Shoosmiths LLP

Real Estate, Partner

Sara specialises in residential and mixed use development, dealing with both immediate and strategic land. Sara acts for a number of local and national residential developers, housebuilders, retirement living developers, PLC developers and land promoters.

Sara has extensive experience in negotiating conditional on planning contracts for land purchase, option agreements, land promotion agreements and hybrid agreements, as well as land sales, subsales, and affordable housing land sale and development agreements.

Sara's recent experience includes:

• acting for well known developers in the housebuilder and residential sector in connection with site acquisition and disposal, including conditional on planning agreements, option agreements, strategic site assembly, and often advising upon and resolving complex title and practical issues arising;
• acting for the land promoter in the negotiation of a hybrid agreement for promotion and development of a large swathe of land currently in several different titles and ownerships;
• acting for a landowner in the negotiation of an option agreement with a major housebuilder and an associated collaboration with other landowners, including liaising closely with tax advisers;
• acting as project solicitor for a consortium of plc housebuilders on a major new town development. This work included advising on a wide variety of issues including partition of title into smaller phases/land parcels for residential, retail and town centre development, acting in the disposal of land for retail, hotel/pub, retirement living, public sector and commercial development, advising upon planning obligations, actioning the disposal of areas required for transfer pursuant to such planning obligations, and advising upon legal aspects of road and infrastructure adoption. Throughout, having oversight to title and contractual issues affecting the wider site;
• acting for developers in the negotiation of affordable housing land disposals with associated development agreement for the delivery of the affordable housing; and
• assisting in the diversion of public rights of way and creation of new public paths, regularising boundary, infrastructure and access issues, negotiating third party and adoption agreements to facilitate development, and facilitating planning agreements and variations in close collaboration with planning colleagues.

After qualifying as a solicitor in 1997 Sara gained three years’ experience in residential plot sales and site set up acting for major household names before branching into land acquisition, affordable housing, and land promotion which has been her primary focus during the bulk of her career.