In accordance with the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007 Rule 2.

 

(For a Remortgage)

To undertake legal and administrative work in the Remortgage of a domestic property in England or Wales.
Checking legal title and ancillary matters including necessary searches, completion of the new mortgage and discharge of the old, registration at HM Land Registry and accounting for monies.

(For a Purchase)
To undertake legal and administrative work in the Purchase of a domestic property in England or Wales.
The retainer covers all standard tasks to check and verify ownership, title particulars, carry out local, environmental, H M Land Charges and H M Land Registry searches, to act for your lender (if any) to report on title to you and your Lender, to exchange contracts and to complete on and register the transaction.
(For a Sale)
To undertake legal and administrative work in the Sale of a domestic property in England or Wales.
To deduce the title details and standard property information to the Buyers' solicitors with a draft contract, deal with standard enquiries before contracts, arrange for signing all necessary documents, effect exchange of contracts and completion, discharge outstanding mortgages (if any)from sale proceeds and account to you with the balance of monies (if any).

 

In all matters we require at least 5 working days between exchange of contracts and completion.

 

 

Please note that all fees are plus VAT at the then prevailing rate

 

2.1 The fixed fee for this work is detailed in your quote.  In the event of unforeseen complications (the fixed fee does not include cost of dealing with problems such as planning, rights of way, building regulations, disputes, boundaries, missing deeds etc.) you will be informed and the hourly rates below will apply.

 

2.2 This firm’s charges are based on an hourly rate of £198.00 plus VAT.

 

2.3 A minimum charge based on a six-minute duration will be applied to outgoing letters and telephone calls and minimum charge based on a three minute duration will be applied to incoming letters. E-mails will be treated the same as written correspondence and charged accordingly. Our hourly rate is subject to review. It is not possible to estimate the time required to complete the retainer.

 

2.4 If we are holding money on your behalf we will deduct the amount of the bill upon presentation of the bill.  Interest awarded upon our costs belongs to us.  We would like you to pay the bill within 28 days of its presentation and if not we reserve the right to charge interest.

 

2.5 If you pay the ‘No Completion No Fee’ upgrade fee in advance then if the transaction does not proceed you will not be charged any fees by this firm. However, you will be liable for any disbursements paid on your behalf in full.

 

2.6 If you do not pay the ‘No Completion No Fee’ upgrade fee in advance and the transaction does not proceed to completion you will be liable to pay ¾ of the fixed fee and all, if any, additional fees incurred as agreed under 2.1. above and all of any disbursements paid out on your behalf.

 

3.1 A disbursement is any sum of money which we have to pay out on your behalf to a third party. It may not be possible to envisage every potential disbursement, which could be met during the course of your retainer at the outset of the retainer. You will be notified of additional disbursements, which become apparent during the course of the retainer. Please refer to the quote.

 

3.2 A disbursement deposit of £250 will be required before we can proceed.

 

 

As our bill relates to non-contentious work, the following provisions will apply:

 

4.1 If you are not satisfied with the amount of our fee you have the right to ask us to obtain a remuneration certificate from the Legal Complaints Service

 

4.2 The certificate will say that our fee is fair and reasonable, or it will substitute a lower fee.

 

4.3 If you wish us to obtain a certificate you must ask us to do so within a month of receiving our bill.

 

4.4 We may charge interest on unpaid bills and we will do so at the rate payable on judgment debts, 14 days after delivery of the bill.

 

4.5 If you wish us to obtain a remuneration certificate, then unless we already hold the money to cover the following, you must pay (a) half of our fees shown in the bill; (b) all the VAT shown in the bill; and (c) all the expenses we have incurred shown in the bill, sometimes called “paid disbursements”.

 

4.6 However, you may ask the Legal Complaints Service at Victoria Court, 8 Dormer Place, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire C32 5AE to waive this requirement so that you do not have to pay anything for the time being. You will have to show that exceptional circumstances apply in your case.

 

4.7 Your rights are set out more fully in the Solicitors’ (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 1994.

 

5.1  Bank Transfer, CHAPS, BACS or Internet bank transfer to our client account quoting your matter reference at the head of these terms of business to the following account:-

 

HSBC Bank plc, 263 Marine Road Central, Morecambe
Sort Code: 40-33-15
Account No: 43662853

 

5.2 MasterCard, Visa, Switch and Solo Please note that there is a surcharge on MasterCard and Visa transactions for sums over £1,000.  The surcharge is 1.4% of the total amount being paid.

 

5.3 Cheque or bank draft.

 

5.4 Standing Order.

 

5.5 Payment by cheque or deduction from money in hand

 

Impossible to estimate at this stage

 

 

7.1 Name and Status of person dealing with the matter:
Will be notified to you.

 

7.2 Name of Principal with overall responsibility:
Will be notified to you.

 

7.3 Who to contact in the event of a problem or enquiry arising:
Will be notified to you.
 

8.1  Our complaints policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

 

8.2  Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact Lynne Maring, our complaints officer.

 

 

Your Lender now no longer requires these to be sent to them and ask that we forward them to you.  By signing these Terms of Business you will be authorising us to send them to you and a sum of £5 will be added to your Account to cover the cost of postage.  Alternatively you may arrange to collect them.

 

After completing the work, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. We will keep our file of papers in the case of purchase (except for any papers which you ask to be returned to you) for no more than 12 years and for a sale for 6 years. We retain the file on the understanding that we have the authority to destroy it in either 6 or 12 years after the date of the final bill we send you for this matter. We will not destroy documents after you ask us to deposit them in safe custody.

 

If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on time spent producing stored papers or documents to you or another at your request. We may also charge for reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with the instructions given by you or on your behalf.

 

Please note that we do not give advice on the potential tax consequences of your transaction. You must rely on your normal tax advisor for that. If you would like us to refer you to someone with the necessary expertise, we should be pleased to do so.

 

Sometimes conveyancing work involves investments. We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority and so may refer you to someone who is authorised to provide any necessary advice. However, we can provide certain limited services in relation to investments, provided they are closely linked with the legal services we are providing to you, as we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

 

If you have any problem with the service we have provided for you then please let us know. We will try to resolve any problem quickly and operate an internal complaints handling system to help us to resolve the problem between ourselves. We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. If for any reason we are unable to resolve a problem between us, the Legal Complaints Service provides an independent complaints and redress scheme.

 

 
This firm is not authorised by the Financial Services Authority. However, we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Services Authority so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be accessed via the Financial Services Authority website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.

 

The firm is working towards the Lexcel quality standard of the Law Society.  As a result of this we are or may become subject to periodic checks by outside assessors.  This could mean that your file is selected for checking, in which case we would need your consent for inspection to occur.  All inspections are, of course, conducted in confidence.  If you prefer to withhold consent work on your file will not be affected in any way.  Since very few of our clients do object to this I propose to assume that we do have your consent unless you notify us to the contrary.  We will also assume that, unless you indicate otherwise, your consent on this occasion will extend to all future matters that we conduct on your behalf. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can explain this further or if you would like me to mark your file as not to be inspected.  If you would prefer to withhold consent please put a line through this section in the copy letter for return to me.

 

Our potential liability to you in carrying out the retainer for you is limited in all respects to £2M. in respect any loss or damage you may suffer however it occurs and whether it is as a direct or indirect consequence of any breach of contract, negligence or other fault on our part.

 

Our retainer with you is governed by the laws of England.

 

The above terms represent the entire Agreement between you and us. Amendments or additions to this term are only valid if in writing and signed by you and us.

 

Although your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these terms and conditions of business, it may not be possible for us to start work on your behalf until one copy of them has been returned to us for us to keep on our file.