Catherine Halton-Farrow

Catherine joined Birketts in July 2019. She is a Senior Associate (Chartered Legal Executive) in our Real Estate Investment Team based within the wider Commercial Property Team in our Norwich office. 

Catherine acts for large investment funds and asset management companies, including key clients Alternative Income REIT Plc, M7 Real Estate Ltd, Oxford Properties Group, Westbrook Partners and Realty Income Corporation. She assists them with their multi-tenanted commercial real estate. More specifically this involves the acquisition of large retail parks, industrial units, office blocks and other prime commercial property, along with any associated financing to fund the acquisitions.

Catherine also handles the subsequent real estate asset disposals, whether individual unit sales or full site disposals. As part of this, she has advised clients on vacant possession strategies for multi-let commercial properties. This includes negotiating deeds of surrender, preparing applications for the removal of historic tenancy entries from the title including accompanying statutory declarations, and monitoring the application at the Land Registry to successfully “clean up” the property’s title before handling the subsequent asset disposal. 

Recent examples of deals Catherine has worked on include:

• £21 million acquisition of a large single-let office building;
• £20 million acquisition of a multi-let office block acquisition;
• £36 million acquisition of a prime retail park and subsequent disposal;
• £9.4 million acquisition of two retail units;
• £21.6 million disposal of a retail warehouse portfolio;
• £150 million acquisition of a portfolio of retail parks;
• £5 million acquisition of a large multi-let out of town retail park.

In addition to handling the acquisitions and disposals of these properties, Catherine assists these clients with the ongoing day-to-day asset management of their property portfolios; including granting new leases and lease renewals, lease surrenders, licences for alterations, licences to assign or underlet and advising clients on Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 formalities. 

Catherine was born and raised in Kent and East Sussex, before moving to Norfolk in her late teens to finish her schooling. She then read Law at UK top ten university, The University of Warwick and graduated with a first class law degree in 2012. After finishing her degree she spent a year gaining hands-on legal experiences in a local law firm and went on to study for CILEx via the graduate fast-track route, finishing her exams in one year. After completing the work-based learning elements of the CILEx course Catherine qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives in 2016.

Outside of work, Catherine is kept very busy renovating her Georgian cottage with her Structural Engineer husband. They share an interest in historic buildings and are actively involved in The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), attending workshops and lectures to enhance their knowledge of conserving old buildings. Catherine is also an avid fitness fanatic and is often seen at the gym or running round the beautiful Norfolk countryside trying to improve her pace! When she can find time, Catherine attempts a round of golf.