1. Charges and expenses –- Conveyancing

Our costs vat and expenses will be in accordance with the estimate we have given to you in writing or by email. This covers the standard work envisaged by us to be appropriate for the type of matter you have described and we will try to keep within its limits. However until we have received full details of the transaction from the other party or their solicitors we cannot guarantee its accuracy. We will inform you if any unforeseen work or additional disbursements are necessary.

Should any of the matters not proceed to completion then our charges for that matter will be such sum as is reasonable having regard to the amount of work done by that stage in the matter together with VAT and any disbursements incurred. On the basis of information you have provided to us, the above estimate appears to be correct but if there are any further expenses we will notify you before incurring them.

Usually in property sales and purchases there is a delay between exchange of contracts, when all parties become legally bound and completion, when the money changes hands and buyers and sellers physically move home. There is a lot of work to be done between exchange and completion for which we normally allow at least seven days. In the event that you request us to exchange contracts and complete the purchase or sale of your property or both simultaneously or within a space of time of less than seven days then there will be an additional charge.

A list of additional charges is attached. This list is not exhaustive. We will keep you informed of additional costs, if any, as they arise.

2. Charges and expenses – All Other Work

Our charges will be based on the time we spend dealing with a case. Time spent on your affairs will include meetings with you and perhaps others; any time spent travelling; considering, preparing and working on papers; correspondence; and making and receiving telephone calls.

The current hourly rates of our partners, solicitors, and executives are as follows:-

The hourly rates are: - (Grade of Fee Earner - Hourly Rate):-
Grade A - Solicitors with over 8 years experience after qualification - £217.00.
Grade B - Solicitors with over four years’ experience after qualification - £192.00.
Grade C - Other solicitors and legal executives and other staff of equivalent experience -161.00.
Grade D - Trainee solicitors and other staff of equivalent experience - £118.00.

Routine letters and telephone calls that we make and receive will be charged as units of 1/10th of an hour. Other letters and telephone calls will be charged on a time basis.

From time to time it may be necessary to increase the above rates to take account of changes in our overhead costs. We will notify you of an increased rate in writing.

In addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors which include the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action must be taken, the expertise, or specialist knowledge which the case may require and, if appropriate, the value of the property or subject matter involved. On the basis of the information currently available we expect these factors to be adequately covered by the hourly rates set out above. The rates may be higher if, for example, the matter becomes more complex than expected; we will notify you of this.

If you have a query about the level of any revised rates notified to you, please contact Mr David Roberts immediately.

We will add VAT to our charge at the rate that applies when the work is done. At present, VAT is 20.0%.

There may be certain other expenses, including any payments we make for disbursements on your behalf, and barrister’s fees, which you will have to pay. VAT is payable on certain expenses.

We will endeavour to inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary (for example due to unexpected difficulties or if your requirements of the circumstances significantly change during the course of the matter).

In the event that we give or have given you an estimate of our costs for a given amount of work, we will endeavour to inform you if the estimate proves or is likely to be insufficient, but we must make it clear that in such event of our charges will be calculated as above. You may however set a limit on the charges and expenses incurred. This means that you must pay those incurred up to the agreed limit without our needing to refer back to you. We will inform you as soon as it appears that the limit may be exceeded and will not exceed the limit without first obtaining your consent.

If, for any reason this matter does not proceed to completion we will charge for work done and expenses incurred for the abortive work in accordance with Clause 2.2. above.

It is normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and expenses, which are expected in the following weeks or months. This helps to avoid delay in the progress of this case. We will need the sum requested in our accompanying letter if any on account of charges and to enable payment of expenses before we start work on your matter and may request further payments on account for charges and expenses to be occurred as the matter progresses. We will offset any such payments against your final bill, but it is important that you understand that your total charges and expenses may be greater that any advance payments.

3. Billing arrangements

We reserve the right to send you an interim bill for our charges and expenses at the end of each month or longer periods at our discretion, which the work is in progress. We will send a final bill after completion of the work.

Payment is due to us within 28 days of our sending you a final bill. Should payment not be made within such period, we will charge you interest on the bill at 2% per annum above the base rate of Nat West Bank plc per annum from the date on which payment of our bill is due until the date payment is received. Interest will be charged on a daily basis.

