Ruth Downie

Expertise

Ruth specialises in commercial real estate and has over 20 years’ experience in regional and international firms. She advises clients on a wide range of transactional property matters including the acquisition, disposal and asset management of large portfolios on behalf of a broad range of clients, including pension schemes and investors. Ruth also has considerable experience in project management and leading teams in real estate due diligence projects.

How do you help clients?

I help clients to effectively and efficiently manage the life cycle of their real estate portfolio. My clients appreciate my pragmatic approach which assists in bringing their matters to a successful conclusion.

In the management of due diligence teams, I work to create processes and systems in line with client instructions and objectives. I also help improve efficiencies and identify risks in a timely fashion to assist the client in addressing commercial solutions at an early stage.

Experience

1. Advising an investment company in the management of their properties in England, primarily office premises, with rental values of up to £1.2m preparing, drafting and negotiating agreements for lease, new leases and reversionary leases, surrenders and dilapidation settlements and tenant inducement arrangements.
2. Advising a pension fund in the asset management of 32 of their properties (industrial, retail and office sectors) across England and Wales.
3. Acting for a global life assurance fund in the disposal of a multi-tenanted industrial estate in Surrey including the preparation and negotiation of the sale contract and transfer and all ancillary documentation.
4. Review of occupational leases as part of a client’s pre-acquisition due diligence, reporting on key terms of interest to the client, as well as potential red flags to deliver an overall analysis of the target company’s property portfolio, subsequently providing further analysis as part of acquisition.
5. Leading project delivering CLLS occupational lease reports as part of a portfolio purchase, including tenancy schedule verification.