Residential Property & Conveyancing

Providing a helping hand for your home move

The conveyancing process - the legal transfer of property from seller to buyer - is complex and can be rather stressful, whether you’re a first time buyer or a seasoned home mover upsizing or downsizing. Even when you think you’ve found the perfect home and agreed on a price, there are a multitude of legal procedures which need to be completed before you can move in - and the conveyancing process can take several weeks or months, often being slowed down by a “chain” of buyers and sellers. The residential property team at W H Matthews & Co understand the importance of what is likely to be one of the biggest transactions in your life and we are here to guide you through the whole conveyancing process, safely through the exchange of contracts and finally to completion, ensuring that your transaction proceeds smoothly, quickly and with the minimum of fuss. We are proud that when you instruct us your case will be dealt with by one specialist conveyancer, thus ensuring continuity throughout the entire process. With regard to fees, we believe that transparency is vital and are more than happy to provide a clear estimate of costs and expenses for your proposed transaction at the beginning of our business relationship.

Extending your leasehold or buying the freehold

A large number of homes in the UK, especially flats, are sold as leasehold properties. If you buy one of these, what this means is that you (as a leaseholder) do not own the property outright, but instead have a landlord (a freeholder) to whom you generally have to pay an annual ground rent. Although many leases are very long (often over 90), they can be a lot shorter and extending the lease can be very expensive. It is normally prudent to extend a lease before there is less than 80 years of the lease term remaining. Sometimes leaseholders decide to purchase the freehold instead of extending a lease - this is called “enfranchisement”. Although enfranchisement can pay dividends in the long term, it’s a tricky process, fraught with many legal pitfalls. Our team of professional property solicitors can handle the process of either extending your lease or helping you and the owners of other flats in the building collectively to purchase the freehold in a process known as collective enfranchisement.

Advice on remortgaging

Whether you’re looking for a better mortgage deal, want to change your lender, or own a property and need to borrow money against its equity value, it will be necessary to remortgage your property. Whatever the reason you want to remortgage, the property team at W H Matthews & Co can explain the process and advise you on achieving your aims, handling all the legal work and ensuring that your interests are protected. To discuss any residential property matters and find out how we can help you, give us a call.

 

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What our Clients say

Working with you has been a truly enjoyable experience, and I am very grateful for your patience and support throughout the entire process. Your expertise and professionalism were invaluable to us, and we appreciate the time and effort you devoted to our case.

We are now settled into our new home and could not be happier with the outcome. We are truly grateful for your assistance and expertise, and we will not hesitate to recommend your services to anyone in need of legal assistance.

Elaine and her associates were helpful and informative at all times. We would use W H Matthews & Co. again without any reservation, we would not consider anyone else. The service is based on traditional values, it cannot be better in our opinion. 

Elaine Pearman and her assistant Jane Fraser were extremely thorough and professional at all times. I would use W H Matthews & Co again without any hesitation at all, having used them for probate, 2 house sales and 1 house purchase so far. 

We have had exemplary service from everyone we encounter at WH Matthews including conveyancing and probate. Maggie & Elaine and their assistants have been enormously helpful and  their guidance and support truly appreciated.

Thank you both for your excellent service. We will certainly be asking you to assist for any future legal and conveyancing work and will highly recommend you to family and friends.

I'm extremely satisfied with all my dealings with my solicitor and others in W H Matthews. I have nothing further to add to improve the service.

I especially liked that Elaine was quick to phone me herself following my initial enquiry and gave clear, prompt and effective communication (and also Jane). The whole process felt transparent and I knew what was happening.

Elaine, thank you most sincerely for your work on the sale. I know it has been an extraordinarily busy time for you of late, and I am grateful that you found the time to deal with this matter. Please thank Jane and David for me as well. Everything that needed to be done was done, and my completion schedule was met (despite the efforts of the Buyer’s side).

I shall not hesitate to instruct you again in the future, should the need arise.

Just wanted to say a very big thank you for all your hard work relating to the recent house move. I honestly didn’t think I would get here and would have all the trouble of finding another house – but it all worked out in the end. Thank you!

Very happy with the service received. Elaine & Jane worked hard to complete the transaction given the difficult lender and Covid circumstances . Will certainly use for future transactions.

Competent and speedy service. Excellent, very impressive indeed. 

Thank you for your patience and thoroughness during this extraordinary time and help in getting our purchase over the line. If we decide to increase our Sutton property portfolio, we will be straight back on to you.

Elaine has been very efficient indeed and I'm glad you have her as your solicitor.

Continue what you are doing well done. We could not fault you. 

Helpful from start to finish, could not fault the service and assistance provided by Elaine Pearman and Jane Fraser. Thank you. 

Excellent Service from start to finish, Thank you!

Elaine did a great job. Thank you. 

I just want to say a massive thank you for everything you did for myself and my Dad. I really appreciate all your hard work over the last few years.....Again thank you for all your hard work you made a hard situation a lot less harder than it was. 

Elaine, Thank you so much for all your hard work and perseverance. We really appreciate all your support and dedication throughout the process. I will be definitely be recommending you to my friends. 

Thank you to everyone at W H Matthews. Yet again another excellent transaction completed. Thank you for your very professional service. I already have recommended you and will do again. 

May I take this opportunity to mention how grateful I have been for the friendly and efficient way in which Suzanne has treated my enquiry. A breath of fresh air at a difficult time. 

