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Site acquisition - property development

Our commercial property solicitors can assist you from site acquisition right through to the sale of the last plot on the development. We have experience of advising private investors, business owners, local authorities, housing associations, house builders, developers and farmers.

We strive to understand your aims and objectives at the outset to ensure the acquisition is right for you and to ensure that any risks are reduced.

We can assist from the very early stages, advising upon and negotiating the heads of terms and providing advice in relation to company structure and the legal aspects of funding the development.

A key consideration for any acquisition is planning. If the site does not already benefit from a suitable planning permission, you will need some certainty that it can be lawfully developed. This can be achieved either by an option agreement (you are given the right, but no obligation, to purchase the site once planning permission has been obtained) or by a conditional contract (you commit to purchasing the site once planning permission has been obtained). Whichever route you decide upon, we have extensive experience in negotiating these documents and achieving a satisfactory outcome for our clients.

 

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Site acquisition due diligence

Our solicitors will guide you through the site acquisition process and as part of our due diligence we will:

  • Investigate title to the site and identify any covenants, restrictions or boundary issues which may pose problematic for the proposed development, including any overage provisions
  • Investigate all routes of access to the site, and identify any which are not direct from the public highway and which you may not automatically have rights to use
  • Undertake searches and enquiries to enable us to advise upon the services, infrastructure and utilities available to the site
  • Investigate the rights currently benefiting the site and advise upon any further rights which may be necessary for the development
  • Consider the current planning use and advise upon the impact of any planning obligations and/or agreements which may already be in existence

Where issues are identified we will advise upon possible solutions and assist with any ancillary documents which may be necessary, including deeds of variation, deeds of release and deeds of easement.

We will continue to advise you during the development phase and can assist with planning agreements and variations of planning obligations.

We can advise you on how best to structure the disposals of the plots and management of any common parts. We can also assist with the setup of a management company. To ensure that plot disposals proceed as smoothly and efficiently as possible upon completion of the development, we can prepare a detailed site specific sales pack, ensuring that all relevant information is provided to your buyers and/or tenants at the very earliest opportunity and in a comprehensive form.

Our real estate team is on hand to guide you through the whole process, call us on 0161 696 6174 or complete our online enquiry form and we will contact you directly. 

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