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Real Estate News

04 April 2012

Burges Salmon seals growth ambitions with seven new partner promotions

Leading UK law firm Burges Salmon has made up seven new partners from within the firm, as it continues to go from strength to strength in both UK and international markets.

28 March 2012

Burges Salmon advises Knightstone on its new home

Real estate specialists from Burges Salmon have advised Knightstone Housing Association on the development agreement for its new HQ building on the Weston Gateway Business Park, Weston-super-Mare.

21 March 2012

Budget 2012 - real estate headlines

Details of the budget 2012, directly relevant to real estate.

08 February 2012

Destination Cannes: the world’s leading real estate event

Burges Salmon is sending a team of lawyers to MIPIM again this year.  Taking place from 6-9 March in Cannes, the world's leading real estate event sees four days of intensive real estate business.

21 December 2011

Draft Finance Bill 2012 - REITs and PAIFs

Following on from our recent briefing on the proposed changes to the REIT regime, the draft clauses in the Finance Bill 2012 reflect the expected changes listed there. The changes are welcome improvements to the regime and we expect them to encourage wider use of REITs. They will apply on or after the date that the Finance Bill receives Royal Assent.

08 December 2011

Skanska expands its residential stake at Clay Farm, Cambridge

Sustainable residential developer Skanska has completed the purchase of its second site at Great Kneighton in Cambridge by acquiring land for up to 310 homes, with advice from real estate specialists at Burges Salmon.

24 October 2011

Burges Salmon advises trio of property award winners

The award winning Real Estate group at leading UK law firm Burges Salmon has advised clients on three separate real estate development projects which have captured awards at the Insider South West annual property industry awards.

21 September 2011

Burges Salmon clear contender for renewables Advisor of the Year

A multi-disciplinary team representing the best of Burges Salmon's construction, planning, procurement, real estate, project finance and regulation expertise has been shortlisted for the national Renewable Energy Infrastructure Awards 2011.

01 September 2011

Burges Salmon working with LDA on £22bn ‘arc of opportunity’ at Royal London Docks

The London Development Agency (LDA) has chosen a legal team from leading UK law firm Burges Salmon to advise them on a key element of the transformation of London’s Royal Docks.

23 August 2011

Could the work of Banksy be listed?

A study by a member of Burges Salmon’s specialist planning team has explored whether the work of the well-known British street artist, Banksy, could be protected as a listed asset.

19 July 2011

Real Estate team of the year advises on major Scottish acquisition

The award-winning Real Estate team at leading UK law firm Burges Salmon has acted on behalf of fund manager, Aerium Finance Ltd, in its acquisition of the 125,000 sq ft iQ Building in Aberdeen, Aerium’s debut Scottish purchase.

01 July 2011

Real Estate Team of the Year 2011

Leading UK law firm Burges Salmon continues its reign as one of the UK's premier real estate advisers after winning the title of Real Estate Team of the Year at the prestigious Lawyer Awards 2011 held last month (21 June).

22 June 2011

Adoption of Private Sewers

If draft regulations come into force as planned on 1 July, an estimated 200,000 kilometres of private sewers and private lateral drains will, from 1 October this year, transfer “overnight” from private ownership to that of statutory sewerage and water companies. 

03 June 2011

One Glass Wharf hosts lively localism debate

Speakers at a property industry seminar hosted by Burges Salmon at One Glass Wharf this month [01.06.11] welcomed plans to give residents and businesses a greater say in local planning, and to give communities greater incentives to back new development.

18 May 2011

National Recognition in Trio of Top Awards

Burges Salmon has scooped a place on the shortlist for three major award schemes in just a matter of weeks.

22 March 2011

Noise Nuisance from Motor Sports

In March 2011 the High Court found in favour of two Suffolk residents claiming that the operators of a stadium and track used for speedway racing and banger racing created a noise nuisance. 

18 March 2011

Burges Salmon Appoints New Real Estate Partner

Burges Salmon has appointed real estate Partner Philip Beer from City of London firm Simmons & Simmons. Philip joined on 14 March to further strengthen the expanding 65 lawyer real estate practice, recently awarded Property Team of the Year at the British Legal Awards.