Perfect level & frequency of communication to me, to keep me informed and 'at peace' with proceedings. I always feel Elaine is more "on it" than my buyers or sellers legal team and that all risks/concerns are identified and the best advice provided. 

I send my thanks to you Mr Guy for the work you have undertaken for me and my late husband these past years. 

At all times Victoria has been a great and efficient supporter and shown us the kinder side of the legal operation. Thank you once more and be confident in the knowledge that I would use your kind services again if the need arose, or recommend you to friends.

We are extremely satisfied with the service received from Maggie Hughes, Elaine Pearman and all the other staff with whom we had contact. We have recommended you already. 

Victoria Huxley gave me excellent service, informed and pertinent replies to my questions and issues at all times. I was pleased to have her on my side. 

I'd like to take this opportunity Victoria to thank you for your very kind, efficient and very personable work on my behalf. If you treat all your clients in the same manner then they are very lucky to have someone on their side who treats them like an individual, in a caring way, which takes a lot of the stress out of situations that can be most stressful. Thank you again. 

Tracy Gowar is highly professional, responsive and extremely diligent. She is a credit to the company. I cannot speak highly enough about her.

I just wanted to write to express my sincere thanks for all the help you have given me on this purchase and all others. Elaine you're a star and in my opinion one of the very best in your profession.

I would like to thank you for your professionalism and the care, consideration and patience you have shown in handling this long drawn-out sale.

I was listened to attentively and was given a person centred service. I did not feel rushed . I would definitely recommend W H Matthews & Co.

On every visit to the office I was treated with kindness and helpfulness by all the persons I had contact with at this difficult time for me. Not having had dealings with solicitors it could have been a very intimidating experience but I was put at my ease.  I can only thank you for the service you did for me. 

Thank you immensely for the excellent customer service I received. You showed a lot of empathy and you have been extremely patient and considerate.  

The service I received could not be improved as I found the company personnel I dealt with could not have been any better.

I felt like the case was in really good hands and that Elaine was always acting in our best interests. Great Service!

Everything was clearly explained and nothing was too much trouble. A great service. 

The overall service was efficient in every way and speedily concluded..... we were very impressed with the attitude of everyone with whom we came into contact

Everything was dealt with swiftly..... the most professional service at all times - nothing to improve on.

I received great service, all staff I spoke to were helpful and professional. I would happily recommend the Sutton branch

I am very happy with all aspects of the service I received, no improvements necessary.

Q - What could we do to improve the service you received from us?        A -  Satisfied for over 51 years . Trust this answers the question!

Q - What could we do to improve the service you received from us?        A -  This is the only question which I find difficult to answer as I can't think of anything which would have improved the service which you have given me!!

I'd like to really thank you very much indeed for all the work you've put in.... and especially for your being able to achieve the updates to my lease. I have now heard many horror stories from other residents regarding.... the managing agents, so I'm particularly please that you have been able to achieve the results you have when needing to deal with such a company..... thank you once again.  

I realised that she is someone whom I could trust........ I was impressed......... in short words, in my opinion, Elaine is truly exceptional at her job.

Firstly a BIG thank you........You have been absolutely fantastic and I will certainly recommend/use you in the future if needed. Thank you again for making what is one of the most stressful things you can do in life made easy!

I'd like to very much thank you and your staff for all the hard work that you've put into my purchase of the flat. It's been a stressful process but made considerably easier thanks to your advice and guidance. 

Thank you for all your help in organising everything so efficiently. I'm glad I chose WH Matthews! 

Each time I mentioned that I was represented by W H Matthews & Co without fail the people I spoke with stated that the firm was by far and away the best firm for conveyancing. 

Thank you to everyone involved for being so efficient and making the process so smooth. We really appreciate it. 

Thank you as always, for your continued help and advice in this matter. 

Once again, many thanks for all your help with this matter and the swift and efficient service you have provided. 

Many thanks for all of your help over the past few months and for persevering!

We are hugely appreciative of your time and attention in getting the chain to exchange quickly

We just wanted to say a big thank you for all of your efforts in getting the exchange done so quickly. We appreciate the work that you have done to make this happen. 

Extremely helpful and a pleasure to deal with

Professional in every aspect

My family have always used W.H. Matthews & Co. and will continue to do so in the future

…I would never think of anyone else. I have been with you for many, many years. I have always been very grateful for your kindness and help

I do not think you could improve when you consider the years I have been with your Company, many, many thanks!

…a very efficient service from you all. I can’t think of anything that would improve your level of service

Good, helpful advice and guidance

…service from start to finish was excellent. I was kept informed of matters at all times

All staff are professional, have excellent knowledge in their field and very helpful

I was recommended your Firm and found you all to be pleasant, efficient and over-all dealt with things efficiently

Friendly, efficient and value for money

Good communication and friendly service

Everything was fine, my calls were always answered politely and explanations clear

Very good as a first-time buyer. I did not know much about house buying. W.H. Matthews were very helpful and made the buying process simple. Thanks!

A much more personal service than I have received from other solicitors in the past

I have used WHM for both buying and selling many times – all with complete satisfaction

...fabulous!

Most happy to use again

I thought you chaps were terrific

Excellent service as always!

Prompt and professional service. No problems encountered whatsoever

Critically, I got what I needed and the support to achieve it