Terms of Business

TERMS OF BUSINESS

OUR AIM

We aim to offer our clients quality legal advice with a personal service at a fair cost and want to ensure that we meet your expectations.

 

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU

We will:

  • PROVIDE a friendly, efficient and professional service
  • REPRESENT your interests and keep your business confidential
  • KEEP YOU regularly informed of progress or, if there is none, when you are next likely to hear from us
  • TRY to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you
  • DEAL with your queries promptly. For example, we will always try to return your telephone calls on the same day and your emails within two working days

 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

You can assist us by telling us what we need to know.  In particular, please:

  • provide documents when we ask for them and respond promptly to requests for instructions or information
  • tell us at the outset what you expect of us so that we can agree with you what it is possible to achieve
  • tell us if your expectations change or if you are not sure what we have discussed
  • tell us if your contact details change

 

OUR HOURS OF BUSINESS

The normal hours of opening at our offices are from 9.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.  If you attend our office without an appointment, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to see you because of other commitments, but we will attempt to do so if at all possible.  Messages can be left on our answer phone outside office hours and appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential. 

 

PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR WORK

Your work may be carried out by a partner, solicitor or other lawyer and you will be advised accordingly.  We will try to avoid changing the person who handles your work but, if this cannot be avoided, we will tell you promptly of any change and why it is necessary.

 

CHARGES AND EXPENSES

Our charges and expenses for carrying out your work are set out in our letter to you dated [].

 

Conveyancing transactions:

  • For conveyancing transactions, any fixed fee quoted is intended to cover the work routinely carried out, such as correspondence with the other party’s solicitor, your estate agent and your mortgagee, proving title to the property, lodging searches, raising and replying to queries, dealing with any payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax to the Inland Revenue, any necessary registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the title deeds.
  • There will occasionally, however, be work which is not routine or which could not be anticipated at the outset, such as problems concerning a right of way or additional work due to problems in a lease. For this we reserve the right to make a reasonable additional charge at £250.00 per hour plus VAT and we will, wherever possible, give you advance notice that additional charges are being incurred in order that you may budget accordingly.
  • For the following specific work, the additional fees will be limited to:
    • Drafting Statutory Declaration or Statement of Trust - £95 plus VAT
    • Arranging an indemnity policy - £35 plus VAT
    • Dealing with a retention on completion - £35 plus VAT if less than six months and £75 plus VAT if over six months
    • Dealing with separate mortgagee’s solicitors - £125.00 plus VAT
    • Drafting a Deed of Trust - £185 plus VAT
    • Drafting a private loan agreement - £350 plus VAT
  • In some cases, we may need to incur substantial expense on your behalf and may therefore require you to provide a payment on account of the future likely costs and disbursements.

 

Time spent:

  • Where charges are calculated in accordance with our hourly rates, we will record the time spent on your matter including reviewing letters and emails received.
  • In appropriate cases we may in addition take into account factors which might justify a higher or lower overall fee, including the complexity of the job; it value and importance to you; an exceptional degree of urgency perhaps involving weekend working; the degree of specialist knowledge required; and anything else which makes our responsibility unusual.
  • Our hourly rates are subject to review from time to time and we will notify you of any changes. We reserve the right to ask you to make payments on account from time to time and to submit interim bills.

 

Payment of bills:

  • It is a condition of our retainer that all bills, interim and final, are payable on presentation. We reserve the right to charge interest on any unpaid bills at judgement debt rate from one month after delivery of the bill. You will be responsible for any costs and expenses we incur in recovering sums due from you.
  • If we send a bill to you and we are at that time holding on your behalf (in our Client Account) money which is not held for another designated purpose, we shall pay (or partially pay) our bill from the money we hold. We also reserve the right to appropriate such money for the payment of a bill rendered on a separate active matter that we are handling for you.
  • Where an account is overdue, we are entitled to retain any files and documents belonging to you which are in our possession until our account is settled. We also reserve the right to cease working on this and any other matters on which we are acting for you.
  • If arrangements are made for a third party to pay any of our fees or disbursements, or a court orders a third party to pay any part of our fees or disbursements, you remain liable to pay them to the extent that the third party does not pay them when due.

