Darren is a Partner in the Retail team.
He specialises in non-contentious real estate issues, mainly for tenants with large property portfolios comprising freehold and leasehold titles – he is responsible for more than 2,000 properties on behalf of his clients. His work on acquisitions and disposals of properties and assisting with property management involves carrying out complex due diligence, understanding the client’s proposed use and occupation, negotiating leases and other documents, and getting clients in as quickly as possible.
His extensive experience includes franchised property matters, including the large-scale assignments of leases, securing consents to assign, authorised guarantee agreements (AGAs), and protecting outgoing tenants’ covenants by way of guarantee of an AGA.
Darren acts for commercial clients with an emphasis across the retail, leisure and logistics sectors. Notable clients include Emma Bridgewater, Vision Express and Poundstretcher. He often delivers talks and training to the retail industry on property issues.
Recent examples of how Darren has supported clients include:
- successfully structuring a complex real estate deal in a way that was far more tax efficient than the client expected, saving more than £500,000;
- successfully facilitating the re-organisation of franchisee properties involving the assignment of more than 100 leases;
- swiftly and successfully completing an acquisition of multiple properties from the landlords of a competitor who recently went into liquidation.
- completing a multi-million-pound sale of property recently developed and let to a leading supermarket chain.