Nicola qualified as a Solicitor in 1995 and joined Birketts in October 2023.
She is a Legal Director in the Residential Development Sector Group and is based in our Sevenoaks office. Prior to joining Birketts, Nicola was Head of Legal in the in-house legal department of a regional housebuilder having made the move in-house after several years working in regional southeast firms.
Nicola has a wide range of experience in dealing with all matters from a housebuilder perspective from initial development agreement through securing planning permission to development site acquisition and sale. She also has experience with all aspects of site set up and plot sales, and “golden brick” sales of affordable housing. Having worked in house for a housebuilder for the past 17 years she fully understands the commercial drivers which influence housebuilder projects.
Nicola has experience in completing complex back-to-back purchase and sale transactions involving multiple landowners and developers.
Recent work highlights
A recently completed project involved entering into option agreements with three separate landowners, negotiating the section 106 Agreement required to secure planning permission for the development, negotiating the onward sale of the whole development site by way of a conditional contract to another developer including sales and planning overage agreements, then deeds of variation to the original option agreements in order to secure the purchase terms, the granting of an easement to secure access over an unregistered part of the development, further overage agreements with the landowners, a short term tenancy back to one of the landowners, agreeing a legal charge to secure deferred payments and then co-ordinating a simultaneous purchase and sale on of the development site
Experience & education
1995 Qualified as a Solicitor
1997 Solicitor T G Baynes Solicitors
1999 Partner T G Baynes Solicitors
2001 Warners Solicitors
2004 London & Edinburgh Inns in-house Legal Team
2006 Rydon Group Legal Dept – subsequently becoming Head of Legal of Rydon Homes Ltd
2023 Joined Birketts
