BONALLACK & BISHOP Solicitors

Terms & Conditions of Business – 16th October 2025

The purpose of this document is to confirm the arrangements between us. Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business.  In these terms and conditions of business, the expressions “we”, “us” and “our” refers to Bonallack & Bishop Solicitors and the expressions “you” and “your” refer to you as our client(s).  These Client terms and conditions of business, together with our client care letter and any variation, deletion or addition to these terms, contain all of the terms agreed with you in relation to our engagement.

OUR AIM is to offer our clients quality legal advice with a personal service, at a fair cost.  As a start, we hope it is helpful to you to set out in this statement the basis on which we will provide our professional services.  We are Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.  SRA No. 76483.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR WORK  

You will be informed of the identity of the person(s) dealing with your work, of their status, charging rate and of the supervisory arrangements.   Some work is carried out in teams, and this will be explained.  We will try to avoid changing those who handle your work, but, if this cannot be avoided, we will tell you of any change and why it is necessary with as much notice as possible.

SERVICE LEVELS 

Our commitment to you:

• We will review and update you with progress on your matter at regular intervals.

• We will keep you informed of relevant changes in the Law where possible.

The client’s responsibilities are:

• You will provide us with clear, timely and accurate instructions.  If you do not instruct us when we ask, then this may be detrimental to your legal matter.

• You will provide all documentation required to complete the transaction in a timely manner.

• Inform us about any deadlines which you are aware of.

• You will safeguard any documents that are likely to be required for disclosure.

• Where we act for two or more clients jointly it is on the clear understanding that we are authorised to act on instructions from either, both or any of them.

CONFLICT RULES  

The Firm may only act for different parties in the same or related transactions under Solicitors Regulation Authority rules.   You will already have been checked against the Firm’s database, but you should raise any issues of concern immediately with your lawyer.

CHARGES, EXPENSES AND COST ESTIMATES  

Our charges will be calculated based on the time spent by the lawyers and other staff including secretaries and paralegals in respect of any work which they do on your behalf.  This will include meetings with you and others relevant to your case, setting up your file including dealing with compliance such as anti-money laundering, reading and working on papers, correspondence with you and other parties (including by email or fax), preparation of any documents or costs calculations, reviewing your file from time to time to check on progress, and time spent travelling away from the office when necessary.  Time is charged in units of 6 minutes.  Some services are charged to you as a fixed fee, and this will be made clear in the client care letter.

In some areas of law, the Firm will offer a Conditional Fee Agreement [CFA] (“no win, no fee”) and this will be made clear in the client care letter.  Separate terms apply with a CFA, and you should not assume that this has been offered.  The Firm is not obliged to offer this facility and will depend on a clear risk assessment of your legal matter and agreement by a Partner.

You should receive a cost estimate at the outset of your legal matter.  This estimate of fees will not include VAT or disbursements. Disbursements will be shown, where known, separately. VAT is payable in addition at the applicable rate (currently 20%). Any changes in our charging rates will be notified to you in advance. Our VAT number is 631567441. This cannot be an accurate figure (unless it is a fixed fee) but will be our best estimate given the information known at that time.  In many circumstances, it is not possible to give you a long-term estimate as it will depend on the decisions you make as your matter progresses.

In the event that the work which we undertake falls outside of the scope a quotation which has been provided and accepted (or in relation to an estimate subsequently incorporated into a contract or which subsequently becomes a quotation) we reserve the right to charge fees for that work at our usual fixed hourly rates, in addition to the quoted or estimated fee. We may also charge additional fees on the same basis for work within the scope of such a quotation or estimate which is made more time consuming, onerous or urgent as a result of:

• circumstances or information which we did not know or could not reasonably have anticipated at the time of the quotation or estimate (whether or not you were aware of them/it); or

• you, or your agents’, act or omission.

However, if at any time you are concerned about the costs of your legal work and wish to know how much it is likely to cost, you must ask your lawyer immediately.