 

Joint Clients:

  • Instructions are understood to be for the purposes of all those instructing us. If we are instructed by two or more parties, we will act on instructions given from any one of those clients unless you instruct us otherwise.
  • Liability to pay our costs is joint (all the clients together) and several (each may be liable for the whole amount).

 

CLIENT FUNDS

  • Where a client obtains borrowing from a lender in a property transaction, we will ask the lender to telegraph the money to us, so that we receive it the day before completion. This will enable us to ensure that the necessary funds are available in time for completion.  The lender may charge you interest from the date of issue of their loan cheque or the telegraphing of payment.
  • Any money received on your behalf will be held in our Client Account at Barclays Bank. Any interest that accrues will be calculated and paid to you, subject to the amount of interest payable exceeding the sum of £20, in accordance with the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 2011.
  • The amount of interest will be calculated by reference to the rate of interest our bankers pay on our Client Account which will vary but is currently 0.05%. The period for which interest will be paid will normally run from the date(s) on which cleared funds are received by us until the date(s) of issue of any cheque(s) from our Client Account.
  • We do not accept any liability to you or anyone else if Barclays Bank defaults in making a required payment when due.

 

PROPERTY DISCLAIMERS

  • It is not our responsibility to carry out a physical inspection of the property. We will not advise on the valuation of the property nor the suitability of your mortgage nor any other financial arrangements.  We will not advise generally on environmental liabilities where we will assume, unless you tell us to the contrary, that you are making your own arrangements for any appropriate environmental survey or investigations.  We may, however, need to obtain an environmental search on behalf of your lender at your expense.
  • We will not advise you on the planning implications of a proposed purchase unless requested to do so by you, otherwise than reporting to you on any relevant information provided by the results of any search specified by you or by your lender.

 

  • In cases where we discharge a mortgage on your property, we will rely upon the redemption figure supplied immediately prior to completion by your lender. In the unlikely event of that figure being incorrect you will need to pay any further funds required by your lender to enable them to release their security.

 

STORAGE OF PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS

  • We will keep your file of papers in storage for you for not less than six years. After that, storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy those papers after such period as we consider reasonable. 
  • We will not of course destroy any documents such as Wills, Deeds and other securities which you have asked us to hold in safe custody.
  • We will bring closed files out of storage or reopen files to assist with answering your queries but may make a charge for this.

 

OWNERSHIP OF WORK AND USE OF ADVICE GIVEN TO YOU

  • We retain the copyright and all other rights in all documents and other work, whether in writing or not, provided to you. You are granted a non-exclusive licence to use such documents for the purpose for which they are provided but not otherwise.  We may from time to time adapt, develop or use such documents or work for other clients and in other engagements. 
  • It is important that any advice we give to you is used only by you and only in the context for which it was intended. It is therefore a term of our engagement by you that any letters, documents, information or advice given by us to you will only be used in connection with the matter on which we are advising you, and that you will not disclose or make available any details of our advice to third parties without prior written consent.

 

TERMINATION

  • You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.
  • If we decide to stop acting for you, for example if you do not comply with a request for payment on account or do not pay an interim bill, we will tell you the reason and give you notice in writing.

 

TAX ADVICE

  • Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning strategies. We may not be qualified to advise you on the tax implications of a transaction that you instruct us to carry out, or the likelihood of them arising.  If you have any concerns in this respect, please raise them with us immediately.  If we can undertake the research necessary to resolve the issue we will do so and advise you accordingly.  If we cannot, we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you.

