Real estate and related businesses represent an extremely important industry in Japan, and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto provides wide-ranging legal services relating to real estate, including the sale and purchase of real property; lease and brokerage transactions; development of office buildings and other commercial facilities; investments in real estate trusts in Japan and overseas; and land readjustment and urban redevelopment projects. Specialized legal services are particularly important for real estate transactions given the risks and potential for disputes due to the vast amounts of money often involved, the stratified rights implicated in real property and the complexity of acquisition and financing procedures. The firm has experience providing a wide range of legal services for both domestic and overseas clients in the real estate industry, including the formulation of transaction structures, negotiation with counterparties, provision of real property due diligence investigations, preparation of relevant transaction documentation, and the handling of litigation and other dispute proceedings.

Recently there has been a notable trend in the real property business towards the fusion of real property and finance through, for example, securitization, fluidization, non-recourse financing using real properties, project financing, real estate investment trusts (J-REITs), and private placements of real estate funds. In addition, soil contamination and other environmental problems inevitably arise in the real property business. At Mori Hamada & Matsumoto we have recognized these trends in the real property business and make use of the latest knowledge and know-how shared within the firm to ensure that the client's business is conducted in a timely and appropriate manner.