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Real Estate

Our Real Estate Practice, led by partner Yves Delacroix, is recognised as a leading practice in Belgium and is regularly involved in major transactions.

Our real estate lawyers have vast expertise and experience in all aspects of property related issues and are very well connected in the real estate market. This enables us to understand our clients’ needs quickly and to offer sound and practical advice.

The Real Estate Practice works seamlessly with the firm’s other practices to provide a complete approach to any real estate matter. Within our firm 25 lawyers dedicate a significant part of their time to real estate matters.

Yves DELACROIX
Partner, Head of Practice
y.delacroix@liedekerke.com
T : +32 2 551 14 18

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OUR CLIENTS

Thanks to our extensive expertise we work with every category of player, Belgian and foreign, on the property market: investors (for example Belgian and foreign investment funds and closed-end real estate funds), developers, corporate users, retailers, contractors and consultants, high net worth individuals, and public and governmental entities.

OUR APPROACH

We emphasize clear, practical but sound solutions regardless of the complexity of the matter. Being cost-effective is essential to us. We make sure that we understand our clients’ objectives and their internal decision processes, we anticipate the issues and tailor our services accordingly in order to achieve the best possible results.

OUR TEAM

Our core real estate practice is led by partner Yves Delacroix. The team works closely with the firm’s other practices, in particular the tax department, the regulatory department (urban planning and environment) and the corporate and finance department, each of which is likewise renowned as being amongst the best in the country.

Altogether our firm has some 25 specialists in the real estate sector, who are experts in all legal disciplines intrinsic to real estate.

OUR SERVICES

We cover all aspects within the sector: retail and leisure property, office property, industrial property (warehouses and industrial sites) and residential property (generally acting for professional companies or firms active in the residential property market).

We assist Belgian and foreign clients at all stages of their property projects whether the need is for advice, drafting and negotiation of documentation, or dispute resolution.

Our services include:

Up-front audits
We carry out due diligence to enable our clients to assess the risks of a real estate project and advise how to exclude or mitigate them.

The structuring of real estate projects
In close collaboration with the specialised Real Estate Tax Group we advise clients about possible structures (options, asset or share deals, acquisition or assignment of real rights, split-sales, or sale & leaseback transactions). We also assist them with negotiating and drafting agreements and other documentation for their projects.

Negotiation and drafting of occupancy contracts
Leases, long leases, financial leases, building rights, rights of use, and others.

Tax aspects
We devote particular attention to tax aspects. Together with our specialised Real Estate Tax Group we also help clients apply for a tax ruling when necessary.

Assistance in relation to permits and soil
Our regular contacts with the relevant authorities enable us to assist clients efficiently in the process of obtaining the necessary permits for a project (town and planning and environmental permits/socio-economic permits).

Finance
Together with our banking and finance department we advise clients about all aspects of financing a development or acquisition project, including the relevant securities.

Negotiation and drafting of contracts with the parties involved in the construction or marketing process

Builders, architects, project managers, real estate brokers, and others.

Litigation.

Download our Real Estate brochure in PDF

Experience Highlights
Team members
Publications
News & Events

We assist a wide range of clients with property projects and real estate related disputes.

Recent work highlights:

Assisting the seller and the purchaser respectively in the two largest transactions relating to Belgian retail properties in 2011.
Assisting a logistics company in the structuring and execution of the early termination of a financial leasing operation relating to a warehouse, followed by a sale and lease back operation with a Belgian REIT.
Assisting a major retail player to develop a new store and a retail park on an existing retail site next to the City of Mons.
Assisting one of Belgium's largest real estate investment trusts with the turnkey sale of a landmark office building in the centre of Brussels.
Assisting a large multinational company in acquiring a long term leasehold interest in a office building to be erected in the centre of Antwerp, and the simultaneous sale of their existing office building in Antwerp.
Assisting one of the largest real estate groups in Belgium with a complex construction dispute relating to a landmark office building in the centre of Brussels.
Assisting a number of shopping mall owners with various lease matters including legal disputes relating to lease renewals.

Seminars

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What others say about us

‘The entire team is always very kind and enthusiastic. They always deliver as agreed. They have a ‘hands-on’ mentality, and they are proactive‘. ‘Yves Delacroix has an incredible strong knowledge of all real estate matters. He really can make the difference in the negotiations‘.

-- Legal 500 Real Estate and Construction 2020

Clients are "happy about their work," noting that "they are really very efficient."

Others describe them as "a very strong team with good overall knowledge," adding that they are "fantastic partners to work with."

Alexandre Emond assists significant domestic and international clients with real estate transactions. He is praised by clients for being "very business-minded," and having "a very good commercial view and understanding in his way of working.“

Clients enthuse that Yves Delacroix "has an incredibly strong knowledge of all real estate matters," and "can really make the difference in negotiations." His expertise covers a wide range of real estate matters including cross-border transactions, development agreements and lease contracts. Other clients admire him as "a real deal maker," and "one of the most recognised lawyers" in the market.

-- Chambers Europe Real Estate 2020

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