When completing a purchase of a property, there are a number of matters that require the co-operation of third parties including previous mortgagees, sellers and the Inland Revenue. This often results in delays and prevents us from registering the property on time. As a result we have to renew searches at the Land Registry. This involves additional fees and time. We will therefore retain the sum of £30.00 because of such expenditure and if it is not used we will account to you for the amount when we confirm to you registration of your purchase is complete. This normally takes about six weeks from the date of the purchase. We are sorry to have to do this but we have to protect your interest and that of any lenders pending completion of your title at HM Land Registry.

If you have any query about your bill, you should contact Mr David Roberts forthwith.

4. Financial Services

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 (SRA).

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. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then we are regulated by the SRA which also provides a complaint and redress scheme.

5. Insurance Mediation Activities

We are 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 Law Society. The register can be accessed via The Financial Services Authority website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.

6. Storage of papers and documents

After completing the work, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents whilst there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.

We will keep our file of papers (except for any of your papers, which you ask to be returned to you) for no more than 6 years.

You hereby authorise us to destroy our file of papers 6 years after the date of the final bill we send you for this matter. We will however not destroy documents you ask us to deposit 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.

7. Termination

You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time but as mentioned above we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.

In some circumstances, you may consider we ought to stop acting for you, for example, if you cannot give clear or proper instructions on how we are to proceed, or if it is clear that you have loss confidence in the way we are carrying out your work.

We may decide that we will no longer act for you, and you will pay our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out above.

8. Client Satisfaction

Our aim is to deal with any complaints promptly, fairly and effectively and in order to ensure complete client satisfaction, we operate a complaints procedure. This procedure is available upon request and details how we will investigate your complaint and the time we will spend doing so. This should take a maximum of eight weeks but in most cases, much sooner. Naturally we hope that this will not be necessary but if a problem does arise we shall do all we can to resolve it to your satisfaction. We want you to be a satisfied client and to achieve that we take any complaints seriously.

You may wish to complain either about the service received or the costs charged for our services and in either case you should discuss your complaint in the first instance with the person dealing with your work named above. If they are unable to resolve your difficulty please speak directly to David Roberts. Alternatively you may put your complaint in writing in which cases please direct the same to David Roberts who has overall responsibility for the firm.

Should you feel that we have failed to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction you are also entitled to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. He is responsible for looking into complaints relating to legal firms. You can contact him by telephone on 0300 5550333, e-mail enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or in writing to Legal Ombudsman, P.O Box 15870, Birmingham B30 9EB. He also has a website where you can find a complaints form and notes on how to proceed, that address is: www.legalombudsman.org.uk. If you choose to contact that office you should aim to do so within 6 months of our investigation of your complaint.

In addition, if your complaint is about a bill there may also be a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under part 3 of the solicitors Act 1974. You should be aware that if all or part of a bill remains unpaid the firm may be entitled to charge interest.

9. Litigation and Contentious Matters

Should the matter prove contentious we are obliged to inform you that you would be responsible for paying our firm’s bill in full regardless of any order for costs made against an opponent in the event that you win the case.

In the event that you lose the case there is a probability that you would have to pay your opponent’s costs as well as our fees.

It is possible that even if you win your case your opponent is legally aided, and therefore you are not entitled to recover costs against him even if you are successful.

It is important that you mention to Mr David Roberts whether your liability for costs is covered by legal fees insurance, or if you are a member of a Trade Union or whether you have reason to believe that your costs may be covered by any other third party.

10. Introducers

Some clients are introduced to us by other organisations. Our advice is entirely independent and you are free to raise questions on all aspects of the matter. If we act for the introducer in the same matter and a conflict of interest arises, we might be obliged to cease acting.

If we have paid a referral fee for the work introduced to us then we will have informed you of this in our initial client care letter. Our referral arrangement will also be safeguarded by our professional rules.

11. Money Laundering Regulations/Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

Under new government rules we may be legally obliged to provide otherwise privileged or confidential information regarding your affairs to, amongst others, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and to comply with their instructions. We cannot tell you or any other party if the matter is one we must report or the result, even if this is likely to cause you loss or delay. By agreeing for us to act for you, you waive the right to any civil claim for any loss or damage caused by our compliance with any Act, Regulation or Statutory Instrument or the instruction of any Government body howsoever the loss or damage arises.

12. Identity and disclosure Requirements

We are required by law to check your identity. By signing our terms of business you are providing your consent for us to undertake independent verification checks. We may make searches about you with a credit reference or Fraud Prevention Agency and this will include information from the Electoral Roll. The agencies will record the details of the search whether or not your transaction precedes.

In addition to the independent verification check we may require you to supply original documents of confirmation of your identity, address or both.

