Real Estate Development

Our Real Estate Development legal team is one of the largest and most diverse in the South West.

The breadth of our work spans years of expertise and involvement in some of the sector’s most significant transactions. From town expansions to strategic mining operations; from dock development to large scale nature conservation projects.

Expert legal advice for the commercial property market

Building, buying and selling property can be a complex process, especially from a legal perspective. Our experienced team of real estate development lawyers offer best-in-class support and expert advice on all legal aspects of commercial property development for a wide range of private and public sector clients across the UK and beyond.

Specialist lawyers for developers, builders and landowners

For landowners, we can help you achieve the full development value of your land. For developers, we’ll assist you in securing opportunities to promote and sell on your developments. And for house builders and commercial investors, our proactive team can support you in acquiring sites that can be built out quickly and with certainty.

We can provide you with expert legal support on matters including:

• land assembly
• contracts and agreements
• overage/clawback
• joint venture formations
• acquisition and development financing
• leasing and sales

Integrated legal services for building developments

We’re committed to providing specialist legal advice when you need it. We work closely with our colleagues in construction, planning and infrastructure, environment and property litigation to deliver an integrated, seamless service across a wide range of related issues, including:

• planning procedure, conditions and obligations and community infrastructure levy
• highways and drainage agreements
• construction contracts and warranties
• development disputes such as restrictive covenants, easements, nuisance, insolvency and professional negligence.

Our real estate development legal expertise in focus

Our development lawyers solve problems creatively and cost-effectively for a diverse spread of clients, from national developers, lenders and contractors, to local tenants and international buyers. Some of the projects we’ve advised on include:

• multi phased option and promotion agreements for residential housing and mixed-use sites
• pre-emptive advice on restrictive covenants, third party rights and promotion agreements versus option agreements
• acting for landowners and developers on agreements including land acquisition in exchange for completed dwellings
• acting for developers in conditional joint venture agreements to develop sites under licence and pay landowners a percentage of net sale proceeds
• acting for developers in agreements where affordable housing land is sold and developed for local authorities and/or registered social housing providers
• placing anchor tenants in a retail park with landlord’s development obligations and the subsequent sale of the retail park with agreements for lease, highways closure and modification of restrictive covenants.