Jacqueline D’Arcy

Jacqueline advises on high-value residential acquisitions, trust-led purchases, and disposals, including complex lease structures, lender involvement, and sales by receivers involving central London properties and multi-unit transactions.

• Acted on the purchase of 4 residential buildings, 2 house and 2 blocks of flats, together being 20 units in Mayfair for a purchase price of approximately £47m, some of which were let on ASTs. The lender was separately represented.
• Acted for four bare trusts buying all 4 flats of a new-build development, at a total value of £4.5m, with each trust for the benefit of a minor and owning a 999-year lease, allowing each trustee / beneficiary to deal with each property as they wished. On completion, the freehold was transferred to a newly formed company. As a benefit of the whole development being purchased in one go, the developer agreed to make extra upgrades to the properties.
• Acted in the disposal by Receivers of a freehold building to tenants who accepted section 5 notices.

Jacqueline advises on complex freehold sales and purchases involving high-value homes, restrictive covenants, overage provisions, vacant possession, family arrangements, and charity disposals with separately represented commercial lending.

• Acted in the sale of a £13.5m house with mews, which had been occupied by different family members. After completion, the seller granted an AST to one family member for a short period of time.
• Acted in the sale of property subject to a restrictive covenant in favour of Howard de Walden, where a deed of variation was obtained to allow the use of the whole property as residential.
• Acted in the purchase of a freehold house with vacant possession from a housing association, an exempt charity. The corporate buyer obtained separately represented commercial lending. The housing association insisted on an overage provision, but the planning permission obtained (and subsequently) implemented did not trigger the overage provision.

Jacqueline advises on leasehold sales and purchases of prime London flats, including complex ownership structures, high-value new builds, parking spaces, and overseas investor transactions with associated tax and compliance considerations.

• Acted for a couple relocating to London on the purchase of a flat with a parallel lease, so the landlord was both a tenant-led company, and Crown Estate.
• Acted on the purchase of a prestigious flat in Prime Central London.
• Acted for 2 brothers buying 4 new-build flats and two parking spaces, with a total purchase price of approximately £12m.
• Acted on the sale of a flat by overseas buyers who had owned the property as investments, and then had to submit CGT returns.

Jacqueline advises borrowers and lenders on refinancing mixed-use properties, including dual and separate representation, managing leases, tenant agreements, and complex transaction structures for commercial and residential real estate portfolios.

• Acted for an overseas bank where the lender client required separation representation on the refinance of a building with ground-floor commercial and 13 residential upper-floor flats all let on ASTs, where recent renovation works had completed.
• Acting for the borrower/purchaser where the lender is separately represented.
• Acting for the lender and the borrower/purchaser where the lender is happy with dual representation.

Jacqueline advises on SDLT reclaims and leasehold property matters, including assisting clients with reclaiming overpaid tax and negotiating licences for alterations to carry out works in accordance with lease terms.

• Assisting clients to claim back SDLT where either the previous main home has since been sold, or the purchaser has been in the UK for a period of time.
• Assisting flat owners to negotiate and obtain licences for alterations for works they wish to carry out to their flats.