Solicitor – Admitted 2003
“Elizabeth Newson – outstanding top of the pile service. Incredibly diligent and her calm, imaginative and firm manner leads to efficient negotiation of sticking points and rapid settlement of documents for the benefit of all parties.”
Legal 500 2025
“Elizabeth is my first call for any new land purchase, promotion agreements or land sale. She always makes herself available and is incredibly thorough; whether it is a simple transaction or a hugely complex one with many parties, she is always on top of what needs to be done. She is calm and manages the process and the people brilliantly. She is robust as well as pragmatic, finding solutions to knotty problems. Everyone enjoys working with her, which means a smoother and quicker legal process, and so better outcome every time!
Client
Overview
I am a Partner in Michelmores’ Real Estate team. I have worked across the full spectrum of commercial property in my time as a transactional real estate lawyer but in more recent years I have focussed my practice around residential development and strategic land. I advise land promoters, regional and national housebuilders, local authorities, landowners and landed estates. By acting “on both sides of the fence” I am able to bring to bear insights that are gained acting for developers when acting opposite them, helping to push transactions to a successful conclusion.
My expertise includes advising on the acquisition and disposal of land for development, conditional contracts, option agreements, promotion agreements, collaboration agreements and overage arrangements.
Housing is a key part of any political agenda and with many current issues impacting the sector including climate change, zero carbon, nutrient neutrality and biodiversity net gain, it is an exciting and technically challenging area within which to practice.
Areas of expertise
Recent experience
Advising a regional land promoter in relation to full life cycle of a strategic site including in relation to new promotion agreements, option agreements, speculative acquisitions as well as disposals including to regional and national housebuilders of sites for 40 – 300+ dwellings and ancillary disposals of care home sites and school sites
Acting for regional and national housebuilders in relation to the acquisition of residential development schemes unconditionally, conditionally or pursuant to option agreements
Acting for the trustees of a family trust on the disposal of land to a national housebuilder on an unconditional basis pursuant to a promotion agreement involving two other parcels of land, drawing on specialist advice from colleagues in order to navigate capacity issues when one trustee lost mental capacity, working closely with the promoter’s solicitors and the trustee’s attorneys to find a way to enable exchange and completion to occur within the challenging timescales set
Advising a landed estate in Devon in respect of their strategic land and residential development matters including in relation to the grant of an option to a regional housebuilder and partnering with a community land trust and registered provider in order to deliver an affordable-led scheme for the estate
Advising a large landed estate in the north of England in relation to their landholdings including dealing with the sales of a number of residential schemes pursuant to options