The current hourly rates are set out below and the range is given to allow for different specialties.  We will add VAT to these, at the rate that applies when the work is billed – Partners, Consultants, Solicitors, Chartered Legal Executives and Licensed Conveyancers £210-£375 – Legal Executives, Senior Paralegals and Paralegals £160-£275 – Trainees £115-£210 – Support Team Staff – £105-115.  These hourly rates are reviewed on 1^st June annually.  If a review is carried out before this matter has been concluded, we will inform you of any variation in the rate before it takes effect.

In addition to the time spent, we will charge a premium where there is a necessity to (or that you request us to): carry out work outside our normal office hours; deal with high value or more complex issues, prioritise your matter over others’; deliver work at a greater speed than usual; and liaising with any particular specialist expertise which the case may demand.  In particular, in Property transactions, the Administration of Estates and Trusts and in matters involving a substantial financial value or benefit to a client, a charge reflecting, for example, the price of the property, the size of the Estate, or the value of the financial benefit will be added. Where a charge reflecting a value element is added, we will explain this to you.

Solicitors have to meet various expenses on behalf of clients, including Land or Probate Registry fees, Court fees, Experts’ fees, and so on.  We have no obligation to make such payments, unless you have provided us with the funds for that purpose.   VAT is payable on certain expenses.  We refer to such payments generally as “disbursements”.

We will require you to pay us a reasonable sum on account of costs.  This will be held in our client account.  We will only account to you for interest earned that is greater than £100; it is not economically viable to account to you and pay out sums lower than this.  We may use your money held on account of costs to pay expenses\disbursements incurred on your behalf even though not yet invoiced to you, but you have been advised of.  We will not be liable to pay any disbursement on your behalf unless you have put us in funds to do so when this has been requested.  Any legal action or costs arising from non-payment of disbursements by you will be added to the sum owed by you to the Firm.

If, for any reason, your matter does not proceed to completion, we will be entitled to charge you for work done and expenses incurred unless we have agreed with you to the contrary in writing.

BILLING ARRANGEMENTS  

Where we have an email address for you, we will usually send the bill by email; there will be some exceptions to this and if you want to only receive paper bills, please let your lawyer know in advance.  All invoices are payable on delivery. We may cease acting for you if an interim bill remains unpaid after 28 days or if our request of a payment on account of costs is not met.

There are various payment methods, as follows:

• Personal Online Banking.  THIS IS THE PREFERRED METHOD OF PAYMENT TO THE FIRM AND IS INSTANTLY CLEARED FUNDS RECEIVED USUALLY WITHIN A FEW HOURS. Please contact your solicitor to obtain our bank account details or, in the case of a property transaction, our details are contained in your client care letter.

 

• International Payments.  The fees/charge for INTERNATIONAL payments will be £125.00 + VAT per transaction.  Please note that we cannot be held responsible for fluctuations in exchange rates.

 

• Debit and Credit cards. These funds will not be cleared for 4 working days.  Some credit cards are not accepted so please check.  There is a limit on the use of debit \credit cards of £2000.

 

• Website Payments – Go to www.bishopslaw.com and click on Pay Online on the right side of the screen.  This is for the payment of bills only – we cannot accept payment of disbursements as there is a charge by the bank.  There is again a limit of £2,000 for any such payment.

 

• Cash – if you intend to settle by way of cash payment, such payment is limited to £500 in any one 28-day period.

 

• Cheque – no additional charge but this requires 8 full working days for bank clearance.  Any “bounced” cheques will be charged back to you at £100 which includes an admin fee on our part.  Funds will not be paid out by us until they are cleared, and the Firm will not be held responsible for delays.  Cheques which remain uncashed from 4 months of the date of issue will be written back onto your account and an administration charge of £100 including VAT will be added; this is to cover our costs of cancelling the cheque, re-opening a file, writing to you and re-issuing payment (these are all actions required for Audit standards and cannot be avoided).

