you through the complete conveyanving process irrespective of the purchase specifics or type of acquisition:
- Freehold commercial property acquisition and funding.
- Introduction of commercial lenders where appropriate.
- Negotiation of commercial leases including heads of terms.
- Acquisition of investment property.
- Site acquisition.
- Plot sales on completed developments for house builders.
- Secured lending (acting for the Lender).
- Development funding.
It is common practice for commercial property clients to seek property acquisition on a joint venture basis with associates and investors. These types of arrangements can be beset with complexity and risk and all parties will want to ensure that the most appropriate advice is sought. Furthermore, the formation of the appropriate contractual agreements is not only prudent but a legal obligation. We can act on your behalf in relation to:
- Creation of joint venture agreements.
- Investment agreements.
- Forward sale agreements.
- New company formation.
- Partnership agreements.
- Mezzanine finance and equity finance.
- Introduction of joint venture partners, in specific circumstances.
We work actively with our clients in the acquisition and assembly of sites through option or conditional contract or otherwise in parallel with clients’ other professional advisers, particularly planning consultants and accountants.
- Option Agreements
- Overage Agreements
- Construction Contracts
Developed over a number of years, we have in place relationships with a wide range of lenders and financiers which enable us to assist clients in a series of commercial finance options. This introduction service is offered free of charge to the end user client.
We are recognised by all mainstream lenders and where lenders appoint their own panel of solicitors, we work closely with those firms at all stages of the process to ensure rapid conclusion of security documentation and draw-down to coincide with clients’ deadlines.
The Sunday Times reports that Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, has prepared a Leasehold Bill for inclusion in the King’s Speech.
In view of past government statements this could have important ramifications for residential leaseholders and their landlords.
The Upper Tribunal’s decision in Mountview Estates Plc v W8 Property Ltd [2026] UKUT 196 (LC) provides useful guidance on the condition in which a flat is to be valued when calculating the premium payable for a statutory lease extension.
The case concerned a flat which both parties’ valuers described as “uninhabitable”. The landlord argued that the valuation should nevertheless assume that the flat had been brought up to a clean, modern and readily marketable standard because the lease required the tenant to keep it in “good tenantable repair”.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LaFRA) represents a significant shift in property ownership laws in England and Wales, aiming to enhance the rights of residential leaseholders, this being flat and house owners.
While it received Royal Assent on 24th May 2024 only a few provisions were brought into effect then, and it wasn’t until the end of January that the first change relating to enfranchisement rights came into effect. This was the removal of the requirement to have owned your flat or house for two years before you could claim an extended lease or the freehold to your house.
Now a number of provisions of the LaFRA relating to the Right to Manage (RTM) have been brought
