Ben Bystry
Senior Associate
Contact details
023 8085 7021
Email Ben
Ben is a commercial real estate specialist with a particular expertise in development and strategic land transactions and for residential and mixed-use schemes.
He also manages commercial property portfolios across a range of sectors and assists with finance transactions and business sales and purchases.
Ben has over 25 years’ experience advising owners, developers, and investors.
Main areas of practice
Ben regularly advises landowners and developers on strategic long term option agreements, promotion agreements, hybrid agreements, collaboration agreements and overage. He has also advised on regeneration projects involving complex site assembly acquisitions, disposals and related development funding and management agreements.
Ben manages commercial property portfolios across the industrial, office and retail sectors and related finance transactions and business sales and purchases.
Clients
Ben’s clients include commercial property investors, landowners (including large private trusts and landed estates) and developers.
Expertise & Services
For a period in excess of ten years, Ben has provided first class legal services to our two property investment companies, including purchases and sales of freehold and leasehold commercial investments, new commercial leases, licences and assignments. His service has always been prompt, providing excellent advice and guidance whenever needed for the management of our property portfolios.
Career
Ben qualified as a solicitor in 2003 after graduating from University with a 2:1 BA (Hons) degree in History and Geography before converting through a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (PGDip) from the College of Law (University of Law). Ben joined the firm in April 2013.
Contact details
023 8085 7021
Email Ben
Significant Experience
- Lead a team within Blake Morgan’s construction, planning and real estate sectors for a developer on a regeneration project in Southampton for 132 PRS units involving the acquisition of multiple retail and mixed-use properties and a forward sale and development funding/management agreement with the largest UK PRS investor at a GDV of circa £40million.
- Hybrid Agreement with a large UK housebuilder targeting 800 residential dwellings and ancillary uses for a major landed.
- Acted for landowner on Promotion Agreement and the subsequent sale of a site with planning for 230 dwellings to the largest UK house builder for £23million. Structure included deferred payment secured by charge and a final payment based on expenditure on planning gain against estimate provided in the bid. Structure included managing various stakeholders, including overage beneficiaries and discharge of security against the property.
- Sale of development site for £7million for a large private trust pursuant to option agreement with infrastructure obligations for future development of retained land and overage.
- Sale of farm on a subject to planning basis for 65 dwellings with vacant possession condition requiring manging multiple commercial occupancies. Infrastructure obligations for access and services to retained land and adjoining land together overage for any future development beyond specified threshold as part of the sale package.
- Assisted a private developer on a land swap and intra-company group transfer with CLLS Certificate of Title as part of a £20 million finance package of a development site in Richmond on Thames, London.
- Private investor acquisition of a wharf and site partition for a commercial letting scheme for warehousing, trade counters and offices generating a rent roll of circa £4million based on institutionally acceptable rack rent leases.
- Acted for a private investor on the acquisition of a landed estate subject to 22 residential tenancies together with development review for additional dwellings at a purchase price of circa £11million including funding refinanced through a regear of an existing commercial property portfolio and the estate to a private bank.
