Property Development Solicitors

Specialist planning law, development and land, and construction law solicitors, working in partnership with developers to facilitate development projects and maximise project value.

Holmes & Hills Solicitors is independently recognised as being a leading provider of advice and representation across several key areas of the law relevant to property developers, including land and development matters as well as planning law.

With one of the largest teams of planning law solicitors, the largest teams of land and development solicitors, and the largest teams of specialist construction solicitors in the region; Holmes & Hills has the experience, expertise and capacity to service developers planning schemes from 5 to 500 homes.

With considerable experience advising and representing a large number of local planning authorities across East Anglia concerning planning and development matters, Holmes & Hills is uniquely positioned to be able to advise developers, with this local planning authority perspective in mind. Existing clients of Holmes & Hills report this of being of particular value.

Primary specialist services provided to property developers:

Planning law services:

• Section 106 advice, negotiation and drafting.
• Enforcement action defence
• Strategic planning advice
• Core strategy/DPDs
• Planning applications
• Planning appeals
• Planning Inquiries
• Certificates of Lawfulness
• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) regulations
• Highways law
• Development Consent Order (DCO), Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and Blight claim issues pertaining to development land

Land services:

• Site acquisition
• Site formation and assembly
• Negotiation with landowner consortiums
• Land title reviews
• Identification of and reporting of barriers to development
• Resolution of barriers to development
• Option agreements
• Pre-emption agreements
• Amending existing development agreements
• Exercising development agreements
• Overage clauses and agreements

Construction law services:

• JCT and NEC construction contract drafting
• Construction contract reviews
• Construction contract dispute advice and representation
• Adjudication advice and representation
• Defective works and defect liability periods
• Professional negligence claims
• Practical completion disputes
• Suspension and termination
• Final and interim account disputes
• Variation negotiation and disputes

Residential property conveyancing services:

• Site set-up
• Plot sales
• Leasehold and shared ownership lease drafting

Corporate and commercial services:

• Land acquisition and development project financing and re-financing
• Joint-venture structuring and agreements
• Development company structuring
• Terms and conditions
• Shareholders agreements

Facilitating development:

Holmes & Hills’ services target the facilitation of development and maximisation of land asset and project values, through expert interpretation and understanding of legislation and case law, in addition to taking a pragmatic approach to resolving barriers to development, be they complex land title issues or planning related issues.

Recognised industry specialists:

With its large and specialist departments of expert solicitors, Holmes & Hills is independently recognised by the Legal 500 – directory of the UK’s leading law firms and solicitors - as a leading provider of advice and representation in relation to planning law and land and development matters.

Holmes & Hills’ large and growing Construction Division has an enviable reputation, such that it is the National Legal Partner of a number of construction industry associations, including the National Association of Shopfitters and Interior Contractors, as well as The Scaffolding Association.

Michael Harman (Partner), being a highly regarded planning law solicitor and DCO/CPO specialist, has, for a number of years, contributed to legal publisher Sweet & Maxwell’s ‘Planning Law Practice and Precedents’ – a legal resource utilised by planning law practitioners.

Keeping sector professionals up to date:

Holmes & Hills solicitors delivers the East of England’s largest series of events covering planning legislation, case law and practice updates, delivered to over 400 property developers, land agents, architects, surveyors and local authority planning personnel annually.