Business Legal Services
Commercial Property Law
Our commercial property team specialise in negotiating, advising on and drafting a wide variety of property agreements that businesses enter into on a daily basis.
Understand the details, commitments and potential risks of your commercial property agreements with our swift, pragmatic, business focused advice.
What we do
Commercial property legal advice
Commercial property is often one of the biggest financial commitments a business will make. Whether you’re leasing your first office or managing a portfolio of sites, negotiating preferable terms and understanding any risk or liability can be a challenge.
Rely on our commercial property solicitors to support your business, avoid pitfalls and help you achieve your commercial goals.
We support commercial landlords and commercial tenants, sellers, buyers, occupiers, funders, developers and investors across the UK in all areas of commercial property law, including:
Sale and Purchase Agreements
for all forms of commercial real estate including:
- Conditional Sale Agreements
- Option Agreements
- Pre-emption Agreements
- Overage Agreements
Development Agreements
to define the obligations of a developer
Commercial Leases
supporting tenants and landlords to agree fair and practical terms.
- Leases
- Subleases
- Licence for Alterations
- Rent Deposit Deeds
- Licence to Assign
- Deed of Assignment
- Lease Re-gears
- Surrenders
- Deed of Variation
Temporary Usage
allowing flexibility, through agreements such as:
- Tenancy at Will
- Licence to Occupy
Dispute Resolution
reaching solutions to issues through alternative dispute resolution and litigation services
Corporate Support
assisting mergers and acquisitions when there is a specific requirement for property warranties in the sale and purchase agreement (SPA)
Property Finance
supporting all manner of real estate transactions, including:
- Secured Lending
- Refinancing
- Corporate Support
Portfolio Management
from day to day management to long term strategic advice with support on the full range of agreements for:
- Commercial Leases
- Temporary use
- Sale and Purchase
- Dispute Resolution
- Property Finance
- Group restructuring
Construction
from inception to completion, we can support construction and engineering projects with:
- contract and agreement drafting
- professional appointments
- pre-construction service agreements
- performance bonds
- collateral warranties
- construction dispute resolution
Unregistered land
and applying to the Land Registry for registration
Along with advising on commercial property matters, our corporate team can assist with your business structure, funding and governance; and our construction team can assist with the procurement of contractors.
Meet our team
Why choose our commercial property solicitors?
One of our USPs is that our senior solicitors are all recruited from top 100 UK law firms or large international businesses, providing City-grade expert advice but at a fraction of the cost. This is thanks to our innovative model of remote operating and billing mainly by monthly subscription.
Our commercial property team are able to draw on years of experience acting for clients from both the public and private sectors. See who could be acting for you:
Who we help
Commercial landlords and commercial tenants/occupiers
Everything that your business does hinges on its ability to understand and manage the commitments, potential risks and timescales of the property agreements it enters into. These will often be influenced by industry or sector so being able to rely on someone who understands your challenges and can fight your corner is essential.
Our experience covers agreements for a wide range of industries and business types: from sole traders to SMEs; OMBs and large corporations, including PLCs.
Notable highlights include:
- Acting for a National Utilities Provider, managing a multimillion pound installation project for four major gas pipelines across a total of 180 miles comprising largely unregistered land
- Providing strategic and operational legal advice relating to (and the day to day management of) a major UK university’s diverse real estate portfolio of 230 plus buildings (valued at more than £2 billion) and a ten-year capital spend project of £1.25 billion.
- Advising a global, LSE listed software solutions company on its relocation to c.16,000 sq ft Grade A office space in The Shard, London; and 4,000 sq ft office space at Didsbury Point, Manchester and the related exit from their former premises.
- Full management of the estate portfolio of both a major high street bank and the Defence Estates including mixed use, training and industrial properties
- Acting for household name charity, retail and leisure clients acquiring, disposing and managing their property portfolios.
- Advising a global aerospace company on the rationalisation of its property portfolio, including settling dilapidations claims on former premises.
- Acting for a recognised leading construction company (based in the North of England, Central and Southern Scotland) with a group turnover of circa £242million in connection with a site acquisition, with a side-to-side sale to a Registered Provider and onward joint venture in connection with the development of the scheme.
Testimonials
What our clients say
...very efficient and helpful, especially given that it was difficult logistically with most of the directors away!
Adam Fraser-Harris
Finance Director,
Blow Ltd
Friendly, helpful and efficient. Thank you!
Beverly Clough
Group HR Director,
The Guild of Property Professionals
Outstanding so far. Please keep it like this!
Dimitri Konstantindi
Director,
Homely Appartments
Harper James never fail to impress with the speed and efficiency of their service, no matter the query. The team are friendly, knowledgeable and always on hand.
