Development contracts and disputes: What are the issues?
Contracts relating to the development of land and property
commonly include promotion agreements, joint venture arrangements,
overage provisions, agreements for sale and options to purchase,
among others.
When negotiating any development or commercial contract, it is
important to ensure that the contract ultimately entered into
accurately reflects the parties' intentions and
understanding.
Development contracts, and the schemes that they underpin, are
usually high value. Each development and the issues that arise are
particular to their own site and factual circumstances, and they
are often complex and fraught with risk. It is notoriously tricky
to cater in the contract for unknown future events; for parties
with changing and potentially conflicting interests; and to cover
all possible eventualities. However the consequences of getting the
contractual position wrong can be devastating, especially
