Catherine Flexer
For advice on who to talk to, call
+44 (0)20 3826 7510Charities deal with property in a variety of ways, sometimes via relatively simple arrangements and sometimes via bespoke agreements involving complex issues of charity and trust law. Our specialist charity property lawyers have a wealth of experience in helping navigate these issues.
Our approach is based on a deep understanding of the sector enabling us to craft practical solutions to meet your needs. We work to understand and achieve your objectives (which often involve more than a purely financial outcome) and to find the best ways to work within your constraints. We pride ourselves on offering a service which gets to the root of a problem rather than simply ticking legal boxes.
Our experienced team are able to deal with a wide range of property matters affecting charities, for example:
- property strategy, development, sales, purchases, leases, lettings, licences and secured lending
- community asset transfer agreements
- unravelling trust and title issues relating to charity land
- agreements including service level, clawback, planning gain and property management agreements, and the grant of rights of way and other easements
- the protection and use of open or community space
- disputes including dilapidations and adverse possession claims
Charity Law Association
The Charity Law Association currently has over 900 members including many of the country's largest charities and leading charity lawyers. Members or their representatives are able to attend quarterly meetings at which charity law and related issues are discussed. All members of the team are members of the Charity Law Association.
charitylawassociation.org.ukCharges are usually based on hourly rates plus administrative charges and disbursements but we are flexible with regard to charging rates and will discuss with you budgets for work on a particular matter, or, where it is not entirely clear how things will develop, for the initial stages or a particular stage of a matter. We will always provide you with an initial estimate of your likely legal costs and will update this as your requirements or the circumstances of the work change.
In circumstances where we can more or less either anticipate the work to be done or prescribe the work, we can act on a fixed or capped fee basis.
We would be pleased to discuss your requirements free of charge and tailor a costs proposal accordingly.
It is fundamental to our policy on allocating work that one of the factors we will consider is the likely cost outcome of using particular solicitors for particular pieces of work. Whilst almost invariably a partner will be able to carry out work more quickly than a less experienced solicitor, a less experienced solicitor under appropriate supervision may be able to produce a more cost effective result. Partner input is more likely to be appropriate and cost-effective in more complex or more specialised matters.
