• Roland Brandman

  • Principle Associate
  • Real Estate
Roland Brandman

  • “I have been working with Roland for over a decade on both the acquisition and the disposal of properties in London and major regional areas. In my experience, Roland is the solicitor that you want on your side due to his professionalism, dedication and creativity. Due to the nature of the transactions, each creates a new challenge and Roland proved his value whenever required.”

    Ronen Saban, CEO, Delta Properties

  • “We worked with Roland over a 5 year period in respect of a 120,000 sq ft Corporate HQ Building in the North. Roland was the main point of contact in respect of the acquisition, then throughout the lease restructure and onward sale to a long term investor. We found Roland to be methodical and calm under stressful circumstances and are hoping to find similar projects to work with him again.”

    Robert Harris, Director, Oxlo Properties

  • “Roland worked for us on some of our serviced office leases. Faced with some difficult negotiations and trying circumstances during the pandemic, Roland was capable and responsive and helped us navigate through some choppy waters.”

    Dan Taylor, CEO, Bourne Office Space Group

  • “Roland provided insightful and succinct advice when leading the negotiation and drafting on a planning overage agreement. We were above to mitigate a number of future risks by agreeing clear parameters for the calculation of future overage payments. A clear understanding of developers’ commercial concerns together with detailed planning knowledge combined to allow us to agree a complex document favourably and without delay.”

    Alistair Christie, Director, D12 Developments

  • “Roland’s interest in our property business journey and helping us build it up made a big impression on us. His response times and subject-matter expertise made it a no brainer for us to engage with him for our first deal. Roland didn’t let us down and his timeliness on each and every matter helped us get the deal over the line, without him it wouldn’t have happened. Thanks again, Roland.”

    Jordan Carss, Director, JACK Estates
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About Roland

Roland is a Principal Associate in our Real Estate team.

Roland’s expertise spans the spectrum of property work, acting for investors, developers, occupiers and lenders. His career began with two of the largest international law firms, working chiefly for institutional funds and major operators, before moving over to work at the sharper end of deal-making for smaller funds, entrepreneurs and family offices.

Roland advises on investment and development sales and purchases, development-site preparation, and landlord-and-tenant work (acting for both owners and occupiers). He takes pride in his knowledge and experience of unusual and difficult issues facing clients on site, including, for example, airspace development, services intensification, and adverse possession (squatter’s rights).

Work Highlights

Investors

  • Acting for a private equity fund on the acquisition and £129m disposal of a Thames-Valley business park, and the £45m corporate sale of an office block in Leeds, acting on the lettings and management for both assets.
  • Acting for one of the largest UK institutional funds on a large number of transactions, including acquisitions and disposals of shopping centres, office buildings and sheds.
  • Acting for a long-standing family office client on the purchase, sales, financings, refinancing’s and management matters on a series of investment assets, including in the office, industrial and retail sectors.
  • Acting for a leisure-property fund on the £12.5m purchase of a leisure park in Northern England and the re-financing of a Bedfordshire leisure district.

Developers

  • Advising a family office on preparing for the development of an extensive North-London site (including advice around obtaining vacant possession) and the £43m sale with complex overage.
  • Acting on the £35m sale of a large development site near St. Pancras, including strategic discussions with planning and political consultants on planning negotiations and advising around obtaining vacant possession and on overage.
  • Advising on site preparation of an office building in central Sheffield, including buying in an adjoining building, advising on obtaining vacant possession from tenants, obtaining a stopping-up order, and dealing with third-party-owned land within the planning-application boundary.
  • Acting on the airspace-development re-financing of a £1bn central-London office building.
  • Advising developers on a variety of issues, including:
    • Airspace developments
    • Title defects and concerns (e.g., restrictive covenants, easements, absence of title)
    • Licences for scaffolding
    • Licences for crane oversail
    • Boundary agreements
    • Rights of light deeds

Occupiers

  • Acting for a well-known coffee brand on a number of its lettings.
  • Acting for a high-end restaurant group on the lease acquisition of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Mayfair.
  • Advising on the property aspects of a £140m acquisition of a UK manufacturing business.
    Advising a European provider of co-working space on in its entry into the UK market and first lease acquisition in central London. This included advice around its customer contract and legal issues relating to fitting out requirements, inherent defects, and specific serviced-office related requirements.
  • Acting for an international watch manufacturer on lease acquisitions and renewals, including for its central-London head office.
  • Advising a distribution business on its acquisition of a shed near Heathrow.
  • Acting for an online retailer on its acquisition of a distribution warehouse in Essex.

Lenders

  • Acting for a Canadian bank on financings and re-financings.
  • Acting for an Israeli bank on financings and re-financings, including development financing.
  • Acting for a clearing bank’s high-net-worth division on the re-financing of a c.£200m portfolio.

Adverse possession

Roland has a specialism in this niche area. He has worked on many sites where the registered-title boundaries do not match what is on the ground and the question arises whether “squatters rights” might be the legal solution. Roland can advise around the potential success of a claim and how to negotiate the specialist Land-Registry processes involved.