 

Property transactions. We will send you a completion statement following exchange of contracts; where a balance is due in order to complete payment is required to be received by us at least 4 working days prior to completion – please note the 8 days bank clearance time if providing us with a cheque. Any bank transfers are charged for as an administration fee as it includes both bank disbursements and our fee. We will automatically deduct charges and expenses at completion. If insufficient funds are available, we reserve the right not to complete your transactions and we will not be liable for any late completion penalties and interest charges. You should be aware that the completion statement may change nearer to the date of completion as some lenders do not provide final figures until much later and some disbursements are not available until post-exchange. If you are concerned, please talk to your lawyer.

Administration of estates.  We will normally submit an interim bill at regular stages during the Administration. You authorise us to pay any disbursements/expenses incurred in dealing with this matter even if it has not yet been billed; this is to ensure that the legal matter is protected including any assets within the estate.  In the event that there are no funds in the estate, but urgent payments must be made, then the Executors will be responsible for supplying those funds; if there are already funds available to us then we will not ask you to do this. Bills will be deducted automatically from monies held in Client Account.  The final account will be prepared when the Estate Accounts are ready for approval.

Trusts.  Work in connection with lifetime or Will Trusts will generally be charged in a similar manner to the Administration of Estates.  Specific charges e.g. relating to setting up the Trust will be contained in the client care letter.

Other cases or transactions.  We ask clients to pay sums of money at the start of a case and from time to time on account of the charges and expenses which are expected in the following weeks or months.

Interim bills are presented regularly of which you agree we have the right to interim invoice monthly or, when there is need to, sooner.  We find that this helps clients in budgeting for costs, as well as keeping them informed of the legal expenses which are being incurred.  If such requests are not met with prompt payment, we reserve the right not to undertake any further work on your legal matter until payment is received and cleared; a delay in the progress of a case will result.  In the unlikely event of any bill or request for payment not being met, this Firm reserves the right to stop acting for you.

Interest will be charged daily at 8% above Bank of England Base Rate and added to your account if any invoice remains unpaid for more than 28 days from its date.  Please be aware that it is your responsibility to ensure that the payment results in monies being received by the firm; any payment methods which are not honoured by your bank means that your bill remains outstanding.

There is no charge for the first arrears letter/email we send.  A minimum charge of £30 per letter will be made for any further letters sent out together with our hourly rate for time spent recovering the debt.  If you have set up a Payment Plan and failed to adhere to this arrangement, you will be charged £50 as an admin fee for us having to contact you.  A failure of the banking system will not be charged to you. VAT will be added to all the charges above.

Where payment remains outstanding, Legal proceedings will commence and you shall indemnify us against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses (including but not limited to any direct, indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit and all interest, penalties and legal costs (calculated on a full indemnity basis) and all other reasonable professional costs and expenses suffered or incurred by us (including but not limited to VAT on any costs or disbursements; and the costs of drafting and issuing proceedings) arising out of or in connection with:

(a)           Your breach or non-performance of this agreement;

(b)           the enforcement of this agreement

RECOVERY OF COSTS AND EXPENSES FROM THIRD PARTIES 

In some litigation cases, and transactions, a client may be entitled to recover legal fees and expenses from a third party.  For example, a client may be awarded costs by the court payable by another party.  It is important that you understand all work that we carry out for you, as our client, must be paid for when we invoice you for the work, whether or not the court orders that you are entitled to recover all or some of your costs from your opponent.  An award of costs in litigation is always in the discretion of the court, and a 100% costs recovery is most unlikely.

You must also appreciate that even if a third party has an obligation to pay to you any legal fees, and expenses, there is no guarantee that the third party will be able, or willing, to pay you.  If this is the case, as stated above, you must still pay us when we invoice you.

As to some claims valued above £10,000.00 but less than £25,000.00, and above £25,000.00 but less than £100,000.00, the court will allocate the claim to either the Fast Track or Intermediate Track.  Such claims are subject to a fixed costs regime.  You will be advised by your solicitor as to the amount of recoverable costs once your case is allocated by the court.  Again, if the work charged to you carried out by us exceeds the amount of recoverable fixed costs you must understand that you will not recover the difference from anyone else.  In cases where costs recovery is fixed you will still be liable to pay all charges and expenses invoiced by us.

