New Homes
Our New Homes Solicitors provide an efficient, speedy, cost-effective service, acting for residential developers on the sale of their new homes. This is often, but not exclusively, in conjunction with our Strategic Land team, and we also work as part of the developers legal team with other lawyers. Our expertise is such that we fully understand complex titles, planning and infrastructure agreements, and complex rent charge and service charge arrangements. We have the required knowledge and experience to address the entire range of purchasers’ enquiries.
We have a well-developed new homes sales service, which utilises information technology and well-designed systems and processes to deliver a streamlined service to our clients. We combine this with a personal hands-on approach, setting us apart from the call centre mentality.
In order to deliver the new homes sales as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, we have invested heavily in developing a bespoke IT system specifically for such sales. This provides live tracking of the sales process, which allows your management and sales team to log onto the portal and obtain real time updates of the current status of each unit sale, and also to generate reports throughout the sales process. This can be tailored to include all key milestone dates, from reservation to completion, including exchange of contracts and stage payments.
Our systems are also designed to assist with the preparation and completion of documentation during periods of high volume exchanges, staged payments and completion.
Recent experience
Acting for Barratt Homes in relation to a £168m 10 year transformation of an area of Plymouth known as North Prospect. The project is being undertaken in partnership with Plymouth Community Homes and will see more than 1,100 new homes being built for rent, shared ownership and private sale. Our advice has included negotiating the Phased Development Agreement and related Construction Agreements; reviewing the title; advising on planning aspects and dealing with all the phased acquisitions and private sales out. This has been a very high profile site as it is one of the first publicly owned sites to come to market via the HCA delivery Partner panel.
Acting for Barratt Homes in relation to a £41m development of more than 200 homes forming a waterside community on former Ministry of Defence land in Hooe. The development will also provide open space and affordable housing with existing lime kilns forming a feature entrance. We advised on title, overage arrangements, conditionality, planning and acquisition and then dealt with the site set-up and disposal of the units.
Acting for European Land on the sale of 159 luxury residential apartments currently under construction at 3 Merchant Square, Paddington in London. This has included the legal title set-up and disposals by way of overseas road shows in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. We are also retained on the commercial lettings at Merchant Square comprising retail, restaurants and social infrastructure. The 20 storey building will contain 159 private apartments, 41 affordable apartments, 90 basement car parking spaces, approximately 900sqm of retail at ground floor and a 500sqm nursery at first floor.
Advising on a legal structure for the development and disposal of a £200m mixed-use scheme on a site in Finsbury Park, London. We were one of three central London law firms working closely with the developer’s in-house legal department to create a legal structure to accommodate this major regeneration scheme. The development included a new London Underground ticket hall, restaurants, offices, social housing and 308 residential apartments in two tower blocks and one low-rise block. We dealt with the sales of the residential units which were launched in three foreign exhibitions in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in September 2013.
Areas of focus
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KEY CONTACTS
Lucy Smallwood
PartnerTEAM
Chloe Howard-Smith
Partner
Cheryl Brady
Partner
Gail Bedford
Senior Associate
Ross Jarvis
Senior Associate
Holly Newberry
Senior Paralegal
Liz Cowans
Senior Paralegal
Jocelyn Doe-Goodman
Paralegal
Ellis Arnold
Paralegal