Serena Ding

Real Estate Investment

• Represented numerous high-net-worth investors, providing full legal services for property due diligence, acquisitions, asset protection, succession planning, estate distribution, and ownership structure optimisation.
• Assisted multiple family offices and family enterprises with various real estate investment projects in Australia.
• Provided pre-investment legal advice for overseas clients entering the Australian market, including investment structure design, due diligence, and tax compliance, as well as assistance with asset allocation and transactions.
• Advised several Chinese-owned enterprises on real estate asset restructuring, assisting with optimising ownership structures and methods.
• Assisted a foreign listed company with the acquisition and transfer of employee dormitory properties.
• Provided end-to-end legal services for Sino-foreign joint venture real estate projects, including drafting and reviewing shareholders’ agreements, loan agreements, project management agreements, and cooperation agreements.
• Provided legal support to a Chinese enterprise client, including due diligence, contract drafting and review, and conveyancing. Successfully completed the acquisition of several commercial properties in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, worth over AUD 50 million, including shopping centres, retail, office, and mixed-use developments.
• Assisted foreign investors in acquiring and developing a large industrial park, including negotiations, drafting and revising confidentiality agreements, option agreements, due diligence agreements, land purchase agreements, financing agreements, and cooperation agreements.

Commercial Investment

• Assisted a major local logistics company with sale negotiations, compliance, and post-transaction matters.
• Assisted a local enterprise in acquiring an international metal manufacturing and surface treatment company, providing due diligence and contract support.
• Provided legal review, risk assessment, and documentation evaluation for various investors in funds and financial products.
• Assisted numerous investors with shareholder agreements, cooperation agreements, and service agreements, including negotiations, drafting, and signing, as well as due diligence and risk assessments.
• Represented creditors in drafting and registering various debt and mortgage agreements, and provided ongoing advisory services.
• Assisted entrepreneurs with trademark registration, establishing franchise structures, and providing legal opinions on financing arrangements.
• Acted in multiple childcare business acquisitions and sales, providing transaction structuring and legal support to investors.

Compliance Advisory

• Successfully represented clients in multiple FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) violation cases, applying for amended conditions and completing asset restructures.
• Provided FIRB compliance planning for foreign enterprises and individuals, including application processes and government investigation responses.
• Offered detailed legal advice on Australian property taxation, investment structuring, and compliance requirements at the early stages of property investment.

Property Development

• Assisted overseas developers with apartment projects, including land acquisition, reviewing management agreements, drafting shareholder agreements, addressing legal and tax liabilities arising from shareholder changes, drafting sales contracts, and reviewing financing documents.
• Represented overseas developers in House & Land projects, drafting sales contracts, investment cooperation agreements, and loan agreements; assisted with subdivision applications; negotiated with government on MSA and GAIC arrangements; and completed settlement.
• Provided legal advice to local developers on suburban residential projects in Victoria, including staged development strategies, owner collaboration agreements, and government approval support.
• Assisted multiple investors in developing childcare projects, including land acquisitions, due diligence, and lease negotiations.
• Reviewed and drafted construction contracts for a student accommodation developer, ensuring contractor performance and resolving construction disputes.
• Provided legal advice on covenants, assisting developers in securing planning approvals.

Property Tax

• Provided overseas clients with detailed legal compliance advice on land tax, absentee owner surcharge, vacancy tax, land tax grouping, and trust surcharge.
• Assisted developers and investors with internal share transfers, successfully avoiding double stamp duty.
• Drafted project management and share transfer agreements to avoid economic entitlement tax liabilities.
• Represented a local developer in disputes over subsale provisions triggered before land settlement due to pre-development activities, successfully obtaining exemptions.
• Represented overseas enterprise clients in appeals and exemptions before the State Revenue Office (SRO) concerning land tax, land tax grouping, absentee owner surcharge, and nonprofit organisation land tax exemptions.
• Assisted local agricultural landholders in seeking SRO appeals and tax relief, including land partially located in metropolitan Melbourne.
• Assisted clients in government investigations and compliance documentation in cases where multiple changes in family shareholding risked triggering landholder provisions.

Leasing Matters

• Assisted developers (landlords) in negotiating commercial lease agreements (including lease term, rent adjustments, fit-out obligations, and use of common property/OC issues), implementing Build-to-Rent long-term return strategies.
• Assisted childcare landlords in negotiating lease documents, including heads of agreement, formal leases, confidentiality agreements, and deeds of undertaking.
• Represented large warehouse landlords in lease breach and rent recovery disputes.
• Long-term legal adviser to shopping centre landlords, handling new leases, renewals, subleases, and breach enforcement.

Other Services

• Assisted families of deceased overseas property owners with complex cross-border estate inheritance and distribution.
• Represented creditors in completing foreclosure property transfers and sales where borrowers defaulted.
• Assisted detained individuals (including those in detention centres or prisons) with property sale documentation and asset distribution.
• Provided compliance guidance to clients enforcing court judgments, assisting with lawful property sales and division of assets.
• Represented the State Trustee in handling property sales and fund distribution for bankrupt individuals.