A client who is unsuccessful in a litigation case may also be ordered to pay the opponent’s legal costs and expenses.  For cases falling into the fixed costs regime, if a party initiates a claim but does not then proceed with it, that party is also liable for the proposed Defendant’s costs.

In certain cases, insurance may be taken out to cover the potential liability in costs.  Please discuss this option with your solicitor if you are interested in this possibility.

INTEREST PAYMENT  

We will pay interest on monies held on your behalf in our Client Account.  Subject to certain minimum amounts and periods of time set out in the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules, interest will be calculated and paid to you based on Barclays Bank instant access account rates.  The period for which interest will be paid will normally run from the date(s) on which funds are cleared by the bank until the date(s) of issue of any payments(s) from our Client Account.  Interest calculated at £100 or less will not be paid due to the disproportionate administrative costs in accordance with SRA and audit guidelines. Please note that the rates of interest that we might earn on your funds are likely to be lower than you might otherwise obtain yourself if you were in your own banking relationship.

Where a client obtains borrowing from a Lender in a property transaction, we will ask the Lender to arrange that the loan funds are received by us a minimum of 8 full working days prior to the completion date.  If the money can be sent instantly as cleared funds, we will request that we receive it at 4 working days before completion.  Such clients need to be aware that the Lender will charge interest from the date of issue of their loan funds and a charge for the transfer of the payment to us.

INSURANCE COVER AND LIMITATION ON LIABILITY  

The firm maintains Professional Indemnity insurance and, unless otherwise agreed in writing, limits its liability for claims against the firm (currently to £2 million).  The Firm’s aggregate liability, if any, to you under this retainer or otherwise relating to it (including costs) whether for breach of contract, negligence, misrepresentation of any other civil liability is limited to the lower of (a) £2 million and (b) any loss caused directly by us.

If we breach our contract with you, we will not be liable for any loss of profits of loss of business or depletion of goodwill or loss of anticipated savings or loss of contract or loss of use.  We shall have no liability to you if we are prevented from, or delayed in performing, our obligations or from carrying on our business by acts, events, omissions or accidents beyond our reasonable control.

Bonallack & Bishop Solicitors (rather than its partners, employees and consultants as individuals) will provide advice and services to you.  You agree that you will not bring any claim in person against any partner, employee or consultant of Bonallack & Bishop Solicitors in connection with any advice or services provided or for the acts or omissions taken or not taken by them.

For further details, please contact Jane Bishop, Practice Director, at the Salisbury office.

PROCEEDS OF CRIME/MONEY LAUNDERING  

Like all firms of solicitors, we are now required, by law, to apply procedures to guard against the risk of being involved in any way with the proceeds of crime.

Identification checks: – As we will be receiving money from you, we need to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations. This means that we will need to see an original copy of identification for you with a photograph, e.g. original passport or driving licence, and to carry out a computerised AML check which will confirm your address. This is a form of ‘light touch’ credit check very similar to that carried out by companies such as Equifax and Experian.

If you have international ID, cannot supply us with properly certified ID documentation, or undertake certain types of transactions with us, we will then ask you to have your ID verified through an electronic system called Thirdfort.  There is a charge for this both for the use of the ID checking software plus a small administrative charge for us to do this.  These charges will be made clear to you on any cost information supplied to you.

We are now obliged to take ID for beneficial owners, which means that anyone who is going to gain any significant financial benefit from your legal matter at your request must be identified. Significant means 25% or more.

Cash:  We are normally able to accept cash only up to a limit of £500 in any 28-day period.

Source of funds:   At the start of any matter, we will normally ask you to tell us the source of any funds you will be using.  It is simplest for us if the source is an account in your name, in a UK Bank or Building Society.  A statement showing three months’ or more worth of transactions may be required.  If the source is an unusual one, such as an account in another country, or in the name of someone other than yourself, please tell us as early as possible, including the reason.  If the Firm is concerned about this, we reserve the right not to make the payment or receive funds.

