Samantha Benfield

Samantha specialises in Landlord and Tenant work, in particular in relation to the acquisition, disposal and management of extensive occupational property portfolios for clients in the retail and insurance sectors.

She has over 17 years’ experience advising clients across a range of sectors. Samantha specialises in the acquisition, disposal and other legal property aspects involved in the management of large operational portfolios for tenant clients comprising of leasehold and freehold interests and a variety of property types.

The recent experiences outlined below have all been dealt with by Samantha in her capacity as lead transactional lawyer on the relevant client accounts and all form part of the wider matters that Samantha routinely deals with as part of the legal property aspects of general portfolio management matters essential to the clients' continued business use. For example: lease renewals (statutory and otherwise), lease re-gears, surrenders, variations, licences and wayleave agreements. Key to Samantha's responsibilities is to establish and develop a sound knowledge base for her clients to help ensure the provision of relevant and consistent commercial advice and to achieve the clients' key commercial and practical objectives and requirements.

Samantha also works collaboratively with our corporate and commercial teams and regularly acts for existing commercial clients in relation to ancillary occupational property matters. This includes new leases, lease re-gears and dealing with property arrangements ancillary to main commercial contracts (for example leases required for occupational arrangements in connection with managed services provision).

Relevant experience includes advising:

• The sale of a portfolio of 6 switching buildings at various locations in the UK for a major communications client to a value of £2.4 million, as part of the client's overriding commercial strategy to maximise the use and efficiency of its operational portfolio.
• A re-gear of the occupational leases of prime office space in central London and Birmingham for a major insurance sector client worth in the region of £40 million. The completion of these transactions has secured the client's continued occupation at its registered office and one of its key regional hubs.
• Relocation of factory outlet units and retail park units for a major retail client at various UK locations, most recently being at key new retail developments in Leicester and Northants, to a combined value of £4.75 million.