Our Property team provides advice to a wide range of clients who rely on our advice in the acquisition, disposal, leasing and development of commercial, industrial and residential property.

By building close working relationships with our clients, we develop a solid understanding of their specific needs and are then able to assist them to achieve their objectives.

Services

Transaction Support

  • Acquisition and sale of major commercial properties including shopping centres, office buildings, industrial property, retirement villages, aged care facilities, hotels and serviced apartment complexes
  • Acquisition and sale of prestigious residential and rural properties
  • Contract negotiations of both freehold and leasehold titles
  • Conveyancing at volume for large-scale developments with key experience in handling large volume settlements and discharge settlements.
  • Managing the purchase of all types of property for private investors, property trusts and syndicates and managed investment schemes
  • Advising on acquisition structures including syndicates, joint ventures and managed investment schemes and the taxation structure and issues including GST, CGT and stamp duty

Leasing Advisory

  • Due diligence, negotiation and other services for commercial (including retail) and industrial leasing
  • Preparing agreements to lease for-purpose built buildings, and sale and leaseback arrangements
  • Handling subleasing agreements, licenses and other types of documentations that relate to retail, office, industrial and the specialist residential and hospitality sectors
  • Alternative dispute resolution services to lessor and lessees including assistance in terminating a lease should a party default or fail to meet their obligations

Property Finance and Funding Advisory

  • Preparing and review of financing and specialised securities agreements including financial structuring for acquisition
  • Preparation of banking and finance facility documentation, multi-party and construction project finance agreements
  • Drafting floorplan or mezzanine finance funding agreements and preparation of priority, subordination and intercreditor deeds
  • Preparing property trust documentation (including information memorandums)
  • Advising on property related tax matters including GST, windfall gains tax, land tax, stamp duty, acquisition or transfer of property within a group
  • Advising on build-to-rent development funding and related holding structure establishment

Greenfield and Built form Development Support

  • Providing legal support services from the initial pre-acquisition stage through to practical completion for land subdivision and mixed-use built form property developments
  • Drafting development management agreements and construction agreements for simple to very complex development projects
  • Preparing joint venture agreements and other structures for commercial, industrial and residential property developments and syndicates

Property and Leasing Disputes

Our Property team partners with Madgwicks’ commercial dispute resolution and litigation practice to help you in managing any property disputes that may occur, in a timely and cost effective manner.

Recent Experience

Transactions

  • Acted on the behalf of the vendor in the sale of a regional shopping centre with a tenancy of three national anchor tenants
  • Managed the sale of Westwaters Hotel and Entertainment facility, the second largest gambling facility in Victoria after Crown Casino, to prominent licensed venue aggregator
  • Managed the multi-million dollar sale and settlement of regional retirement village, land and business holdings

Leasing

  • Acting for the land owner and developer of a market-leading hardware retailer on their first inner city, multi storey development
  • Ongoing leasing and disputes advice to commercial and retail landlords and blue-chip tenants across Victoria and Australia

Property Finance and Funding

  • Acting for the lender on a complex construction facility for an apartment development
  • Acting for Bank as Lender of a major Asian development and investment group in the acquisition of Melbourne hotels and serviced apartments
  • Acting for Bank as the financier of major land development outside Geelong which included six separate, but cross-collateralised loan agreements and development entities with series of tripartite agreements prepared

Greenfield and Built form Development

  • Managed legal requirements for a 1200 lot development west of Melbourne including template contract documentation, ongoing dealings with Council and Authorities, negotiation of civil construction contracts, loan facility refinances and draw downs, plan of subdivision registrations, volume discharges and settlements and attending to multiple lender settlement and conveyancing requirements
  • Development contract preparation and off-the-plan settlements for two Southbank mixed use properties (400+ apartments in total) together with several other mid-to-large residential development projects

Our Experts

James practices in the areas of commercial property and leasing, property development and commercial law with particular specialisations in developments, property syndications/structuring, leasing, property litigation and joint ventures and other commercial agreements.

Laurance Davis

Partner
Laurance leads the successful Madgwicks Property team with expert knowledge in property and property finance and the ability to drive deals for his dedicated network of clients.

Joe Katz

Partner
Joe is a trusted advisor to his network of property developers and investors, shopping centre and other high profile leased premises owners and tenants.

Chris Vlahos

Special Counsel
Chris is an experienced and commercially astute property lawyer with hands on experience in property development, advising on transactions, contracts and leasing.

Tam Chau

Senior Associate
Tam is a lawyer in the Property team providing strategic, balanced and sound advice to assist clients to achieve desired outcomes.

Bethany Visser

Senior Associate
An approachable and dedicated advisor to her clients, Bethany is a detail driven lawyer, experienced in working with a variety of stakeholders in matters of property law.

Mark Gomez

Associate
Mark practices in the areas of commercial property and leasing, property development and commercial law.

Jo Anne Kor

Associate
Jo Anne practices primarily in the area of general commercial, real estate and business transactions, commercial litigation and wills and estates.
Natalia is a diligent property lawyer who works closely with our clients to assist them with their property and conveyancing requirements.
Madelaine brings considerable experience to Madgwicks, having worked for many years in conveyancing roles managing property transactions across the regional and metropolitan Melbourne areas.

Thought Leadership & Past Experiences