Destination of funds:  Where we are to pay out to you, we will normally do so by bank transfer into an account in your name.  If you wish us to pay out to a different person, then we will need to undertake identity checks on that recipient at a further charge of £60 per person/company.

Confidentiality:  We have always sought to keep our clients’ affairs confidential.  However, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 can oblige us to report information (any suspicion) about financial offences to the National Crime Agency (NCA).  In particular, if it seems that any assets involved in your matter were derived from a crime, we may have to report this.  This can include even small amounts of money, and covers all offences, including, for example, tax evasion and benefit fraud, whether involving yourself or someone else.

If we have to make a report, we will not be able to tell you that we have done so.   A report may result in an investigation by the Police, the Inland Revenue, or other Authorities.  If you are concerned about how this may affect you, please ask us to clarify.

Please note that any such searches and copy documents will be securely maintained on the file for your matter in pursuance to our data protection policy. The uses that will be made of this data will be to provide confirmation of the identity of the person(s) providing it only. The law requires us to maintain such data for the period of five years from the end of the matter we are handling for you or from the date at which you cease to be a client of this firm. However, you agree to our retaining the forms and any other data for our usual file retention period of 7 years from the date of the file being archived, or longer than this, if necessary, as when litigation has arisen or may be pending, and the checks have or may become relevant in any such proceedings.

Criminal Finances Act 2017 

We are committed to ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 within the firm and in relation to all of our business in so far as this relates to tax evasion.

We will not tolerate tax evasion, or its facilitation, whether committed by or facilitated by a client, personnel or associated persons/companies.  In particular we will not provide you with any advice that could be construed as amounting to an encouragement to commit tax evasion. In the event that you require us to do so, or in the event that you indicate to us that you intend to ignore our advice and to conduct yourself unlawfully in relation to the payment of tax notwithstanding our advice to the contrary, then we may be forced either to decline to act for you or to terminate your retainer with us.

FATCA (Foreign Tax Compliance Account) 

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is US legislation intended to ensure that US citizens disclose their worldwide income to the US tax authorities.  It affects the UK because of an agreement between the UK and US governments.

The FATCA regime requires certain financial institutions (not solicitors) to identify and report payments made to a specified US person, or a non-US entity with one or more persons with control who are specified US persons.

In order for us to comply with the law it may be necessary for us to disclose information about you. This may include your FATCA status and, where relevant, your Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN) to those financial institutions. We may also need to report payments to HMRC.  If this is the case, then we will provide you with a further explanation at the appropriate time.

If this applies to you then you must ensure that the information, we hold about you in this regard is up to date at all times and you must tell us about any changes in circumstances that may alter your FATCA status.

REFERRALS  

If your matter has been referred to us for which we will pay a fee, you will not have been charged for this and the fee we charge will be the same as for any other client based on the same transaction.

FINANCIAL SERVICES  

We are not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, nor are we regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. If, while we are acting for you, you need advice on investments, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised to provide the necessary advice. However, we may provide certain limited investment advice services where these are closely linked to the legal work, we are doing for you. This is because we are members of the Law Society of England and Wales, which is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory arm of the Law Society. The Legal Ombudsman provides independent complaints review process for most clients of solicitors’ firms. If you are unhappy with any investment advice you receive from us, you should raise your concerns with either of these bodies.

THE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPENSATION SCHEME  

We hold client money in banks (for example Barclays, Santander and Lloyds) which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  We will not be liable for any losses you suffer as a result of any of these banks being unable to repay depositors in full.  You may, however, be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS is the UK’s Statutory fund of last resort for customers of banking institutions. The FSCS can pay compensation of up to £85,000 if a banking institution is unable, or likely, to pay claims against it.

