Real estate runs through the entire life of a business: finding premises, negotiating a lease, buying the walls, selling the business, building, investing. Each of these operations involves substantial sums and is governed by specific rules: lease law, sales law, planning, construction, co-ownership and real estate taxation.
MOSAIK acts across all of these areas, in advisory work and in litigation, for companies, retailers, investors and individuals. This page presents our four areas of practice; each has its own detailed page.
Real estate transactions
The firm secures your acquisitions and disposals: due diligence, preliminary sale agreements, conditions precedent, financing, satisfaction of conditions and completion. A distinctive feature of MOSAIK: several of the firm's lawyers act as real estate transaction agents and can, under a dedicated mandate, search for a buyer or a property on your behalf.
The firm also advises on structuring your investments: French real estate holding company (SCI), split ownership, direct or indirect holding, in coordination with our tax practice.
Commercial leases
Negotiating and drafting the lease, rent review and renewal, rent uncapping, assignment, statutory eviction compensation, landlord and tenant litigation: the French commercial lease regime is a discipline in its own right, decisive for the value of your business as well as for the yield on your asset. Our dedicated page details how the firm assists both landlords and tenants.
Sale of a fonds de commerce
From valuing the business to releasing the escrowed price, the sale of a fonds de commerce (French going-concern business assets) is a demanding process: audit of the lease and licences, preliminary agreement, deed of sale, publication formalities and clearing of creditors' claims. MOSAIK runs the transaction end to end, for seller and buyer alike.
Real estate and construction litigation
When a dispute arises, the firm defends you before the civil and commercial courts:
- landlord and tenant disputes: unpaid rent, notices to quit, service charges, condition reports;
- sale disputes: conditions precedent, hidden defects, non-conformities;
- construction disputes: defective work, delays, statutory warranties, interim expert proceedings;
- abnormal neighbourhood disturbances and easements;
- co-ownership: challenges to service charges and general meeting resolutions.
Who do we act for?
- retailers and retail chains, for their leases, their going concerns and their store openings;
- companies, for their operating premises, their offices and transactions involving their own property;
- investors, French and foreign, for the acquisition, structuring and management of their assets;
- individuals, for their purchases, sales and property disputes.
A comprehensive approach, beyond real estate
A real estate transaction is never purely a real estate matter: it has tax, corporate and sometimes international dimensions. MOSAIK's teams work together on your files (real estate law, tax law, corporate law) and also assist foreign investors with their projects in France, in English, Spanish and Chinese.
Frequently asked questions
Why use a lawyer rather than an agency to sell?
A lawyer acting as a real estate transaction agent combines the search for a buyer with complete legal protection of the transaction, backed by the ethics and professional insurance of the French bar. For a going concern or an atypical asset, this dual expertise makes all the difference.
Do you act for individuals?
Yes, notably for purchases and sales, co-ownership disputes, nuisance claims between neighbours and construction litigation.
Do you assist foreign investors?
Yes. The firm regularly assists foreign investors, notably from Asia and Latin America, with their acquisitions in France: structuring, financing, taxation and rental management.