Karis Walker
Project Managing Officer,
Thyssenkrupp
Speed of turnaround and clear advice
Ian Rose
Head of Networks,
AllStar Business Solutions
Fast, flexible access to specialists.
Derek Moore
CEO and Co-Founder,
Coffee & TV
Harper James Solicitors provides excellent value for money and helps to cover gaps in specialist areas of legal practice. Using an outside legal provider enables us, as a business, to better manage our internal resources, the volume of work we have and to deal with our level of overall risk. I would undoubtedly recommend them to others.
Robert Cowling
General Counsel,
FleetCor
10/10, very happy with the service and the relationship … comments from Sam are presented in a way that is easy to understand – rather than being blinded by legal jargon! Very approachable, pragmatic and efficient, especially as we had to do substantial chasing on the recent legal engagement
Karen Page
Office Manager,
DenseAir
I really value Sam’s pragmatic approach to getting things done but also the lack of ‘dryness’ when getting information across to help me make decisions. I’m completely happy with the service and have already recommended Harper James to others!
Abby Edwards
Team Lead,
RLP Resourcing
Extremely helpful, very communicative and got the job done promptly. We were under time pressure, and on a tight budget - HJ dealt with both perfectly.
Andrew Slater
MD,
Kin Partners Ltd
...very efficient and helpful, especially given that it was difficult logistically with most of the directors away!
Adam Fraser-Harris
Finance Director,
Blow Ltd
Friendly, helpful and efficient. Thank you!
Beverly Clough
Group HR Director,
The Guild of Property Professionals
Outstanding so far. Please keep it like this!
Dimitri Konstantindi
Director,
Homely Appartments
Harper James never fail to impress with the speed and efficiency of their service, no matter the query. The team are friendly, knowledgeable and always on hand.
Karis Walker
Project Managing Officer,
Thyssenkrupp
Speed of turnaround and clear advice
Ian Rose
Head of Networks,
AllStar Business Solutions
Fast, flexible access to specialists.
Derek Moore
CEO and Co-Founder,
Coffee & TV
Harper James Solicitors provides excellent value for money and helps to cover gaps in specialist areas of legal practice. Using an outside legal provider enables us, as a business, to better manage our internal resources, the volume of work we have and to deal with our level of overall risk. I would undoubtedly recommend them to others.
Robert Cowling
General Counsel,
FleetCor
10/10, very happy with the service and the relationship … comments from Sam are presented in a way that is easy to understand – rather than being blinded by legal jargon! Very approachable, pragmatic and efficient, especially as we had to do substantial chasing on the recent legal engagement
Karen Page
Office Manager,
DenseAir
I really value Sam’s pragmatic approach to getting things done but also the lack of ‘dryness’ when getting information across to help me make decisions. I’m completely happy with the service and have already recommended Harper James to others!
Abby Edwards
Team Lead,
RLP Resourcing
Extremely helpful, very communicative and got the job done promptly. We were under time pressure, and on a tight budget - HJ dealt with both perfectly.
Andrew Slater
MD,
Kin Partners Ltd
Protecting your business
Avoid these commercial property traps
We’ve helped too many clients who’ve come to us with a dispute due to ’box ticking’ at the beginning.
Looking at the details, considering the commitments and how the property will support your business strategy now and into the future will save you time and money in the long run.
Here are some of the common issues we’ll make sure you avoid:
Badly drafted repair obligations, insured / uninsured risk provisions or service charge provisions
Mistakes here can result in your business having potential liabilities that are completely disproportionate to the value of your interest in a premises.
Badly drafted break clauses
This may leave you with no option to break at all or must litigate to be certain that a break notice has been validly served.
Your rights aren't enforceable
Cutting corners by opting for cheap solutions upfront could mean you’re faced with no choice but to enter into litigation. The time, cost and uncertainty of going to litigation massively exceeds the time and cost of getting the job properly done in the first place.
Pricing plans
Legal support designed
to fit your business needs
Our three transparent pricing packages are designed to give you the widest possible access to high-quality legal advice, whatever the size and nature of your business:
City
Straightforward access to senior solicitors at a competitive rate.
An affordable solution for businesses needing one-off legal support. Receive ‘City’ partner-level expertise at a fraction of ‘City’ prices.
Enterprise
Have legal peace of mind for £189 per month with additional support from £125 per hour.
A monthly subscription legal support package specifically designed for start-ups and smaller businesses.
On-Demand
Providing you with priority access to a dedicated panel of highly experienced solicitors.
Fully account managed quarterly subscription service for businesses with more complex legal needs.