Any documents provided to us will be recorded and copied for audit purposes as part of our Anti Money Laundering requirements.
We 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 may represent.

Solicitors are not allowed to disclose information about a client’s affairs without the client’s authority. By signing these terms and conditions of business and returning it to us, you authorize 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 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. 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 advisers that this authority has been withdrawn.

13. Stamp Duty and Land Tax

The Inland Revenue require a land transaction return form to be completed on every purchase transaction regardless of whether stamp duty is payable.

As solicitors on your behalf we will be submitting the land transaction return to the Inland Revenue Stamp Office following completion of your purchase and we will treat your signature to the terms of business as your consent to do so.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS

Unless otherwise agreed, these Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.

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.

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

All Clients must sign in joint transactions

Signed: ......................................................

Signed: ......................................................

Full Name;............................................................

Full Name: ......................................................

Dated: ..................................................................

Additional Charges

Purchase or Sale

• Home visit (if needed) Hourly rate as per Solicitor scale
• Transfer of Equity £250 + VAT + Additional registration fees
• Leasehold Property £150 + VAT + Third party charge notice, fees etc
• Defective Title Hourly rate + VAT + disbursements
• Obtaining Indemnity Insurance £75 + VAT (per policy)
• Shared Ownership Lease £195 + VAT + Additional registration fees
• Lasting Powers of Attorney £300+ VAT
• Leasehold Third party charges (notice fees etc)
• Simultaneous Exchange and Completion £75 + VAT
• Dealing with a Licence to Assign £75 + VAT
• Possessory Title cases up to £75.00 + VAT
• Reviewing Tenancy agreement £75 + VAT

Purchase

• First registration £150 + VAT + Additional registration fees
• Deed of Postponement £145 + VAT (per deed)
• Corresponding with separately represented lenders
• Solicitors £100 + VAT
• Deed of Consent/Waiver £50 + VAT (per deed)
• Simple Declarations of Trust £195 + VAT
• Deed of Guarantee £150 + VAT
• Drafting Assured/Shorthold Tenancy £75 + VAT
• Despatch of Deeds (Post completion) £15 + VAT + postage
• Replacement Mortgage Instructions £25 + VAT
• Second Mortgages £150 + VAT
• Approval and registration of secured charge with
• matrimonial proceedings £100 + VAT

Sale

• Removal of Second and Third Charges £50 + VAT
• TT of Surplus Funds £25 + VAT per transfer
• Assignment and re-assignment of life policies £30 + VAT per policy
• Obtaining Copy Planning Consents/Building
• Regulation certificates £25 + VAT + Disbursements per copy
• Removing Restrictions/Compliance certificates £75 + VAT + Disbursements per copy
• Repayment of unsecured loans £75 + VAT
• Application for retrospective consents in respect
• of breach of covenant £50 + VAT
• Application for local authority planning documents £50 + VAT
• Reassignment of life policy per life company £30 + VAT
• Negotiations with Trustee in bankruptcy to be advised
• Missing Share Certificates £50 + VAT

We are pleased to offer the following additional services with prices available upon discussion:

• Acquisition of land by adverse possession
• Acting for guarantors
• Acting for incapacitated clients
• Auctions
• Boundary disputes
• Breaches of contract
• Bridging finance
• Defects in title
• Commercial or part commercial premises
• Compulsory purchase sales
• Conditional contracts
• Contaminated land
• Defective title insurance
• Discharge or Charge of mortgages over unrelated properties
• Disputes in relation to the contract
• Failure to complete by other party
• Fire (the results of)
• Flying freeholds
• Grants of easements or obtaining new rights for a property
• Issues arising from the negligence of other solicitors in the transaction
• Matters resulting from the death of a party prior to completion
• Merger of leases
• Methane contamination/Radon contamination issues
• Obtaining amendments to leases
• Obtaining assents from third parties to sales
• Obtaining architects certificates
• Obtaining probate
• Obtaining information from Managing Companies
• Occupier consents
• Options
• Personal completions
• Private mortgages
• Purchase of plots for new build
• Purchase of additional land adjacent to the main property from a second vendor
• Reconstitution of lost deeds
• Registration of cautions
• Resolving issues raised by unsatisfactory search results
• Resolving breach of existing covenants
• Resolving any matrimonial issues on divorcing parties
• Sale of land with Possessory Title
• Sales of part of land
• Sub sales
• Sureties
• Tenants purchase of freeholds
• Variation of leases
• Wayleave agreements