Southampton: Paris Smith acts in innovative housing deal

Paris Smith, Southampton’s leading law firm, has played a key part in the sale of a major development site in Southampton and the completion of a build contract for the construction of in excess of 100 new homes.

The transaction was made possible with the help of The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) by way of their Kickstart “gap funding” initiative. This development is one of the first to receive Kickstart funding in the country as a whole.

Mark Withers, a partner within the commercial property department at Paris Smith, said: “We are delighted to have been involved in this important project particularly against the backdrop of the current economic climate.

"As well as the sale itself, we also had to deal with the documents associated with obtaining the Kickstart Gap Funding provided by the Homes and Communities Agency - the transaction didn’t fit the usual mould and getting the documents to reflect this transaction wasn’t straightforward. Negotiating and then coordinating the completion of all the documents was a complicated process. A lot of hard work from everyone involved has gone into making this difficult deal happen”.

It is a requirement of the Kickstart Scheme that the units are completed by the March 31, 2011.