Commercial Property
For our client experience
Metalcraft is a building contractor turned developer. They acquire parcels of development land conditionally on being able to obtain planning for drive thru units with ancillary parking and electric vehicle (EV) charging.
As their legal team we worked on:
We have exchanged on XX sites to date.
The company needed large office space. We acted for the client in acquiring a large office building which had multiple offices, fit for purpose, to be used for the client’s contractors, professional team and associated companies.
As their legal team we worked on:
This is a new store acquisition for Lidl. Agreements for Lease were exchanged several years ago, and planning permission has just been granted (December 2023).
Lidl have agreed to waive all the conditionality in the Agreement for Lease in return for a reduction of the premium price payable to the developer for the grant of the Lease.
Given that construction and operational costs have increased substantially since the Agreement for Lease was exchanged, we have also negotiated a variation to the Agreement for Lease which gives Lidl greater flexibility as to how quickly it needs to commence development following completion of the lease.
The Lidl store is being developed as part of a wider Masterplan scheme involving the redevelopment of the town library and community centre and the Council had imposed strict timescales on Lidl commencing and completing the development of its store and the associated car park and public footpath relocation.
During the course of the past two years, Lidl have been reconsidering all acquisitions and the challenge for Claire and the instructing surveyor at Lidl has been to keep this project alive and not to allow the planning or other elements of conditionality in the Agreement for Lease to be used as reasons not to proceed with the acquisition. Completion in 2023 and at a reduced price will be a big ‘commercial win’ for Lidl.
This matter involves acting for a tenant in acquiring a 10-year lease for a newly constructed warehouse for their industrial clothing business.
The quirk of this matter was that the landlord was simply unwilling to offer a full suite of collateral warranties for the design elements in the build. Only the main contractor and one of the professional team were agreeable to giving warranties. Ryan advised the client that this was uncommon and adverse from a value point of view.
In addition, there was a risk that if there was an issue with the cladding on the building, for example, the tenant did not have an enforcement right direct to the sub-contractor who had a design responsibility for the cladding in the build. On the previous lease draft the tenant would therefore need to pay for the repair for the cladding if they were unable to get the landlord to enforce this warranty.
Ryan and Claire were able to negotiate a key amendment to the draft lease to exclude latent defects (containing all elements where they were lacking warranties) from the tenant’s repair liability. Given the landlord was unwilling to compromise on giving full warranties from all members of the professional team, this was the simplest and quickest way to keep the deal alive but remove the risk.
The risk was removed, because if there is an issue with any areas of the build that did not have a warranty from the professional construction team, under the terms of the lease it is the landlord’s responsibility at their sole cost to rectify this. If the client wanted to sell their business and the lease as part of it in the future a buyer would likely be satisfied with these terms.
We are acting for Nando’s on the acquisition of a new restaurant in Liverpool, increasing their presence in the city to three restaurants. This development will give a new lease of life to a community, by the redevelopment of a brownfield site where the existing units have been empty for some years. This new development is part of a push by Nando’s to expand their number of restaurants this year and next.
We are acting for Nando’s relating to their acquisition of a retail park unit to be constructed to the tenant’s specification by the developer and then let to Nando’s. We act for landlords, developers and tenants on development and leasehold transactions. We’re comfortable acting for both sides, making us adept at negotiating contentious points within contracts and construction documents to our client’s benefit.
As a tenant, Nando’s needs construction documents including warranties from the building contractor, architect, engineer, and other sub-contractors with design responsibility within the building contractor’s team. Warranties put the tenant in the same position as if they’d contracted directly with the building contractor, and the sub-contractors. This means they have a directly enforceable contract for all key aspects of the building, so if there are any issues or defects they can pursue these directly and don’t need to rely on the developer or landlord to do so. The terms of warranties are often contentious, but it’s very important for a tenant to have warranties for all elements of the development, that the warranties last for 12 years from the completion of the development, and can be assigned at least twice in the future e.g. to an assignee of the lease or a funder. We have successfully negotiated these terms in the warranties.
With Nando’s, understanding the commercial needs for the rest of the retail park is crucial. Nando’s usually wants to include a condition in any agreement regarding what other tenants of the estate need to be in occupation and trading before Nando’s completes its lease. The other tenants may be a bowling alley, a cinema, or a gym. Nando’s knows their customers enjoy eating before or after an activity, so it is critical this point is negotiated and documented in the agreement. If we didn’t negotiate this and missed any loopholes, Nando’s could be required to complete its lease sooner than is profitable for it to trade from the new unit.
Another condition our client needs is to have obtained their premises licence (to sell alcohol) before the lease completes. By negotiating these conditions, our client can tailor how and when their occupation starts.
We are representing Yorkshire Cancer Research in respect to their proposed new retail shop lease in Yeadon, facilitating the client’s ongoing expansion of its retail operations across Yorkshire.
The unit forms part of a larger site which is owned by Wm Morrisons Supermarkets Plc. This requires us to negotiate meticulously to ensure the terms are favourable for the client, including:
• ironing out issues relating to the practicalities of access and egress during the client’s trading hours;
• services provided as part of the service charge provisions;
• ensuring the client’s intended use covers the nature of the client’s business including ancillary uses to ensure that these do not fall foul of the permitted use.
The title to the landlord’s property revealed that to the rear of the unit our client intends to take a lease of, there is an electricity substation. This reserves access and egress rights for the electricity board over Wm Morrisons Supermarket Plc’s land (including this unit) with or without equipment in connection with the electricity substation. We must ensure that this does not materially or adversely affect our client’s use and enjoyment or affect their trade, should the access right be exercised.