Real Estate Law

The real estate market is constantly forging new business opportunities and growth prospects. To seize them, you need a robust action plan and legal advisors you can count on to transform your strategic and operational goals into real-world success stories.

Our Real Estate Law team brings together professionals with diverse skill sets, offering a wealth of in-depth experience. We have solid hands-on legal expertise and are well versed in the realities facing real estate stakeholders, such as owners, co-owners, lenders, investors, syndicates of co-owners, developers, landlords, tenants and property managers.

Our services are designed to meet all your needs, including:

• Strategic advice, negotiation and drafting of documents required in connection with real estate acquisitions, leasing or disposals.
• Strategic advice on the design and implementation of the corporate or real estate structure for real estate holdings.
• The development of social real estate projects through housing cooperatives (co-ops) or NPOs.
• Due diligence, reviews and issuance of legal opinions on property titles, negotiation of title insurance, and real estate brokerage advice.
• Negotiation and legal and strategic advice in connection with:
  • Real estate development projects, including discussions with public authorities on zoning, the environment, municipal by-law enforcement and municipal services agreements, and the drafting of relevant agreements.
  • Loans payable or receivable, including drafting relevant agreements and making security arrangements.
  • Drafting commercial leases, and co-ownership and superficies agreements.
  • Implementing and managing co-ownership, including co-owner relations.
  • Building and operating networks, particularly telecommunications facilities.
• Disbursement management during the construction phase.
• Mediation, arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, particularly in commercial lease disputes.
• Advice and representation in relation to criminal offences, particularly with respect to safety in public buildings.
• Legal and strategic advice, negotiation and drafting of documents relating to:
  • The agricultural, mining, water, energy and infrastructure sectors.
  • Setting up public-private partnerships.

Municipal Law

Our expertise is frequently called upon in municipal liability matters regarding the enforcement of statutes and regulations, such as the Municipal Powers Act, Cities and Towns Act, Civil Protection Act and Act respecting land use planning and development, and civil liability in connection with aspects involving municipal political and operating activities.

Our team has honed its expertise through its participation in public deliberations on key fundamental issues for the municipal sector, including various statute revisions, such as the Act respecting land use planning and development and Municipal Powers Act.

Our team’s expertise, experience, and political acumen are highly sought-after for strategic advice on all issues relating to municipal governance, particularly incidents involving high media exposure.

Real Estate Financing

We offer a wide range of legal and strategic real estate financing advice, including drafting agreements and making security arrangements. We represent banks, real estate investment trusts, lenders, borrowers, and non-bank financial institutions in relation to financing secured by commercial and industrial property. In particular, we are active in industrial, commercial and multi-residential property construction and portfolio acquisition financing, as well as long-term real estate refinancing.

Commercial Leasing

We leverage our in-depth commercial leasing expertise in conducting comparative site analysis and providing support with or without real estate broker assistance to deliver informed advice. We factor in the full range of strategic industry issues in our analyses, complete with the required value added in legal areas. When involved at the offer-to-lease stage, we identify your risks and enhance your negotiating position.

In franchising transactions, we assist franchisors in drawing up contractual franchise, distribution, lease and security arrangement documents. We also represent franchisees in the following transactions:

• Analyzing the existing portfolio of leases to develop a strategic approach to landlords to negotiate early terminations or location expansions or retrofitting
• Drafting and negotiating offers to lease, option, or promise, as well as property leases
• Drafting industrial commercial leases and sale-leasebacks

Purchase and Sale Transactions

Building on a high volume of successful transactions, we have in-depth knowledge of market conditions and the expectations of purchase and sale deal participants.

Our lawyers’ areas of strength include:

• Co-ownership transactions and management, including co-owner relations
• Due diligence and opinions on the risks associated with a transaction
• Infrastructure project transactions: telecommunications networks, mining, water, energy, roads and airports
• Legal and strategic advice in the context of transactions, including drafting agreements and making security arrangements
• Negotiating and drafting contracts
• Real estate investment trust transactions
• Site selection advice
• Strategic partnership transactions, including public-private partnerships
• Superficies, emphyteusis and servitude transactions

Real Estate Litigation

We take a pragmatic approach tailored to your needs and recommend in particular a principled approach to the use of procedural grounds.

We advise and represent our clients in:

• Contract disputes
• Disputes arising from agreements for the purchase and sale of real property
• Disputes between franchisees and franchisors
• Disputes relating to commercial leases
• Hypothecary remedies
• Miscellaneous real estate disputes, in particular in cases involving injunctions, seizures and other extraordinary remedies