Housing

Providing legal solutions to deliver housing.

Philip Lee’s housing group provides commercially focussed legal advice to operators in the housing sector whether they be developers, institutional investors, contractors, professional consultants on all aspects of housing law assisting them to deliver their projects.

The Irish housing landscape has undergone dramatic change in the past decade. There continues to be a shortage in the availability of housing stock in the Irish property market coupled with an insatiable demand from consumers and institutional investors alike to purchase housing units across Ireland. The Philip Lee Housing Group has built up expertise in providing legal services in the housing sector over almost 3 decades whether it be in the areas of planning law, real estate, construction law, public private partnerships and construction-related disputes.

External pressures such as supply chain issues due to the pandemic and the ongoing war in the Ukraine have resulted in supply chain issues and ever-increasing prices for construction materials. This coupled with pressures within Ireland that include construction labour shortages, high development land costs and the costs associated with compliance with a maze-like building control and planning regulatory regime make for a difficult landscape to deliver housing units in.

Set against this market backdrop, the Philip Lee Housing Group can assist all participants in this sector from approved housing bodies and local authorities to developers and institutional investors in the delivery of housing. Philip Lee advise a number of Ireland’s most established real estate developers at each stage of development from site assembly, financing, construction, disposal of assets and navigation of the legal and regulatory environment.

At Philip Lee we always seek to deliver commercially sensible legal solutions to legal and regulatory obstacles.

Related Sectors

Related Services

Recent Work

  • Advised the preferred tenderer on Social Housing Bundle 2 PPP
  • Lead corporate advisers to the Housing Agency
  • Acting for institutional investors in the acquisition of existing housing stock and the development of green and brownfield site development for social housing, including all construction-related contract documentation
  • Acted for a special purpose vehicle funded by US investment firm Anglo Gordon and managed by Carysfort Capital in the acquisition of 229 residential units made up of apartments, houses and duplexes located in Lucan, West Dublin
  • Advised on the drafting, negotiation and settlement of all construction documentation required in respect of its large residential development in Dublin
  • Advising on the drafting and negotiation of all construction documentation required in respect of its major housing regeneration project (including over 290 apartments) at Charlemont Square, Dublin
  • Pioneered the acceptance of a Certificate of Title to Grant a Lease by Local Authorities and AHBs in Ireland, removing the need for Local Authorities/AHBs to investigate title, thus streamlining the process and accelerating delivery of social housing units
  • Drafted and negotiating leases with local authorities
  • Drafted Part V agreements to reflect rental set-off arrangements
  • Drafted development agreements, building contracts, letters of appointment for professional consultants and collateral warranties
  • Advised on the financing of property portfolios to include negotiation of bespoke sectoral facility agreements
  • Drafted property management agreements.