Real Estate & Environmental

Because of our firm’s long history of involvement in the Central Ohio real estate market, LNL can offer services involving most facets of real estate law. Real estate attorneys in our firm represent purchasers, sellers, and lenders in the acquisition or sale of commercial, agricultural and residential real property. We negotiate office, commercial, and industrial leases for tenants and landlords, including those in shopping centers, office and industrial parks. Real property is often purchased or sold in connection with construction projects. We represent owners, contractors and subcontractors on a wide range of construction projects. We have worked with developers on the creation of residential, office, retail, and mixed-use condominium projects, as well as subdivisions.

We handle all phases of real estate transactions and these phases can include negotiations, financing from either the borrower’s or lender’s perspective, the necessary due diligence for either borrowers or lenders, preparation of documentation necessary for the closing, the closing itself and those matters that must be concluded after the closing.

Occasionally, a borrower of funds cannot repay his or her loan that is secured by real estate. In order to collect these debts, we represent a variety of lenders in foreclosure actions. We have foreclosure experience in all the county courts in Central Ohio and in other courts around the State of Ohio. We prosecute and defend eviction actions, as well.

We also represent clients in civil litigation in a wide range of cases involving interests in real estate, some of which have included partitions, disputes over title, drainage issues, damage or destruction of property, defective construction, and boundary line disputes. There are times when a contractor or subcontractor has not been paid for work or services performed. We are well-versed in all aspects of lien law, which is designed to help protect such contractors and subcontractors.

LNL Shareholder Christian D. Donovan is a licensed title insurance agent for Old Republic Title Insurance Agency, which is among the country’s largest title insurance companies, and also manages LNL’s in-house title company, Paramount Title Agency Inc.

LNL is able to secure title searches and title insurance coverages, and arrange for closing, escrow, and other services generally provided by title insurance companies, with the additional counsel and oversight of an experienced real estate attorney.

Real estate, especially commercial and industrial real estate, raises environmental issues which can be very risky for purchasers of real estate and for those who lend using real estate as collateral. There is important due diligence, usually involving Phase I and Phase II environmental audits, that any prudent buyer or lender should undertake. We can certainly work with our clients and environmental auditing firms to ensure that this due diligence is properly undertaken and evaluated. There are times that environmental problems are disclosed in these audits. We can work with the client, the auditing company and the environmental regulatory agencies to ensure that these matters are resolved in the appropriate way.