What does real estate law entail?

Real estate law covers an extensive legal area, which is regulated by statutes and common law. It comprises land and that which is attached to or belongs with the land, such as the immovable structures such as buildings, houses, trees, bushes and minerals permanently affixed to the land. It also consists of interests, benefits and rights that are legally considered to be attached to the property, which can include certain rights to the air above the land, to drill in the ground beneath it and many more.

​

The practice area of real estate law is mostly transactional and deals with a variety of related issues, including: rights and interests in real estate and real property; sales, purchases and other transfers of real estate and real property; legal aspects of rental property and landlord issues; tenants’, renters’ and homeowners’ rights; title to real property; settlement of claims against property rights; property development; zoning and land use; related agriculture issues; home loans and foreclosures; and various other relevant topics. Typical clients include lenders, property investment funds, pension funds, property companies, and private equity houses, amongst others. Lawyers commonly specialize within this field; dealing with areas such as residential conveyancing, mortgage lending and property finance, social housing or the leisure and hotels sector.

​

Corporate real estate

​

In this practice, the underlying asset for all transactions involves real estate, including real estate investment trusts (REITs) and real estate funds. Corporate real estate involves expertise from real estate, corporate, finance and tax, and covers all documentation and financing transactions relating to acquisitions and divestments, joint development ventures and property portfolio restructuring. The team is usually a subset of the Real Estate practice, and can be considered as a specialist team. Clients can range from developers to statutory bodies, foreign and local property funds, public listed and private real estate companies and financiers. 

​

The work of a real estate lawyer/trainee

​

Real estate lawyers negotiate sales, purchases and leases of land and buildings and record the terms of an agreement. They advise on the structure of deals and gather and analyze factual information about properties from owners, surveyors, local authorities and the Land Registry. In addition, they help developers get all the necessary permissions to build, alter or change the permitted use of properties. They also prepare reports for buyers and lenders and take the appropriate steps to register new owners and protect the interests of investors.

Trainees have the opportunity to work on both large-scale transactions and smaller matters as well, with differing variety of work. Tasks such as assigning a lease or a straightforward sale and purchase are entrusted to trainees without substantial supervision.  However, on larger transactions, trainees will mainly assist other lawyers but will usually be required to organize schedules, review documents and keeping the wider team connected, organized and well informed on the progress of the matter. Consequently, trainees will enjoy the benefit of having a lot of client contact and gaining a good level of drafting and negotiation experience.