The limit is £85,000 per banking institution.  If you hold other personal money in the same banking institutions as our client account, the limit remains £85,000 in total and so please check the balance of any funds you also hold to assess your maximum losses in the event of a banking collapse. In the unlikely event of a deposit-taking institution failure, we will presume (unless we hear from you in writing to the contrary) that we have your consent to disclose the necessary client details to the FSCS.

INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION  

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. However, we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority so that we may carry on insurance distribution 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 Conduct Authority website at www.fca.gov.uk/register.

If you are unhappy with any insurance advice you receive from us, you should raise your concerns with the firm initially and then either to the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Legal Ombudsman whose address details appear under ‘Complaints’ below. Please also note that we act as an ancillary insurance mediator only in this regard and not as an insurance provider.

DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY NOTICE  

We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:

• addressing correspondence and related documents to other parties and opponents in any litigation, as well as other agencies such as the courts or Government agencies where relevant to the work we are doing for you

• maintaining the financial and other personal information we are required to keep on clients under the professional rules we are subject to and by law including our obligations to HMRC.

Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the UK General Data Protection Regulation the Data Protection Act 2018 and our professional duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses, other professional advisers, our regulators, and our bank if they wish to ascertain the source of monies held in our client account. Please also see para ‘External Audits’ below in relation to the external checks we are subject to in relation to our quality of work as a firm.

The legal basis which are relevant to the work we undertake for you are mostly in order that we can satisfactorily perform the contract we have with you and also so that we can protect the interests of our professional indemnity insurers through maintaining suitable records. We are required by law to retain certain data including identity and address details in order that we can comply with the Government’s anti-money laundering controls (see ‘Proceeds of Crime/Money Laundering ‘).

We would need your consent to send you future marketing information, on which see the wording at the end of this document. We may therefore rely upon consent where you have agreed to us sending you that information which is not directly related to the matter upon which we are currently acting.

We do not envisage sending any of your personal data outside the UK or the EU but sometimes we use cloud-based services which may be held in other jurisdictions.  However, please note that if your email is hosted in a jurisdiction outside of the UK then this may nevertheless occur and in such circumstances, this will be outside of our control.

You have several rights as a data subject including the rights to:

• be informed of the data we hold on you.

• have any incorrect or out of date data rectified.

• cease to receive certain forms of communication or to restrict processing,

• take your data elsewhere (“portability”)

• object to our use of data.

Unlike certain other business concerns we do not as a law firm involve ourselves in automated decision making and profiling.

You also have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you. If you would like to make a request to know about the personal data, we hold about you please let us know, preferably in writing and addressed to Jane Bishop at our Salisbury Office stating, “data subject access request”. Please note, however, that we will undertake a review of the validity of that request before disclosing whether we hold such data and the nature of that data in order to protect your right to confidentiality.

If you are unhappy about the way we are managing your data you have a right to object to the Information Commissioner at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (tel: 0303 123 1113). Please also see your rights to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

 

EXTERNAL AUDITS

External firms or organisations may conduct audits or quality checks on our practice including in relation to the quality standards of the Law Society of England and Wales. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files. Please advise the person responsible for your matter if you would prefer for your papers to be withheld from inspection for these purposes.  Work on your matter will not be affected in any way if you would prefer to withhold consent.

OUTSOURCING

Sometimes we ask other companies or people to carry out work on our behalf including typing and photocopying on our files to ensure this is dealt with promptly and in the most cost-effective manner. We will always seek a confidentiality agreement with these outsourced providers. If you do not want your file to be outsourced, please tell us as soon as possible.

SOLICITORS ACCOUNTS RULES – AUDIT REQUIREMENTS

As the Firm is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority then we are required to adhere to procedures with regard to your file and your money.  The following steps are undertaken by us because of these Rules and may change at any time if the SRA has an update:

• Residual Client Balances.  This is money left on your account months after your legal matter has finished, eg. due to differences in mortgage interest, disbursement cheques not cashed, etc.  We are obliged to return this money to you unless it is uneconomic to do so.  The Firm’s policy is that any residual client balance of £100 or less is uneconomic to return to you and will, therefore, be sent to a Registered Charity.  For any sum greater than £100 we will make contact with you by email, telephone or letter; if you do not respond to us then any residual sum remaining will automatically be sent to Charity.

