Development offers some of the greatest returns from land to its owners, however the pitfalls are numerous and the financial consequences can be dire, or a cause of family dissent, in the event that the correct professional advice is not taken. We identify opportunities, as well as working with landowners who are approached by developers, to see the scheme from the beginning of negotiations with potential development partners, to the relevant authority discussions through the planning process to the commencement of construction and possibly sale of further tranches or next phases.
Our Hereford office specialises in creating development value for landowners and has been involved with residential, commercial and mixed use schemes from 5 acres to 1,400 acres, mainly across the southern half of the U.K. This has included Green Belt releases, brown field redevelopment, urban extensions and new settlements.
Our advice covers:
- Potential site identification
- Land assembly with adjoining owners, where necessary, to achieve better value or open up wider opportunities
- Appraisal and disposal reports
- Negotiation of terms for options, joint ventures, promotional agreements and conditional contracts
- Project supervision to monitor and work with the development partner to represent and progress the landowner’s interests
- Negotiation of sale prices, including detailed review of developers’ valuation statements and costed breakdowns of the scheme.
- Review & resolution of more difficult situations such as extracting value from historic rights retained when land was sold away some time ago e.g. a client’s ancestors had donated land for a hospital that was then closed. We negotiated a substantial sum to release the restrictive covenants that had limited the use to hospital and ancillary operations. This allowed a brown field site to be developed in a way that our client, as the adjoining landowner, was comfortable to see as a high quality design with plenty of space around the houses as an expansion area for the town.
We work closely with solicitors and tax advisors to ensure the correct arrangement is put in place for each particular client. We ensure that detailed heads of terms are negotiated in order that both sets of solicitors are aware of the objectives- which we have been repeatedly told allows easier and more rapid drafting of the legal agreement.
If you believe that there are opportunities on your or your client’s land, please contact Andrew Bower for a free initial consultation.
