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Commercial Property in Southwark
We advise owners, occupiers, developers and investors on commercial property in Southwark and throughout London: acquisitions and disposals, new and renewal leases, licences to alter and assign, development agreements, secured lending and portfolio management.
Request a ConsultationSouthwark runs from the South Bank down through Camberwell and Peckham, taking in Borough Market, the Shard and the old docks. Its housing spans Georgian streets, Victorian terraces and extensive modern apartment development.
In Southwark the work tends to be small business premises, retail units, offices and light industrial space, and the leases that go with them. We see both sides of that market, which helps when negotiating terms that will still work when the lease comes up for renewal.
Commercial property in Southwark turns on the detail. What the lease actually permits, who is responsible for what, and what happens at the end of the term decide whether a deal is good or merely affordable. We read the documents the way your business needs them read, then set out the risk plainly before you commit.
Acquisitions, disposals and site assembly
Leases: new lettings, renewals, assignments and underleases
Licences to alter, assign and change use
Development agreements and overage arrangements
Property finance and secured lending
Ongoing advice for landlords, tenants and investors
Commercial property work in Southwark covers a wide range of premises: shops and retail units, offices, workshops, warehouses and light industrial space, and the mixed-use buildings that sit between them. We act for owners, occupiers, developers and investors, on single transactions and on portfolios, and we are as comfortable acting for a first-time tenant taking one small unit as for a landlord with a multi-let estate.
Because commercial property in London is a relationship business as much as a legal one, we aim to be the firm a business calls before it signs anything: a lease renewal that needs to be understood properly, a unit to be acquired, a site to be assembled, or a landlord asking for a guarantee, a rent deposit or a rent review that will set the tone for the next five years.
Southwark has Georgian and Victorian terraces, converted warehouses and extensive riverside new-build. The tall new-build blocks bring building safety and service charge questions, while conservation areas cover the older streets. That is the backdrop to Commercial Property work in Southwark, and it shapes the questions we raise at the outset.
Whether the instruction in {{place}} is a one-off or an ongoing arrangement, the sequence below is how the work runs.
Before anything is drafted we establish what the property will be used for, what your lender or investor needs, and what the timescale really is. On acquisitions we investigate title and searches; on lettings we start from the heads of terms and from the rent, term and repairing obligations you can actually live with.
We investigate title, planning, building regulations, environmental matters and service provision, and report on anything that would affect value or use. Where there is a gap, we say so plainly and set out the options, rather than leaving the risk buried in a report nobody reads.
We negotiate the lease, transfer, agreement for lease or contract on the terms that matter commercially, then document the deal and deal with the conditions, consents, guarantees and licences that have to be satisfied before completion.
We handle completion, stamp duty land tax and registration, and keep the file so that the next rent review, assignment or renewal starts from a position of knowledge rather than from scratch.
A renewal is a negotiation about rent, term, repairing obligations, break rights and what the lease permits, and the outcome shapes the cost of occupying the premises for years. Having the lease read and negotiated before you agree is almost always cheaper than dealing with the consequences afterwards.
A straightforward freehold acquisition with clean title and no planning issues typically completes in six to twelve weeks. Anything involving a leasehold title, a lender, a change of use or an unregistered title takes longer, and we tell you at the outset which of those applies to you.
No. We act for one side only, and we will tell you immediately if a conflict arises. Where you hold a portfolio we make sure the same solicitor is not acting for a party whose interests would conflict with yours.
Very little to begin with: the documents you already hold, the names of anyone else involved, and a note of what you want to achieve and by when. We take it from there and tell you what else we need.
We provide commercial property across Southwark and the surrounding London area, including:
Tell us what you need and we will come back with a clear scope, a named contact and a fixed fee wherever we can.
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