DISTANCE SELLING REGULATIONS

You have the right to cancel your instructions to us within 14 working days of receiving your client care letter or other form of retainer.  You can cancel your instructions by contacting us at this office, but it needs to be in writing.  If we have already started work on your file, then you may be charged if you then cancel your instructions.  If you want us to start work earlier than 14 working days, then please sign and return these terms and conditions of business by fax or email if urgent.

 

METHODS OF COMMUNICATION

Email is a non-secure method of transferring information, but it is used increasingly as the first choice of communication by clients.  If you do not wish us to use email, please make it clear to your lawyer.  The Firm takes care with anti-virus and anti-spam protections but cannot take responsibility for breaches in security nor for non-receipt of emails filtered by spam guards.  If your email requires immediate attention, you should ensure that this is followed up with a telephone call to your lawyer.  Secure emails must be used to send and receive financial information to avoid hacking.

 

STORAGE OF PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS

On completion of our work, and payment of our fees, we will return to you any records or other documents you have provided to us for that work.  We reserve the right to retain any papers until all our invoices have been paid in full.  Unless you instruct us otherwise, we will retain files for a minimum period of six years (other than for abortive work), but after that, may destroy them without any further reference to you.  If you ask us to return your files to you, the charges below will apply.  We will not destroy any documents such as Wills, Deeds, and other securities which you ask us to hold in safe custody.  If our instructions were to act for a child or a person registered with the Court of Protection our file will be held for a longer period.  Documents may be stored in paper format or on computers as digital images or text files.  If stored digitally, the paper file will be destroyed as confidential waste.  Paper files will be archived off site at a secure storage facility.

If we retrieve documents from storage in relation to new instructions to act, we will not normally charge for such retrieval.  However, if you request your file or copies of documents from those archived files for any other reason the following charges are applicable:

• File retrieval for you or your adviser to copy and take away – £50 plus VAT per file/folder.

• File retrieval for you or your representative (including a lawyer acting on your behalf) to review a document on our premises and then returned to storage – £50 plus VAT.

• Copy of a document from storage – £50 plus VAT.

• Any urgent requests, where you require your file within 48 hours, will incur an extra cost of £20 plus VAT in addition to the costs identified above.  It is not possible to retrieve documents in a shorter timeframe.

• If you need us to review the documents, you have retrieved (or any new ones) then this will be charged at the hourly rate applicable to the specialist you require.  This will be given in a cost estimate to you in writing before you instruct us.

TERMINATION – ENDING YOUR INSTRUCTIONS

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, at any stage, you do not wish us to continue doing work and/or incurring charges and expenses on your behalf, you must tell us clearly, in writing.

If we decide to stop acting for you, for example, if you do not pay an interim bill or comply with the request for a payment on account, we will tell you the reason and give you notice in writing.  Further reasons for our terminating instructions are that there is a loss of confidence between yourself, and your lawyer or a conflict arises during the course of the matter. If a Court case is involved, you may need to file with the Court a “Notice of Acting in Person” and, if you fail to do so, it may be necessary for us to apply to the Court to come off the record as the Firm remains responsible for your matter.  The cost of our time to do this application and the Court fee that is charged will be your responsibility to pay and will be added to your account.  We anticipate that the fee for this would be £500 plus vat plus the court disbursement and any counsel fee for attendance at a hearing, if required. However, you shall indemnify us against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses (Calculated on a full indemnity basis) in connection with the application.

MONEY ON ACCOUNT:

Should fees remain outstanding on account, whether invoiced or not or for work carried out and not yet invoiced for, We may use any money held on account for you, irrespective as to what has been stated it is to be used for, towards legal costs and any expenses incurred on your behalf, even if not yet invoiced to you.

