Expertise

Michael is an associate based in our transactional Real Estate team in Leeds.  Michael qualified in 2017 and has since acquired a great deal of experience in a diverse range of commercial property matters.  Michael acts for a number of market leading clients who operating within different sectors of the property market.  This enables Michael to give well rounded advice and quickly grasp the key commercial issues at play.  A number of these clients are institutional landlords.  Michael is an excellent advisor on all Landlord and Tenant issues; providing pragmatic advice to deliver results for clients.  Michael also deals with complex and specialised areas such as petrol filling station acquisitions and marine leases (for a major gas and oil client) and land promotion agreements.  Such transactions require a great deal of title due diligence, ideally placing Michael to advise on all title/development issues.

• Retail – acting for various Landlords' (Columbia Threadneedle, Federated Hermes and Avison Young) across a number of shopping centres throughout the UK.  The largest being a centre with over 220 units, for which, Michael is the primary point of contact with the client.  This has given Michael a great deal of exposure and insight into the current practices of the struggling retail market.  
• Sales and Purchases – acting for a major oil and gas client Michael, has acted on a number of petrol filling station acquisitions.  A number of these acquisitions have occurred via asset purchase agreements.
• Land Promotion Agreements/Options – acting on behalf of a land promoter who identifies deficits in the local housing supply and enters into promotion agreements or option agreements with landowners.  The promotion agreements govern the procurement of a planning application for a residential housing scheme and the ultimate disposal of the land.
• Forward Funding Build to Rent Schemes – more recently Michael has been instructed as part of a team of lawyers' acting on 4 forward funding deals with a combined value of 600M.  Michael has led on the site due diligence.