Mark Allen – Partner

Area of work: Property and Commercial agreements

Year qualified: 1992

Career

After qualifying as a solicitor at City firm Simmons and Simmons in 1992, Mark spent 10 years working in the dance music industry. Mark returned to practising law in 2003 during a year spent at the London office of American law firm Mayer Brown.  In 2004 Mark joined Alan Thompson at the firm then known as Thompson Sherwood and he became a partner in the newly-formed Thompson Allen in April 2006. 

Expertise

Mark specialises in all aspects of commercial property and general commercial law. He acts regularly for tenants and landlords of all types of commercial premises, dealing with transfers, sublets and grants of leases of properties ranging from lock-up shops to large developments. 

He advises on sale and purchases of development sites, including those subject to planning or other conditions. 

His work also covers residential property, particularly where this forms part of an investment portfolio or a development project, or where the owners of blocks of flats decide to enfranchise or pursue residential lease extensions. 

Mark regularly acts for private and institutional lenders, often where commercial property or residential property is being refinanced. Mark has practical experience of the sale and purchase of businesses both by way of asset and share sales. 

On the commercial side, Mark has experience of dealing with shareholder agreements, franchises, development agreements and option agreements. 

Mark has worked frequently for established pension funds where their beneficiaries choose to hold commercial property in their Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPPs). 

Particular cases of interest

• Acting for a landlord reletting commercial premises in Brighton following the insolvency of the previous tenant and their franchisee. This required working as quickly as possible to synchronise the surrender of the client’s lease by the administrator of the previous tenant, the surrender of the lease held by the sub-tenant’s liquidator and the grant of the new lease to the incoming tenant. This was achieved within several weeks of agreed heads of terms by pro-active and positive communication with all relevant parties.
• A sale of part of commercial property held in a SIPP to developers under a conditional contract subject to planning.
• Assisting a growing local fast-food franchise with all its property matters, ranging from acquiring development sites to drafting security documents and franchisee leases.
• Acting on the purchase of a residential care home and simultaneous adverse possession claim of part of the business property.
• Acting for the purchaser of a disused petrol station where contracts had to be exchanged within 24 hours of receipt of papers, in order to secure the property for the client. The rapid turnaround was made possible by being extremely pro-active, conducting thorough preliminary research and the efficient and ‘hands on’ use of I.T.
• The sale of a residential riverside site with private marina, subject to a complex construction contract.
• The sale of an industrial estate as a going concern.