Hayley Gilbert
Solicitor, Commercial Property, Farms & Estates
Hayley qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and has worked for leading law firms in the North East of England before joining Latimer Hinks in 2021. Hayley is a member of the ALA (Agricultural Law Association), the UK’s largest inter-professional organisation devoted to the law and business of the countryside.
Areas of practice:
Hayley advises on all aspects of commercial property including acquisitions, disposals, leasing, financing, planning and the property aspects of corporate transactions.
She regularly acts for landed estate owners and those that have substantial land holdings in relation to all aspects of their property management work, including options, sales, overage, private water supplies, covenants and easements.
Hayley has a particular interest in the property aspects of renewable energy projects and also enjoys dealing with conditional contracts, promotion agreements, collaboration agreements and development agreements.
She has a personable approach when dealing with clients and avoids the use of legal jargon when unnecessary to achieve the best outcome for the client as quickly and efficiently as possible. Hayley regularly liaises with other professionals including land agents, chartered surveyors, accountants, financial advisors and international trust managers to provide an all- inclusive service to her clients.
Recent matters:
- Renegotiating and documenting the terms of an option agreement for a lease relating to a renewables energy project to encompass changing renewables technology and collaborating with the client’s land agent to extract further value from the transaction (aggregate rental income for the term of lease £12 million)
- Assisting on the sale of agricultural land including securing by legal charge a deferred payment of part of the sale price, drafting a further option over part of the land earmarked for local authority educational purposes, and drafting transfers of part of adjoining land required to satisfy local authority biodiversity net gain conditions with an option to buy back in favour of our client
- Acting on behalf of the owner of a large landed estate in relation to a full review of the land holding including trust matters, management agreements and liaising with land agents to provide an all encompassing matrix and plan for the estate
- Application to HM Land Registry for the first registration of freehold land where the client did not hold the deeds, and expedition of the same to enable the client to grant a long lease
- Acting on behalf of a landowner in relation to the variation of a s.106 agreement to include provisions to satisfy the local authority’s requirement for offsite nitrate neutrality measures
