During the pandemic, banks continued to finance ongoing commercial real estate projects but they are more careful with financing new ones, looking for higher corporate credentials and imposing more restrictive conditions to fulfil. Monia Dobrescu, Partner at Romanian law firm Mușat & Asociații talked to Property Forum about the pandemic’s effects on client relationships and provided market insight from the legal advisor’s perspective.

Last year, international law firm Kinstellar played a vital part in closing two of the largest transactions on the office market in Romania: Floreasca Park, sold to Resolution Property (member of the Fosun Group) and Zeus Capital for more than €100 million and two Class A office buildings owned by Skanska sold to S Immo for €97 million. This was in addition to a series of deals in logistics and other asset classes. Property Forum talked to Victor Constantinescu, Managing Partner of the Bucharest office and Co-Head of the firm-wide Real Estate Practice, about how the first year of the pandemic was and what’s next.

The Czech Republic has one of the longest and most complicated building procedures in the world and is ranked 156 out of 190 countries observed by The World Bank. Fortunately for real estate developers, the situation is slowly changing. Erwin Hanslik MRICS, Partner and CEE Head of Real Estate at Taylor Wessing talked to us about the legal and regulatory challenges investors and developers need to face in the Czech Republic.

2017 was an exceptional year for Romania, but the market looks a bit stagnant right now. Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa FRICS, Partner and Head of the Real Estate Practice Group at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii talked to Property Forum about market dynamics, legal challenges and the impacts of technology.

Development is booming in almost all segments of the Romanian market, but developers still need to overcome a number of legal and regulatory challenges before they can start building. Then, once construction is complete, they must realise that tenants have become more aware and more “choosey”. Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa, Partner at Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații and Head of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group reviewed some of the issues that may arise when developing or leasing a new building in Romania.

Modern technology has revolutionised the way we work and significantly altered the leasing process. Andrej Leontiev LL.M., Partner at Taylor Wessing analysed current trends on Bratislava’s office market from a legal perspective.