Structured housing finance experience
Social housing
Members of our team have worked on financing transactions worth more than £4billion and have represented all substantial lenders in the social housing sector. These have included:
- Loans to Swan housing group - acting for a syndicate of six lenders on a £521 complex group facilities provided to the Swan housing group.
- Loans to Incommunities housing group - acting for two separate lenders on different facilities of more than £285milion provided to the Incommunities housing group.
- Loans to Devon & Cornwall Housing Group - acting for the lender on a £120million facilities provided to the Devon & Cornwall housing group.
- Security Trustee representation - acting for the security trustee for complex group financing transactions where the security is held by a professional security trustee.
- First receivership in the sector - advising a lender on the first receivership and statutory moratorium for a housing association, the Ujima Housing Association.
- Council of Mortgage Lenders - working with the Council of Mortgage Lenders to secure amendments to the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 as it progressed through Parliament.
Affordable housing
Our experience in this area is as diverse and interesting as the products and projects we work on and includes:
- Gentoo Genie - designing the legal structuring for this new type of home ownership product which is aimed at helping first time buyers get on the housing ladder, without needing a deposit or a mortgage.
- Local Space - advising the lenders on this ground-breaking transaction to use projects-style cashflow financing for a registered social landlord to enable the transition of homeless to permanent accommodation.
- Ethical reinvestment housing - creating the first ethical reinvestment housing charity for a housebuilder which enabled the housebuilder to provide low cost housing for their local community, without needing the involvement of a housing association at the planning or delivery stage.
- London KeyWorker Initiative - advising English Partnerships on the development of the financial legal structuring architecture for their launch of the London KeyWorker Initiative.
Specialised housing
Our experience of regeneration, developments, student housing and care homes projects and financing is strong and our client base is extensive for public, private and public-private clients. Some examples are:
- Feltham Town Centre and other developments - advising on the financing of a number of major regeneration and housing developments, including representing the developer in the financing of the major Feltham Town Centre redevelopment.
- London Borough of Hackney - advising the local authority on the regeneration of Holly Street Estate, an inner-city housing regeneration project.
- Stoneham Housing Association - advising this housing association on a number of land acquisition and project management agreements.
- London Development Agency - advising the LDA on major housing projects at St Andrews Hospital and Dalston Interchange including on affordable housing provision, sustainable development and gap funding issues.
- University of Greenwich - advising the university on its first education PFI project for its student accommodation village.
- Fortis Bank - advising the UNITE Group, a major provider of student and key worker accommodation, on a development facility of £50 million to finance the construction of student accommodation in various locations and in connection with a syndicated £180 million revolving development facility.
The team's excellent relationships with the banking sector complement its strong relations with developers and housing associations
Legal 500 2009