Sharon Kirkham

Partner

Areas of Expertise

Sharon is Head of Property Security at Devonshires. Her work involves advising Social Housing Providers on the property aspects of giving security. She is an expert in dealing with:

  • largescale charging to Loan Facilities, Bonds and Private Placements
  • refinancing exercises
  • carrying out property charging due diligence for merger transactions
  • dealing with uplifts in value on LSVT portfolios
  • preparing the property information for asset and liability registers
  • reviewing properties for acceptability for charging and maximising funding capacity

Sharon is seeking to achieve ‘stress-free securitisation’ in the sector by giving free Security Training Seminars to her clients throughout the whole of England and Wales.

Experience

Sharon joined Devonshires Solicitors as a Trainee Legal Executive in 1994, having previously worked as a Legal Secretary for a number of years. Since she has risen to become a Senior Partner and Head of the Property Security department. She has just celebrated 30 years with the firm.

Directories

Sharon is ranked as being in the Hall of Fame in the field of Social Housing Finance in the Legal 500 and is ranked in Band 1 in Chambers and Partners.

Chambers and Partners states that “Sharon Kirkham is organised and gets the job done.”

The Legal 500 highlights Sharon for her “commitment, understanding and support in securitisation work which is second to none” and includes a testimonial stating “never came across anyone like Sharon Kirkham; she is always available no matter what and she remembers everything from every charging exercise” as well as “She is an absolute expert and we can trust her completely”.

Conferences

Sharon regularly gives Security Training Seminars and Asset and Liability Register presentations to Registered Providers and Registered Social Landlords around the country in both England and Wales.

She has also spoken on a number of occasions at the NHF Finance Conferences and in Seminars held by S-D-S with the most recent speaking slot being at the virtual Liverpool Finance Conference in March 2021 entitled “Thinking Strategically about your Secured and Unsecured Assets” and chaired a session at the NHF Treasury in Housing Conference in October 2023 entitled “How to maximise Valuations in an uncertain housing market”.

Education

Sharon joined Devonshires Solicitors in 1994 as a Trainee Legal Executive and studied part-time in the evenings, qualifying as a Solicitor in October 1998 and winning the Law Society Prize for Outstanding Performance.

Personal

Sharon enjoys horse-riding (when she isn’t falling off and breaking something!)

Notable Cases

Carrying out the due diligence on just over 26,000 properties in connection with the amalgamation of Optivo and Southern Housing Group Limited including the provision of Reliance and Top Up Letters on all 26,000 properties, the release and recharge of just over 6,750 of these properties and the provision of Certificates of Title as a Condition Subsequent on just over 11,000 of these properties.

Assisting with the uplifting in the value of just under 17,000 LSVT properties charged to Clarion Housing’s CTL NAB Pool involving the provision of new Certificates of Title for all of these properties.

Preparing a shared ownership spreadsheet for just over 8,600 properties owned by London & Quadrant, identifying who these properties were charged to and what percentages of equity were held by them and getting 2,370 properties ready for charging to the next tranche of London & Quadrant’s £2.5 billion EMTN Programme following us completing the first two tranches of security charged to that Programme.

Getting just over 3,400 properties ready for charging to the next tranche of Notting Hill Genesis’ £2 billion Secured Note Programme following us completing the first tranche of security charged to that Programme.

Carrying out health checks on just over 2,700 unencumbered properties for Futures Housing and getting these properties ready for charging for them.

Carrying out health checks on just over 3,800 unencumbered properties for Walsall Housing Group and getting these properties ready for charging for them.

Carrying out property due diligence on just over 8,700 properties for Sage.

Uplifting the value of over 3,800 ex-LSVT properties charged to Lloyds and Scottish Widows to MV-STT and uplifting the value of over 3,600 ex-LSVT properties charged to Santander to MV-STT for Walsall Housing Group.

Transferring 3,499 properties from Sage Housing Limited to Sage Rented Limited and the charging of these properties to their AR3 Bond.

Dealing with the release of just over 9,600 properties from a syndicated facility and the recharging of just over 6,350 of these to 4 bilateral facilities involving top up due diligence and new Certificates of Title as a Condition Subsequent on all circa 6,350 properties for bpha Limited.

Dealing with a large restructure transaction for Sage involving the transfer of circa 7,000 homes from Sage Housing Limited to Sage Homes RP Limited and the sale of circa 3,000 shared ownership homes in 250 sites to the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

Client Testimonials

“Sharon is a highly motivated sorter-outer of anything property charging. Tremendous energy and commitment to the task.”

“Sharon has really first rate knowledge of the sector and has a great reputation for closing deals within time critical deadlines.”

A lawyer for the Bond Trustees

Sharon’s Insights

4 Sept 2025 • Webinar Online

Securitisation - Overview of the Charging Process and Market Update

View Event

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