Real Estate Law
Our Real Estate and Private Construction Law department gives advice along the whole property value chain, from the purchase of properties to property development, construction and letting and finally the sale. SKW Schwarz is active both in real-estate law and in construction law.
Real-estate law
Real-estate law deals with the purchase, sale and management (letting) of properties. Our clients are real-estate companies and property funds, groups, financial services providers, insurance companies and strategic and financial investors. SKW Schwarz is active in all classic areas of real-estate law.
- We draw up purchase agreements
- draft and negotiate construction and development agreements, general contractor agreements and architect and engineer agreements
- prepare project development and project management agreements
- assert the claims from these agreements, if necessary in court.
In addition, we draw up contracts for contributing properties (including complete retail shopping centres) to property funds in the form of share or asset deals. During this process we advise both funds and investors or project developers and shape the relevant contracts.
While our expertise covers all types of properties, we are particularly experienced in the management of shopping centres because we are responsible for a significant number of them in different areas Germany. Shopping centres pose particular challenges, above all concerning the tenant mix, the positioning of the tenants and the question which spaces should be used by which tenants. This requires not only legal expertise, but also considerable experience with what is good for a property and what is not.
Rental law
In the framework of our rental law practice we support landlords and tenants in all areas of German rental law for commercial properties. We
- prepare and examine tenancy agreements
- enforce landlords’ rights in court
- help to make rent increase and renovation announcements
- give advice on maintenance and repair obligations and demolishing rights
- support clients in terminating tenancy agreements early and enforce or avert claims for possession.
Our clients – medium-sized companies – often act as landlords and let space they do not use themselves. However, many companies rent the commercial space they need for their business activities. We represent both landlords and tenants. Before a tenancy agreement is prepared we advise them on maintenance and repair obligations, renovation rights and rent payment obligations during the tenancy period until the termination of the tenancy agreement; should the tenants be subject to damage claims after the termination of the contract, we give advice on these issues, too.
Construction law
In construction law we focus on the traditional areas of legal project management, from the preparation of an investment decision to the planning and realisation and the final sale of the property.
Contract preparation (negotiation, conclusion, preparation of works and planning contracts as well as General Terms and Conditions), tendering law and legal problems arising during construction, acceptance and invoicing are just as familiar to us as all issues of property management, for example letting the property or contributing it to a property fund.
Examples
We represented the owner during the construction of and in the subsequent management decisions for a well-known inner-city shopping centre in Germany. This included
> negotiating with the neighbours and concluding good neighbour agreements during construction
> identifying planning mistakes and asserting resultant claims for damages in court
> pursuing claims on the grounds of construction defects after proceedings for the preservation of evidence, largely in court
> drafting the standard tenancy agreement and negotiating tenancy agreements with interested tenants
> enforcing operational obligations, rent claims and claims for possession in court
> negotiating with tenants and construction companies about the restructuring of rented space in connection with the revitalisation of certain spaces
> advising and representing the advertising association in court
> and finally advising the owner during the sale of the property.
We supported an investor during the planning phase for an inner-city shopping centre. This included rounding off the necessary property, negotiating the purchase agreements, concluding good neighbour agreements and claiming possession of the space occupied by tenants at the time. In addition, we prepared the standard tenancy agreement and negotiated the tenancy agreements.
We supported a project company in restructuring a specialised property (geriatric home), which included a dispute about the termination of the contract with the existing leaseholder and the negotiation of a new leasehold agreement. A wealth of special provisions for the extension and restructuring of the property and legal provisions on geriatric homes had to be taken into account. Moreover, it was important to ensure that care for the residents be not interrupted during the changeover in the leaseholder, and the client had to be advised on construction law issues. We represented the project company in averting assumed claims of the existing leaseholder in court and at the same time enforced claims of the company against the existing leaseholder.