Matthew Weal

Matthew helps clients achieve their objectives in all areas of commercial property litigation, including contentious landlord and tenant work such as business lease renewals, trespass claims, break clause disputes, tenant arrears/insolvency, landlord consents, dilapidations claims, rent reviews and right to manage and service charge disputes.

He also has considerable experience of handling high-value property cases for clients that result in lengthy High Court, Court of Appeal and Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) trials. Matthew also encourages and regularly uses a broad range of alternative dispute resolution processes for his clients, including mediations and expert determinations.

Matthew is recognised as a key lawyer in the Legal 500 2023, noted for his expertise in landlord and tenant issues, contractual disputes, rent review, landlord consents and business lease renewals. He is renowned for his "Good communication throughout, practical and commercial advice" (client testimonial in the Legal 500 2023).

Matthew works closely with the transactional real estate team and has wide experience acting on large-scale development matters, including rights of light, vacant possession strategies, boundary and party wall issues. Matthew also advises on sale and purchase disputes and has an interest in leasehold reform, with extensive experience dealing with the nuances of mixed-use schemes.

Matthew is a member of our Trust, Asset Tracing and Fraud Group, the Business Rates team, and advises clients on property law issues in the context of fraudulent transactions.

He regularly produces articles and commentary pieces for our Development Notes blog, the Law Society and the Property Law Journal on various real estate and case law developments.

Background

Matthew holds a Master of Arts (Law) from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and graduated with First Class honours. He qualified as a solicitor advocate with higher rights of audience in 2016 and is also a member of the Property Litigation Association.