Real Estate

With a recently strong UK real estate market struggling to keep up with demand, competition for prime assets is higher than ever. In addition to availability, landlords, developers, asset managers, investors and occupiers face a range of challenges and opportunities in the current climate. These include the increasing globalisation of the real estate investment market, the growing demand for а high quality built environment with continued focus on achieving sustainability, and the increased use of technology and rising cyber security risks.

With one of the largest real estate teams in the UK, we have the resource and expertise our clients need to respond to this fast-paced market. Our lawyers provide decisive, pragmatic solutions allowing clients to react quickly to seize opportunities. With dedicated planning, finance, tax, construction and dispute specialists as part of the group, we are able to ensure that our clients are realising the most value possible from their assets.

We are delighted to have maintained a Tier 1 ranking for Real Estate categories in the recently published Chambers and Legal 500 UK 2023 directories.

We are one of the few City-based firms able to offer clients a truly full UK-wide service with offices in London, Aberdeen, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Reading, Liverpool and Sheffield.

In addition to our UK offering, the CMS Real Estate Sector practice is the largest real estate specialist team in Europe and one of the biggest worldwide, providing full-service legal assistance in all real estate matters. We have over 800 lawyers, spanning across 73 offices worldwide, the CMS Real Estate Practice is one of the largest specialist teams worldwide.

We are very proud to be working with some of the most dynamic real estate businesses around at the moment. Our clients range from large international and private investors to developers, universities, utility providers and occupiers.

"The team is one of the best teams that I ever collaborated with. The CMS real estate team is always available, deals with the toughest deadlines and delivers the best quality."

Legal 500, 2023

"With a real depth of experience and an impressive breadth of resources - CMS is hands down one of the strongest firms in the global real estate industry."

Legal 500, 2018

"The team is one of the best teams that I ever collaborated with. The CMS real estate team is always available, deals with the toughest deadlines and delivers the best quality."

Legal 500, 2023

"With a real depth of experience and an impressive breadth of resources - CMS is hands down one of the strongest firms in the global real estate industry."

Legal 500, 2018

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Construction

Whether you are an employer/owner, contractor, funder/investor or you are buying an interest in a project that is under construction or has recently b

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Data Centres

A proper understanding of real estate and landlord and tenant issues is integral to any data centres business. Our market-leading real estate team has

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Planning

We are one of the largest planning teams in the UK with over 30 specialist lawyers. We are motivated by a passion to help to create exceptional places

PropTech

The real estate industry is currently going through an unprecedented phase of digital transformation against the backdrop of ‘the fourth industr

Real Estate

With a recently strong UK real estate market struggling to keep up with demand, competition for prime assets is higher than ever. In addition to avail

Real Estate & Planning Disputes

As a developer, landlord, contractor or occupier, when a real estate project or transaction becomes contentious, it is essential that matters be dealt

Real Estate Development

Competition for sites, access to funding, changing legislation, achieving planning consent, rights to light issues and community infrastructure levy a

Real Estate Energy

We are one of the few London-headquartered real estate groups to have a dedicated real estate energy team. With a market-leading energy practice, we p

Real Estate Finance

The real estate finance market has undergone significant change in recent years, with increased regulation, the entrance of more categories of lenders

Real Estate Investment

With demand for prime assets higher than ever, real estate investment is becoming an increasingly global market. Being able to respond quickly to inve

Real Estate Occupiers

As an occupier in today’s market, there are a number of key issues to consider. These include establishing strategies for disposal of surplus pr

Real Estate PRS

Residential property in the UK has never seemed a more attractive investment. With a shortage of quality rental properties available and development s

Residential Real Estate

CMS’ Residential Real Estate practice has extensive experience and offers pro-active and tailored advice, handling a broad range of work for com

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Student Accommodation

The purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) sector is one that has grown exponentially over the previous decade both domestically and international

10/11/2023

Driving sustainability in real estate and construction

Contributing to the fight against climate change and creating social value are now priorities for the real estate and construction sectors. The long-term nature of the built environment means that resilience and sustainability should be considered at every stage if buildings are to be environmentally and socially responsible. This brings both opportunities and challenges for the businesses that create, own or maintain it. They must consider the evolving technical, regulatory and market landscape, to ensure that their investments are future-proofed commercially, as well as environmentally and socially. This section of Bandwidth looks at some of the ESG issues that confront developers and property owners, and how they can incorporate practical solutions into their businesses.

Publication

13/12/2023

MEES - are the regulations working?

MEES is a flagship policy to help the UK meet its net zero targets. MEES returns over 50million hits on Google, so it is undoubtedly a widely discussed piece of legislation that should play a major role in reducing the carbon footprint of the non-domestic property stock in the UK. But is there sufficient bite to these regulations?

Publication

Law-Now: Real Estate & Construction

Visit Law-Now for legal know-how and commentary

07/11/2024

Key real estate issues to consider with data centres

The aim of this session is to provide an overview of datacentres and how they operate in a real estate context, but also to go more in depth into a couple of sticky points, such as the meaning of reliability in the datacentre context and to then provide individuals with ample opportunity to ask any questions they may have.

Event Webinar

15/10/2024

Impact of changes to registration of overseas entities and other Companies...

This programme of webinars provides a short and incisive review of some key topics relating to real estate, planning and construction in the United Kingdom.

Event Webinar

04/09/2024

What’s new with the Electronic Communications Code?

This programme of webinars provides a short and incisive review of some key topics relating to real estate, planning and construction in the United Kingdom.

Event Webinar

13/06/2024

CMS Real Estate webinar: Repurposing the High Street for Life Sciences...

Candice Blackwood and Henrietta Oliver will share the key findings of our recent thought leadership piece about the transformation of the UK High Street, and the opportunities for life sciences and healthcare (including medical diagnostics) to fill the voids left by retailers.

Event Webinar

16/05/2024

Biodiversity Net Gain

This programme of webinars provides a short and incisive review of some key topics relating to real estate, planning and construction in the United Kingdom.

Event Webinar

02/05/2024

Building Safety Act Conference

CMS is bringing together clients from across the industry to hear from industry experts and each other about the next phase of regulation, how the BSA is impacting development and construction and how the Courts are applying the legislation. Please click the button below to register for this event.

Event Legal

24/04/2024

The Building Safety Act 2022 and Student Accommodation

This programme of webinars provides a short and incisive review of some key topics relating to real estate, planning and construction in the United Kingdom.

Event Webinar

18/04/2024

Real estate finance law in the United Kingdom

A. Mortgages 1. Can security be granted to a foreign lender? Yes. Security can be granted to a foreign lender. 2. Can lenders take a mortgage over land and buildings on the land? Yes. Lenders can take...

Expert Guide Banking & Finance

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