In a nutshell
Property lawyers, like their corporate colleagues, are essentially transactional lawyers; the only real difference is that real estate deals require an extra layer of specialist legal and procedural knowledge and there aren’t quite so many pesky regulatory authorities. The work centres on buildings and land of all types, and even the most oblique legal concepts have a bricks-and-mortar or human basis to them. It is common for lawyers to develop a specialism within this field, such as residential conveyancing, mortgage lending and property finance, social housing or the leisure and hotels sector. Most firms have a property department, and the larger the department the more likely the lawyers are to specialise. Note that ‘property’ and ‘real estate’ are entirely interchangeable terms.
What lawyers do
- Negotiate sales, purchases and leases of land and buildings and advise on the structure of deals.
- Record the terms of an agreement in legal documents.
- Gather and analyse factual information about properties from the owners, surveyors, local authorities and the Land Registry.
- Prepare reports for buyers and anyone lending money.
- Manage the transfer of money and the handover of properties to new owners or occupiers.
- Take the appropriate steps to register new owners and protect the interests of lenders or investors.
- Advise clients on their responsibilities in leasehold relationships and on how to take action if problems arise.
- Help developers get all the necessary permissions to build, alter or change the permitted use of properties.
- Manage property portfolio investments and advise real estate funds.
Realities of the job
- Property lawyers have to multi-task. A single deal could involve many hundreds of properties, and your caseload could contain scores of files, all at different stages in the process. You’ll have to keep organised.
- Good drafting skills require attention to detail and careful thought. Plus you need to keep up to date with industry trends and standards.
- Some clients get antsy; you have to be able to explain legal problems in lay terms.
- Despite some site visits, this is mainly a desk job with a lot of time spent on the phone to other solicitors, estate agents, civil servants and consultants.
- Most instances of solicitor negligence occur in this area of practice. There is so much that can go wrong.
- Property departments are known for offering trainees plenty of independent responsibility: often you'll be dealing with 20 or 30 small property files (sales, leases, licences to assign) at the same time.
- Your days will be busy, but generally the hours are more sociable and predictable than in other transactional practices.