Europe: Real Estate and Construction

Lizzie Egan interviews Aidan Faik, senior private banker and head of landed estates at Weatherbys Private Bank, exploring current trends in rural property finance, from residential portfolio challenges and holiday let opportunities to the complexities of trust structures and biodiversity net gain projects. The conversation examines how Basel 3.1 regulations will fundamentally reshape lending terms for estate owners, and why understanding the residential versus commercial classification of property has becom

When a person passes away leaving assets in Cyprus, those assets cannot usually be transferred immediately to relatives or beneficiaries.

In January 2025, the Royal Court of Jersey ordered the sale en licitation (by public auction) of a property that was jointly inherited by four children as owners in common in indivisible shares...

Şirketler, ekonomik koşullar, yeniden yapılanma, grup içi organizasyon değişikliği, üretimin başka bir ülkeye veya tesise taşınması veya belirli bir pazardan çıkılması gibi nedenlerle faaliyetini kısmen veya tamamen sona erdirebilir. Ne var ki şirketin bir işyerindeki fiilî faaliyetini durdurması, şirketin tüzel kişiliğini veya taraf olduğu sözleşmeleri ortadan otomatik olarak kaldırmaz.

Companies may partially or entirely cease their operations due to economic conditions, restructuring, changes in intra-group organisation, the relocation of production to another country or facility, or withdrawal from a particular market. However, a company's cessation of its actual operations at a workplace does not automatically extinguish its legal personality or terminate the agreements to which it is a party.

The UK Government has launched a consultation on whether 'quid pro quo' leases—where tenants agreed to pay higher ground rents in exchange for lower purchase premiums—should be exempt from the proposed £250 annual ground rent cap. This issue is particularly significant for the retirement living sector, where flexible payment structures have traditionally allowed purchasers to choose between different combinations of upfront costs and ongoing fees. The consultation raises critical questions

Divorce proceedings in the agricultural sector present unique challenges when farmland, livestock, machinery, and generational assets are at stake. From protecting inherited property and ensuring full financial disclosure to managing tax implications and safeguarding business viability, farming families face complex decisions that can impact decades of work and future succession plans.

This third article in the Brazil–Türkiye cattle corridor series looks forward to 2027 and 2028, and considers what happens when a market already under significant pressure must deal simultaneously with an extreme El Niño and a fertiliser market that is not expected to normalise before 2028.

Private landowners may unknowingly lose control of their property when members of the public acquire rights of way through continuous use over 20 years, even without the owner's knowledge or consent. This analysis examines the legal mechanisms available to protect against such claims, including the strategic use of section 31(6) statements under the Highways Act 1980, and explores recent Court of Appeal guidance on what constitutes an 'interruption' to public use following the landmark Roxlena Ltd v Rambler

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has published its response to the Single Construction Regulator Prospectus consultation, confirming the direction of travel for construction sector regulation — but with implementation not expected before 2028.

The UK Government's ambitious plan to replace leasehold with commonhold has reached a critical juncture, with the Housing Committee publishing its final report on the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that appropriate assessments of plans or projects affecting special protection areas cannot be validly conducted without pre-established site-specific conservation objectives. This landmark judgment addresses whether conservation objectives are a prerequisite for environmental impact assessments under the Habitats Directive, with significant implications for development consent procedures across the EU.