 

LIMITED COMPANIES

When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a Limited Company, we may require a Director and/or controlling shareholder to sign a form of personal guarantee in respect of the charges and expenses of this firm.  If such a request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and to require immediate payment of our charges on an hourly basis and expenses, as set out earlier.  You may need to submit your VAT number if required.

Any company that is VAT registered may also not be able to claim VAT from any opponent in litigation or a dispute.

COMPLAINTS

This Firm is committed to high quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about the bill, please see the following procedure:

1. Please initially raise your complaint with your lawyer who should attempt to resolve the matter.
2. If it is not possible for them to resolve your complaint, then the matter can be escalated to the relevant Head of Department.
3. If the problem remains, then the matter is forwarded to the Client Care Partner who will undertake a review of the complaint and discuss the matter with the relevant lawyer.  Your complaint will be acknowledged as soon as practicable, but a full investigation and review will take up to 28 days before reporting back to you.
4. In the event that you are not satisfied with the firm’s response then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. There are, however, restrictions to this service for organisations, as set out on their website (see below).  Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint.

In addition, you should be aware that the Legal Ombudsman will not accept your complaint if:

• more than one year has elapsed from the date of the act or omission giving rise to the complaint; or

• more than one year has elapsed from the time when you should have known about the complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are:

• Telephone: 0300 555 0333

• Minicom: 0300 555 1777

• E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

• Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

• Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH

 

You may also be able to object to our bill by applying to the Court for an assessment under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.  If you exercise this right, you would be prevented from making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.  In addition, if you apply to the Court for an assessment and if all or part of the bill remains unpaid at the end of that assessment, we are entitled to charge interest. There are strict time limits that apply to this process, and you may wish to seek independent legal advice.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. Visit their website at www.sra.org.uk to see how you can raise your concerns with them.

SELLING OR LETTING PROPERTY

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, as amended, (CPFUTR) places a duty on sellers and landlords who are traders, and upon the solicitors and estate agents of sellers and landlords who are not traders, to disclose any information of which they are aware and which is regarded as material, to any consumers buying or renting that property from them. There is a criminal penalty for those who do not abide by the CPFUTRs that can range from fines to imprisonment of up to two years.

Neither we as your legal representative, nor you as the seller or landlord, must mislead a buyer or tenant either by providing incorrect or ambiguous information, or by omitting to provide material information about the property being sold or let. Information is deemed to be ‘material’ if withholding it would cause the average consumer to make a decision  in relation to the property that he or she would not otherwise have made.

 

It is essential, therefore, that you disclose to us any known defects and other material adverse matters about the property being sold or let since not doing so could mean that the buyer or tenant would have a claim against you against you or leave you liable to penalties.

You need to make us aware as early in a transaction as possible where such matters exist. It is vital that neither you, as seller or landlord, or this firm as your legal representative, mislead a buyer or tenant. Please also be aware that if we as your legal representative become aware that any such material information exists, and you do not give us consent to disclose that information to the buyer or tenant, then we may need to stop acting for you, in which case the fees and expenses that will have arisen by that time will be payable to us notwithstanding that we will be unable to act for you further in that matter. The CPFUTR places upon us a duty to act fairly not only to you as our client but also towards third parties, especially if they are unrepresented.”

EQUALITY & DIVERSITY

This Firm is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees.

 

ACCEPTANCE

These terms and conditions of business will be deemed to have been accepted by you upon our subsequent receipt from you or your agent of any instructions, verbal or written, in any matter. Unless otherwise agreed, these terms apply to any future instructions you give to us.  In the event of our retainer being from more than one individual or company, the liability for our costs will be joint and several. So that we can be sure that you agree to these terms and conditions of business please sign one copy of this document below and return it to us.

 

Any dispute or legal issue arising from our Terms and conditions of business will be determined by the Law of England and Wales and considered exclusively by the English courts.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU SHOULD READ AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IS IN THIS DOCUMENT.  IF IN DOUBT, PLEASE ASK FOR AN EXPLANATION.

I confirm that I have read and understood, and I accept, these Terms and Conditions of Business.

 

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