Melissa is a partner specialising in real estate. She specialises in all aspects of residential development, commercial development and mixed use development. She is the head of a 50 strong plot sales team which completes approximately 8000 residential, student, affordable, retirement and PRS plots per year. This team specialises in dealing with all aspects of disposals at residential development sites including:

• site set ups;
• plot sales;
• part exchanges;
• Help to Buy;
• infrastructure agreements;
• housing association sales;
• management agreements;
• ground rent sales;
• transfers of residual land to the local authority or management company; and
• commercial disposals on mixed use sites.

Most of Melissa's time is spent working for several national and regional house builders regarding the development of land for residential or mixed use development. In addition, she acts for a number of specialist student housing providers and bespoke residential developers.

Melissa joined Shoosmiths LLP as a trainee in 1999 and qualified in 2001, before becoming an associate in 2005, a senior associate in 2012 and a partner in 2016.

• Is Intervention Really Better than Cure in the Housing Market?

  By Melissa Barker |April 2021