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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.

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.
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? 
Law-Now: Real Estate
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06/03/2024
Spring Budget 2024 – key tax announcements
Against the backdrop of an election (probably) later this year, the Chancellor was evidently feeling the pressure to make tax announcements that would find favour with the electorate, whilst constrained...
01/03/2024
The Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land: 1 Month...
From 1 April 2024 those who are subject to, but have failed to comply with, duties imposed by the Land Reform Scotland (Scotland) Act 2016 (Register of Persons Holding a Controlled Interest in Land) Regulations...
01/03/2024
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill – Over to the House of Lords
Following publication of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (the “Bill”) on 27 November 2023, the Bill has been progressing through the legislative process and the Government has recently published...
23/02/2024
Scottish wildcat group’s challenge to windfarm permission unsuccessful
Wildcat Haven, a community interest company, sought to challenge the decision of the Scottish Ministers to grant permission for construction of a new wind farm at Clashindarroch Forest in Aberdeenshire...
21/02/2024
MEES - why are local authorities failing to enforce?
The UK government has a continued drive and commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Yet the risk of MEES enforcement is low. Against a hotly discussed political backdrop, why is it that local...
20/02/2024
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: changes expected to...
From Spring 2024 we expect the role of Companies House and the Registrar of Companies (Registrar) to change significantly from simply incorporating companies and being a largely passive information recipient...
20/02/2024
MEES - why are local authorities failing to enforce?
The UK government has a continued drive and commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Yet as highlighted in the first of this series of publications, “MEES – are the regulations working?” the risk of MEES enforcement is low. Against a hotly discussed political backdrop, why is it that local authorities are continually failing to enforce the MEES regulations? Left alone, the existing approach serves to undermine the UK’s net zero strategy.
14/02/2024
Time to 'green' your leases? Revamped Green Lease Toolkit released
At the end of January 2024, the Better Buildings Partnership (“BBP”) launched its updated Green Lease Toolkit – its first revision since 2013.What is the Green Lease Toolkit?The Green Lease Toolkit...
14/02/2024
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill – Where are we now?
SummaryFollowing publication of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill (the “Bill”) on 27 November 2023, the Bill has been progressing through the legislative process. Thereafter we saw a call for...
12/02/2024
Biodiversity Net Gain comes into force - what does it mean for you?
It has been over 2 years since the concept of mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) was introduced  by the Environment Act 2021. After months of delay, today the provisions finally come into force. It...
07/02/2024
FTT makes first contested Remediation Contribution Order under the Building...
The First Tier Tribunal (“FTT”) has published its decision in the first contested application for a Remediation Contribution Order (“RCO”) under section 124 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (“BSA”)...
06/02/2024
Discussing Dennis: Breaking into planning jail - A new JR ruling on the...
Another case has recently emerged on the vexed question of the compatibility of subsequent planning permissions for development on the same site.  In R (Dennis) v London Borough of Southwark[1], (“Den­nis”)...