Deeds into words ... and words into deeds

Key supplier Downs Leat Marshall

Typically finding and signing up for a retail property is a slow, slow process. In a few cases title deeds stretch back from the fifteenth century and are written in Latin, and retail properties are notorious for their complex restrictive covenants and lease terms. This can be a major barrier to rolling out quickly and is a key reason why even the largest retailers often employ third-party expert help.

At alworths we decided to engage the property professionals at a newly established Estate Management company, Downs Leat Marshall LLP. We tasked them with obtaining five retail properties from our shortlist and securing the keys within six weeks, allowing four weeks for fitting out and stocking up. Andrew Downs, Richard Leat and Gary Marshall rose to our challenge, taking on the task of translating the stores' deeds into words and our words and plans into shop deeds. They excelled.

Andrew, Richard and Gary have extensive retail property experience, drawn from long careers in the sector, spanning many different retail companies. They needed all their wisdom and knowledge alongside a lot of hard graft to achieve our timetable. Within days of the initiative getting underway they had established strong, productive relationships with members of our in-house team and helped us to compile a landlord briefing pack, setting out our business plan and introducing the alworths team. They used their extensive market knowledge to help us to pinpoint target stores from our initial shortlist, before targeting the relevant estate agents and landlords.

The trio engaged the landlords on our behalf, negotiating start-up terms and helping us to finalise our selections, before working closely with our lawyers to complete the leases and obtain access to the keys much more quickly than usually. In early October we secured our first store at Didcot, getting the keys four weeks before the planned opening date. When BBC Children in Need's Pudsey Bear cut the ribbon to open the store it was the culmination of a major team effort, but above all it owed a lot to the chaps from DLM.

You can find out more about Downs Leat Marshall and their continuing work with alworths on their website. We're delighted to recommend them.