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TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS
January 2011
The Law Society is the governing body of solicitors. Professional Rules laid down by it require that clients of solicitors be informed by certain terms of business. Accordingly, this formal statement indicates the basis on which we carry out professional services on your behalf.
We will use we/us/our and you and your throughout.
PLACES AND HOURS OF BUSINESS
Our offices are located at Parliament House, 4 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol BS37 6AH. Our normal hours of opening are between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm weekdays. Unless it is essential to do so, you are requested to refrain from making telephone calls to our offices prior to 9.30 am. This will contribute to the efficiency of procedures for the opening and circulation of incoming post.
COMPULSORY INDEMNITY INSURANCE AND “NO SALE NO FEE” OPTION
2.1In the case of a property purchase, we will arrange buildings insurance cover on your property from the point of exchange to completion, free of charge
2.2We maintain a Professional Indemnity Insurance to a total level of two million pounds.
There will be a one off charge,( on a purchase or remortgage, but not a sale) to you of £29 inc. VAT in respect of the two million pound cover provided for you.
You can also protect you against abortive costs (but not payments to third parties) if your sale or purchase should not proceed through no fault of your own. The total cost for this service is £60.00 plus VAT for a single transaction, and £120.00 plus VAT for a sale and purchase and £50.00 plus VAT in all other cases.
NON LEGAL MATTERS
You should consult other suitably qualified professionals for non-legal matters such as, but not limited to, the condition of the property, its services and market value and environmental issues.
FEES
4.1You should have received in writing the fees for your transaction. Any additional fees are covered by our Fixed Fee Guarantee and detailed in our leaflet “Making it Clear”
4.2Where disbursements (payments made by us to third parties) are due on your behalf e.g. Search fees, Stamp Duty and Land Registry fees, we have no obligation to effect such payments unless funds have been provided by you for that purpose. VAT is payable on certain disbursements.
4.3 Our fees will be due at exchange of contracts and payable by or on completion.
5.ARRANGEMENTS FOR PAYMENT OF FEES
5.1We shall send you our final account, following exchange of contracts. We require payment by cheque at least four days prior to completion or if by Bank Transfer the day before completion for funds to clear in accordance with our professional rules. We shall deduct our fees where there is a balance due to you before releasing funds to you on completion.
5.2In circumstances where we do not have the figures until just prior to completion we must ask for the funds by way of Bankers’ Draft or direct into our client account. Our bank details are as follows;
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc, High Street, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol
Sort Code : 30.12.04
Clutton Cox client Account No00519434
5.3Where monies are to be paid to you on completion, unless specifically requested by you, the monies will be sent by cheque. We charge a Bank Transfer fee of £42 will be payable if you request the funds to be paid directly to you bank account.
Where you are borrowing part of the purchase price by way of a mortgage from a Bank or Building Society, we shall request your Lender to arrange the mortgage monies to reach us the day before completion
Please note that your Lender may charge you interest from the date of transmission of funds.
6.JOINT INSTRUCTIONS
Where a property is jointly held or will be purchased jointly we may accept instructions from any joint owner or joint purchaser of the property and you will be bound by those instructions.
7.STORAGE OF PAPERS AND DEEDS
7.1We shall retain your file of papers for such a period as we shall deem appropriate in our absolute discretion.
7.2We shall be happy to store your deeds here permanently for a one off charge of £60 inc VAT. This compares favourably to Bank Charges commonly £30 per annum.
7.3If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to assist in connections with your affairs we make a charge of £50 plus VAT payable in advance. We may also charge for reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.
8.LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
We have no duty to you or any other person to inform them of any changes in the Law or Practice occurring after the completion of a matter, and we shall not be liable for losses which arise out of any failure to do so.
9.TAX ADVICE
Any work we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning strategies.
We will not offer any advice in relation to such matters unless you ask us to do so. If you have any concerns in this respect please raise them immediately. If we can 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.
10.FINANCIAL SERVICES
10.1We are not regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to provide investment advice. We can not advise you on the relative merits of your chosen mortgage or insurance products nor whether the terms of those products are representative of those currently available in the market. You will need to take your Financial Advisor’s advice if you have any concerns.
10.2We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority. However we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Services Authority to enable us to carry on insurance mediation activity (advising on, selling and the administration of insurance contracts) under the regulation of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which includes their complaints and redress requirements. The SRA is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society. A new Ombudsman took over in October 2010 to deal with complaints against Solicitors.
11.TITLE INSURANCE, CONVEYANCING SEARCHES AND CONVEYANCING INTERMEDIARIES
11.1We will, where title issues are identified and are capable of remedy with title insurance (acceptable to your lender), implement what we believe to be the most expedient and cost effective solution.
We shall assume, in the absence of any specific request, that you are content for us to undertake our search enquiries on your behalf with such organisations that we consider appropriate. In the event that any third party search provider’s search results prove to be inaccurate, your recourse would be via their insurance cover, and we will not accept any liability for the information provided.
Where you are referred to us by Besley Hill Estate Agents, please note that we shall pay Besley Hill Legal Services £175 per transaction when you complete. We will provide you with independent advice and you are able to raise questions with us any question about any aspect of your transaction.
12.DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS
12.1As Solicitors we are not permitted to disclose information about your affairs without your authority. However, in order to facilitate your move in Conveyancing Transactions we shall disclose to all relevant parties, details of your transaction including the status of your financial arrangements and your wishes regarding exchange and completion.
12.2As solicitors we may be required by Statute to make a disclosure to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, were we 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.
13.DATA PROTECTION
Under the Data Protection Act, we have to advise you that your details will be held on our database.
We may, from time to time, with your permission send you details of special offers or information which you may be interesting. We will NOT supply such information to third parties unless required to do so by Law, e.g. the new Money Laundering Provisions.
14.MONEY LAUNDERING
We enclose a summary of the new Money Laundering Provisions. Please don’t take it personally, but we are obliged to have such procedures in place. Please co-operate, even where we have dealt with your previously. Please let us have the required information as soon as possible. We cannot begin to act for you until these have been received. We will carry out an online check but will also require from you photographic evidence.
We are also obliged to report any suspected money laundering activities or offences. We cannot be held accountable to you for any delay or loss which may occur as a result. As a result we are only able to accept in cash a maximum of £300.00.
15. 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 we will tell you the reason and give you notice in writing.
16.EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. We will treat everyone equally and with the same attention, courtesy and respect regardless of the ability, disability, gender, marital status, race, racial group, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation or age.
17.YOUR INSTRUCTIONS TO US.
17.1I/We instruct you to begin work on my/our behalf straight away and do not require you to wait until the cancellation period, if applicable, provided by Regulation 12 of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 has expired.
17.2Unless otherwise agreed, and subject to the application of then current rates, these Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to us.
17.3Although your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business, it will be helpful if you will please sign and return one copy of them for us to retain on our file.
No changes to these Terms and Conditions will be made unless they are in writing to you.
I have read, understood and accept the terms and conditions business set out above and have received and understood the leaflets “Making it Clear” and “Getting the Best from Us”
Signed…………………………………………………………Signed…………………………………………….. Date…………………………………………………………
Telephone: 01454 312125: info@cluttoncox.co.uk www.cluttoncox.co.uk