 

EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS ON OUR LIABILITY

  • We shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising as a direct or indirect result of the provision of services being prevented, hindered, delayed or rendered uneconomic by reason of circumstances beyond our control, including but not limited to Acts of God, government action, war, riot, acts of terrorism, strike, lock out, trade dispute or labour disturbance, accident, breakdown of machinery, fire, flood, storm or difficulty or increased expense in obtaining information or services of any description.
  • Save as stated in the final sub-paragraph of this section and unless otherwise agreed with you in writing, our total liability to you in respect of our engagement for any loss, liability or damage, howsoever caused will be limited to £2 million (two million pounds sterling) in aggregate.
  • The extent to which any loss or damage will be recoverable by you from us will also be limited so as to be in proportion to our contribution to the overall fault for such loss or damage, taking into account any contributory negligence by you, your other advisors and/or any other third party responsible to you and/or liable in respect of such loss. We shall not be liable to you for any indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever.
  • We have an interest in limiting the personal liability of our employees, consultants and partners. Accordingly, you agree that you will not bring any claim against any individual employee, consultant or partner in respect of losses which you suffer or incur, arising out of or in connection with our engagement or the services we provide. The provisions of this paragraph will not limit or exclude the firm’s liability for the acts or omissions of our employees, consultants or partners.
  • Nothing in these Terms of Business shall affect any liability which we may have to you in respect of any personal injury or death resulting from our negligence or any other situation where the law prohibits us from excluding or limiting our liability to you.

 

IDENTITY AND DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

  • We are legally required to hold verification of your identity and address and are entitled to refuse to act for you if you fail to supply appropriate proof of identity for yourself or for any principal whom you represent. You will be requested to provide this information before we are able to proceed with your work. 
  • When verifying your identity, we may use electronic reference agencies to search sources of information relating to you. If this is unsuccessful, we will need to take certified copies of your original identity documents.
  • Acceptance of these Terms of Business authorises us to disclose to the other parties in the transaction and, if applicable, to all other parties in the chain of transactions and their agents and advisers and professional auditors such as The Law Society and the firm’s accountants all information which we have in relation to your involvement in the transaction including any related sale or mortgage and other financial arrangements and wishes as to dates for exchange and completion. Save in so far as it relates to professional auditors, you may withdraw this authority at any time but if you do so you should appreciate that we will inform the other party or parties and their agents or their advisers that this authority has been withdrawn.
  • We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. In the event that work is undertaken for you in conjunction with your other advisers, we will assume we have your authority to discuss relevant confidential information with them and to provide them with personal data and relevant documentation unless you tell us otherwise.

 

MONEY LAUNDERING and THE PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT 2002

  • The anti-money laundering procedures we operate are for the protection of our clients.
  • On occasion, information and evidence will be required as to the source of any funding.
  • We reserve the right to refuse cash deposits and are unable to accept cash payments in excess of £250.00.
  • Solicitors may be required by statute to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency where they know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working on your matter for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why.
  • We will not be liable for any loss, damage or delay arising out of the firm’s compliance with any statutory or regulatory requirement which will include any duty to report to the authorities under current Money Laundering Regulations.

 

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOU AND US

  • Where appropriate, we use non-encrypted email for communicating with you, unless you instruct us not to do so. You should be aware that this method of communication is not necessarily secure or error-free and could be intercepted, arrive late, be incomplete, lost or destroyed and, although we monitor our emails, we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent via this method.
  • The Data Protection Act 1998 requires us to advise you that your particulars are held on our database. We use this information to provide you with legal services and for administration purposes and also to provide you with details of other services we can offer.
  • It is hoped that you will never have cause for complaint, but if you do, we endeavour to do our best to resolve the problem quickly and to your satisfaction. Please note that we do have a written complaints procedure, a copy of which is available on request.  If, for some reason, we are unable to resolve the issue, please be aware that you do have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (time limits and contact details can be found at legalombudsman.org.uk) or, if the complaint concerns our bill, it may be possible to apply to the court for an assessment of our bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.

 

AGREEMENT

  • Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these Terms of Business which shall apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.

 

Our Team