18 March 2011

Burges Salmon Appoints Four New Partners From Within

Top 50 UK law firm Burges Salmon has appointed four new partners from a range of practice areas across the firm. These appointments will bring the total number of partners to 69. They take effect from 1 May, 2011.

17 March 2011

The Crown Estate Re-appoints Burges Salmon to Urban Legal Panel

Burges Salmon has been re-appointed by The Crown Estate to provide legal services for its St James’s urban portfolio, which it has supported since 2005, with effect from 1 April, 2011.

02 March 2011

Burges Salmon advise Skanska on the purchase of its first UK Residential Development Site

Skanska has recently completed the purchase of its first UK residential development site. This news follows the announcement in December that it was to establish a Residential Development business in the UK.

01 February 2011

St. Modwen secures its first occupier at Firepool, Taunton

Burges Salmon have recently advised St Modwen Developments on its first pre-let at Firepool Taunton. Taunton-based waste management business Viridor is to relocate its head office to the £270m Firepool redevelopment scheme in the town.  St Modwen expects to start construction on the 17-acre mixed-use project during the second quarter of 2011.

26 January 2011

New Homes Bonus

The New Homes Bonus scheme announced last year is to be extended to empty homes. The proposed scheme has been generally well received by the industry. In outline, the idea is that central Government will pay local authorities a "bonus" equivalent to the council tax receipts for each new home provided in the local authority area for 6 years after that home is first occupied.

26 January 2011

Do you own land of community value?

As well as wide ranging proposals for reform of the planning system, the recently published Localism Bill is of interest for introducing the concept of "assets of community value".   The Bill contains provisions which when implemented will confer a right of pre-emption for neighbourhood groups over certain properties such as pubs, shops, libraries or leisure centres.

04 November 2010

Burges Salmon advises Mapfre Asistencia

Burges Salmon has advised Spanish insurance company Mapfre Asistencia on its acquisition of InsureandGo, the biggest online provider of travel insurance in the UK. 

12 October 2010

HMRC guidance on the impact of the rise in VAT when calculating SDLT on leases

The standard rate of VAT will increase from 17.5% to 20% on 4 January 2011 and HMRC has recently issued guidance on the impact on SDLT for leases where the landlord has opted to tax the premises. There may be an additional charge to SDLT in some circumstances.

06 October 2010

Higher rent limit for assured shorthold tenancies

A reminder that the rent limit for assured shorthold tenancies of residential premises in England increased from £25,000 to £100,000 per annum on 1 October. 

22 July 2010

Stamp duty changes

In what turned out to be Alastair Darling’s final Budget on 24 March, he decided to focus on optimistic growth forecasts with relatively few changes to the tax system in a bid to save his party from election defeat.  This left the difficult decisions as to how to tackle the current budget deficit through control of public spending and taxation to be made after the general election; a problem he has now handed over to George Osborne.

22 July 2010

Increase in AST rent threshold

Under current housing law, a tenancy cannot be assured (which includes an assured shorthold tenancy) if the rent exceeds £25,000 a year. A residential tenancy with an annual rent exceeding £25,000 is a 'common law' tenancy, which enjoys no security of tenure or restriction on rental increases.

14 July 2010

Are your land agreements anti-competitive?

Restrictive covenants affecting real property must comply fully with UK competition law from 6th April 2011. This includes covenants in existing documents as well as those made after that date, whether contained in leases, transfers or other property deeds and agreements. Those which do not comply will be void and may give rise to other penalties for the parties after next April.

23 June 2010

Unlucky Break for Landlords?

The Government’s Efficiency and Reform Group recently announced - in an attempt to cut the public rent bill - that no new property leases or lease extensions will be signed on behalf of Government departments or their quangos without Treasury approval. 

28 May 2010

Tax on Development

Since 6 April 2010 local authorities have had the right (not the obligation) to charge Community Infrastructure Levy ("CIL") in order to provide a coordinated and predictable method for the funding of infrastructure works on developments. 

