Structure of real estate finance

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The role of the real estate lawyer

In both investment and development real estate finance transactions, lawyers will also play a key role in negotiating all the documentation. Real estate lawyers will be of particular importance, providing reports to both the lender(s) and the borrower in relation to the title of the property being acquired and/or developed.

Depending on the nature and size of the transaction, the real estate lawyer may be instructed by the funder directly (usually one of the main institutional lenders) to prepare the funder's standard in-house documents such as the facility agreement, legal charge, guarantees and other security documents as well as undertake due diligence and report to the funder either using its own form of in-house report or using the City of London Law Society Certificate of Title. In this instance, the real estate lawyer may be involved in completing the legal charge as well as any other ancillary security as part of the security package.

In larger transactions, the real estate lawyer will often work with the banking and finance lawyers on a transaction either acting for the borrower or the

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