Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

JVA definition

What does JVA mean? JVA stands for joint venture agreement: the contract by which two or more parties set the terms of a joint venture, whether incorporated (typically a JV company or, in the UK, an LLP) or unincorporated (a contractual consortium or partnership). The term is descriptive rather than defined in statute; usage is broadly consistent across corporate and commercial practice in England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, and recognised in case law as a flexible arrangement without a single legal form. A JVA typically addresses the JV’s purpose and scope, contributions (cash, assets, IP, services), governance and decision‑making (board...

Corporate real estate development joint ventures: joint venture agreements, articles of association, property contributions, funding, minority protections, deadlock, transfers, distributions and completion

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

Practice notes

The key corporate documents for a corporate real estate (CRE) joint venture to develop a property are:

the joint venture agreement (JVA), and
the Articles of association of the joint venture company (JVC)

Further documents that will be needed include:

the property sale agreement, see for eg Precedents: Contract for sale—freehold Vacant Possession conditional on planning and Contract for sale—leasehold vacant possession conditional on landlord’s consent
the development funding agreement, see Practice Note: Real estate finance—development facilities—key features
development management agreement, see Precedent: Development management agreement

Brexit impact

For guidance on how Brexit could affect CRE corporate joint ventures, and what this might mean for the drafting, negotiation and enforceability of CRE JVAs, see Practice Notes: Brexit—impact on corporate joint ventures and Brexit—drafting boilerplate clauses [Archived].

Property joint ventures

A property development joint venture enables the parties to:

share risk and channel particular risks to the JV party best suited to bear them, eg a developer
access specialist experience and knowledge from a party with specialist market experience outside its usual course of business
combine specialist

...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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