21 May 2010

Burges Salmon advises on major real estate joint venture

A cross departmental team led by Real Estate Head Richard Clark and including John Dunn (Client Partner for The Crown Estate), property development Partner David Gidney and Corporate Head Chris Godfrey, has advised on another major property acquisition, the Westgate Shopping Centre and adjoining development land in central Oxford, for long-standing client The Crown Estate. 

06 May 2010

Burges Salmon advises on first two PAIFs

Burges Salmon's real estate investment practice has further enhanced its reputation in the market by securing leading roles on the country's first two Property Authorised Investment Funds ('PAIFs')

30 March 2010

Burges Salmon supports NDA as nuclear site future is secured

Successful conclusion to the disposal of the nuclear fuel business at Springfields to Westinghouse Electric

12 January 2010

No Limit on Option Periods after 6th April

From 6th April 2010 it will be possible to grant options over land for a period of more than 21 years, when provisions of the new Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 come into force. Click on the link to read more.

18 December 2009

Virtual Assignments Survive

The reserved decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Clarence House v National Westminster Bank has recently been published and will be of interest to commercial landlords and their tenants. The Court of Appeal has allowed the tenant’s appeal and so decided that a “virtual” assignment of a lease does not breach a covenant against parting with or sharing possession or occupation of premises.

24 November 2009

Near-zero-energy buildings agreement

EU Member States government and Members of the European Parliament reached political agreement on 17 November on revisions to the 2002 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive that will have the result of forcing all new buildings constructed after 2020 to consume "near-zero-energy".

28 October 2009

Advice to NDA on Sellafield land sale

We advised the NDA on the completion of the sale of land adjacent to the nuclear site at Sellafield in Cumbria.

15 October 2009

Acquisition of the Swanage Bay View Holiday Park for £7.25m

We advised Darwin Leisure Fund on its acquisition from Swanage Town Council of Swanage Bay View Holiday Park.

08 October 2009

Rail Freight Awards 2009

This year over 100 people from the Rail Industry attended the 2009 Rail Freight Awards, an event which provides recognition for excellence and technical innovation within the Rail Industry. Co-sponsored by Burges Salmon, the successful event took place in Oxford with Richard Walford, rail partner presenting the awards alongside John Smith from First GBRF, the other main sponsor.

02 October 2009

Property Development - Is there life after death?

Read more about the key points covered in our seminar, held on Thursday 23rd September, on property development in the current climate.

01 October 2009

Extending the life of existing planning permissions

A new procedure introduced to extend the life of some existing planning permissions may not be the panacea it might at first seem to be.

16 September 2009

Burges Salmon has advised The Crown Estate on its purchase of the head leasehold interest in Rex House

Burges Salmon has advised The Crown Estate on its purchase of the head leasehold interest in Rex House, 4-12 Regent Street London from Helical Bar for £34 million.  Rex House consists of approximately 91,000 square feet of offices which is fully let and The Crown Estate already owns the freehold interest. 

11 August 2009

Update on Community Infrastructure Levy

This briefing provides an overview of the government's draft Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 which, together with a more detailed explanatory document, is out for consultation until 23 October 2009.

22 June 2009

Cross-firm team provides quick win for Milk Link

A cross-firm team recently supported Milk Link in its acquisition of the Llandyrnog cheese creamery in North Wales.

19 June 2009

Appointed to London Development Agency Panel

We have been selected to work with the London Development Agency.

22 May 2009

Advice to RWE npower on North East HQ Office Acquisition

Our Real Estate Investment team has advised client RWE npower on its acquisition from Northern Rock.

01 May 2009

Online auction of new nuclear sites successful

We are pleased to announce the successful conclusion of the first round of sales of sites for new nuclear power stations.

27 April 2009

St. Modwen completes development agreement on major South West regeneration project

BS client and regeneration specialist, St Modwen, completes development agreement with Taunton Deane Borough Council.

24 March 2009

Responding to the downturn: Decommissioning or mothballing manufacturing plant

Our Environment Team produced this webcast which looks at decommissioning and mothballing manufacturing plant.

01 October 2008

Real Estate Development Team act for Westmark

We have advised Westmark on its agreement with the Environment Agency for the construction of its new Headquarters.

22 April 2008

The Crown Estate completes sale

The Crown Estate completes its sale of Oxford Street Quadrangle Block