Social Housing

We offer social housing providers straightforward and cost-effective advice on all their legal issues.

Our team is made up of lawyers from across our business. We pool our real estate, employment, disputes and corporate expertise to advise you on various areas of the law. We can also advise and support you on regulatory law, governance, organisational and development goals and challenges.

Our integrated commercial consultancy business, Capital People, works closely with our legal teams. Our consultants provide HR and Health, Safety and Environment services and advice, including HR investigations and training.

We’re also members of Community Housing Cymru.

Commercial Property

We advise housing associations, developers, investors, financiers, and public sector bodies on all types of property projects. We also work with several housing developers who are creating bespoke estates. We can advise on:

  • development and infrastructure projects
  • asset and commercial property portfolio management
  • acquisitions and disposals
  • landlord and tenant issues
  • land assembly, site acquisition and planning
  • joint venture, infrastructure, and option agreements
  • due diligence

Construction, Energy and Projects

We can advise you on the full life cycle of construction, energy and major projects, and give you training on both contentious and non-contentious topics. This includes :

  • pragmatic advice on commercial, technical, and regulatory issues
  • help with building contracts, professional appointments, novation deeds, collateral warranties and framework agreements
  • guidance on contractual structures, facilities management contracts and supply agreements.

We work on a wide range of projects, from civil infrastructure and engineering to energy finance and public private partnerships.

Banking & Finance

We can help you borrow money from banks, building societies and other specialist funders.

We provide security over unencumbered but developed stock, and over development plots before the works begin. Because we regularly act for banks in syndicated and non-syndicated loans to housing associations, we can anticipate the requirements of funders and ensure that the transaction runs smoothly. We help prepare documentation, secure consents, and review the title to properties in your ownership to identify and rectify any barriers to funding.

We’ve acted for both housing associations and funders on lending in the sector in the sum of £500m plus in a four-year period, including funds from the major high street lenders and the European Investment Bank.

Procurement

We can guide you through procurement processes. We provide strategic and practical support on procurement procedures and on each stage of the procurement lifecycle, from inception to contract award and post-contract completion. We can help with documentation preparation and challenge resolution.

If you’re facing a potential breach of the procurement regulations, we’ll support you by conducting a full review of the procurement process and averting the challenge, where possible. Alternatively, if you have inadvertently conducted a process not strictly in accordance with the procurement regulations, we will advise on how to resolve.

Litigation

Whether you are bringing action or defending claims, we can help you resolve your disputes. We do this by:

  • strengthening your contracts
  • developing your safeguarding strategies
  • offering practical solutions before the commencement of proceedings

We regularly provide advice and support on both residential property issues and commercial property issues. We can also help you manage and protect your stock, through both legal advice and training.

Corporate and Commercial

We are here to help you in two core areas: transactions and governance.

We can advise you on a broad range of transactions, including joint ventures, buying or selling a company’s assets or shares, or raising debt or equity. Public-private joint ventures are vital to the future of social-housing, but for a transaction be successful both parties’ goals need to be met. That’s why we work collaboratively on key relationship documents, and pool the knowledge of our property, commercial and corporate teams.

Employment & HR

Our employment team can help you with all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law.

We provide advice on day to day employment and HR issues, as well as specialist sector advice on the implications of the Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1996, and the associated Welsh Government Housing Association Circular (RSL 005/10).

Our experienced HR consultants can help you conduct all the necessary investigations and processes, to ensure you’re fully compliant from both UK employment law and Schedule 1 perspectives.

Health & Safety

Our consultants at Capital People can make sure you comply with multiple sets of rules and regulations to stay in business, and out of trouble.

Health, Safety & Environment law can be difficult to understand. Through our consultancy service and accredited training programme, we can help you improve risk management, develop your policies and procedures, review your progress, develop action plans and investigate accidents. We focus on equipping staff to meet their responsibilities at all levels and outlining specific risks relevant to your business.