LLP TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS

Transcription

1 McKEOWN LLP TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS The following Terms & Conditions of Business ( the Terms ) give details of the basis upon which we will provide our legal services and should be read in conjunction with any accompanying letter. Any dispute or legal issue arising from them will be determined by the law of England & Wales, and considered exclusively by the English & Welsh courts. 1. OUR AIM At Hillyer McKeown LLP we aim to place our expertise on your side. We expect to offer our clients quality legal advice with a personal service at a fair cost. 2. OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU We will: ONLY act upon instruction GIVE you independent legal advice ACT in your interests EXPLAIN to you the legal work which will or may be required MAKE SURE that you understand the likely degree of financial risk you will be taking on 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 MEET or exceed the level of standards set out in the Solicitor Standard Commercial conditions We will NOT: GIVE you advice about tax CHECK the financial standing of any other party to your matter TELL you about any later changes in the law 3. HOURS OF BUSINESS The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.00 am and 5.30 pm (5.00 pm at Birkenhead office) on weekdays. Messages can be sent to us by fax or outside those hours, and there is an answerphone service for telephone messages. Appointments can also be arranged at other times when this is important, as well as at your home or place of work where it is difficult for you to come to us. 4. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WORK In our letter of engagement you will be given details of the member of staff who is responsible for dealing with your work, and his or her qualification and position in the firm, as well as the person in the firm with final responsibility for the work. We will try to avoid changing the people who handle your work but if this cannot be avoided, we will try and tell you promptly of any change and why it may be necessary. 5. CHARGES AND EXPENSES 5.1 If we have given you a fixed fee estimate, this will be based on the information available to us now and assumes that the matter will not prove to be substantially more complex or time consuming than normal for work of that type. We reserve the right to revise the charge if we are required to do work which is additional to that which can be anticipated at the outset, or if you instruct us to carry out further work. Additional work will be charged at the hourly rates detailed below. 5.2 If we have agreed to act for you on a Contingency Fee or a Conditional Fee basis, details of our charges, the way they are calculated, and your liability for them, will be covered by a separate agreement which you will be asked to enter into. 5.3 In other cases our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually spent by solicitors and other staff in carrying out any work which we are instructed, expected or required to do on your behalf. This will include meetings with you and others; reading and working on papers; preparing and approving documents and deeds; correspondence, , making and receiving telephone calls; preparation of any detailed costs calculations; and time spent travelling to and from the office when this is necessary. Time spent dealing with the work, routine letters, s and faxes sent and received and telephone calls made and received are recorded and charged in units of 6 minutes. 5.4 The current hourly charging rates of the firm are set out below. We will add VAT to these at the rate that applies when the work is done. Partners,Consultants and Head Of Dept Associates Solicitors Trainee Solicitor Fellows of Institute of Legal Executives Legal Assistant (Senior) Legal Assistant (Junior) These hourly rates are reviewed periodically to reflect increases in overhead costs and inflation. If a review is carried out before your matter is concluded, we will inform you of any variation in the rate before it takes effect. 5.5 In Conditional fee cases, urgent matters, and cases that involve particular complexity or require specialist expertise or knowledge, the charging rates may be increased and you will be notified of those rates in the letter of engagement. 5.6 Where a matter involves property or assets of high value then an additional charge may be made to that calculated on the basis of the time spent. This will reflect a percentage of the value of the property or assets, or other financial benefit. This value element reflects the importance of the transaction and the consequent responsibility falling on the firm. You will be notified in advance if such an additional charge is to be made. 5.7 In property matters, the period between exchange of contracts and completion of your sale and/or purchase is usually between 21 and 28 days. If you instruct us to arrange to complete in 14 days or less, this will involve additional work for which a charge of plus VAT will be made. 5.8 Solicitors have to pay out various expenses on behalf of clients. Examples are Court fees, Doctor s fees, Search fees, Land Registry fees and expert s fees. Unless otherwise agreed with you, 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 may require a payment in advance from you for disbursements payable on your matter; if we do we will notify you in our letter of engagement. 5.9 Travelling expenses will be charged at the rate of 63p per mile plus VAT when travelling by motor car or (where applicable) at the rate determined by the Court If, for any reason, your matter does not proceed to completion then, unless we have agreed otherwise, we will be entitled to charge you for work done and expenses

2 incurred. Our minimum charge in those circumstances is plus VAT. In property matters we reserve the right to make this charge immediately a sale or purchase does not proceed You have the right to complain about a bill, in which case the firm s Complaint s Procedure (outlined in the letter of engagement) should be followed. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, then you can ask The Legal Ombudsman to consider it, or you may be able to apply to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at P.O. Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ, on , or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or visit 6. PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS 6.1 Unless otherwise agreed in writing, payment in full is due within 14 days of our sending you a bill. We are entitled to charge interest on the amount of the bill until the date of payment, if payment of the bill is not made within that time. Interest is charged at 8% over the National Westminster Bank plc base lending rate from time to time in force. We do not accept payment by instalments unless this has been agreed at the outset. 6.2 Apart from Conditional Fee and Contingency Fee cases, we may ask you to pay a sum or sums of money on account of the charges and disbursements which are expected to be incurred in the following weeks or months. We find that this helps clients to budget for costs as well as keeping track of legal expenses. If such requests are not met with prompt payment, delay in the progress of a case may result. In the event that any bill or request for payment is not met, this firm reserves the right to stop acting for you any longer. 6.3 When buying property, we will need to have cleared funds available to pay the deposit on exchange of contracts and the balance of the purchase price, together with our costs and the disbursements, on completion. If you are providing payment by cheque or banker s draft, you must allow a minimum of 10 days for a cheque and 3 working days for a draft to clear in our Client Account. We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage suffered in the event that completion of your purchase is delayed or does not take place as a result of us not having cleared full funds in due time. 6.4 Where there are surplus funds following a sale, a remortgage or a sale and purchase, we will deduct our charges and disbursements and account to you for the balance of those funds by sending you a cheque within 3 working days of completion. We can remit funds to an account designated by you by electronic transfer at a fee of plus VAT. In cases where there are, or are likely to be, insufficient moneys following a sale, a remortgage or a sale and purchase to meet our costs and disbursements in full, you will be liable to pay our charges and disbursements prior to completion. 6.5 Where a client obtains borrowing from a lender in a property or similar transaction, we will ask the lender to arrange that the loan cheque is received by us a minimum of 4 working days prior to the completion date. If the money can be sent by electronic bank payment (BACS or CHAPS), we will request that we receive it the day before completion. This will enable us to ensure that the necessary funds are available in time for completion. Such clients need to be aware that their lender may charge interest from the date of issue of their loan cheque or the transmission of the payment, and will also charge a fee for the transfer. 6.6 Interim bills for charges incurred may be raised at any time during the course of a matter. Where there are funds available, interim and final bills will be deducted from those funds. 6.7 Liability for costs and disbursements in Conditional Fee and Contingency Fee cases will be covered by separate agreement. 6.8 If you want to make payment to us of costs or disbursements by credit or debit card then there may be an administrative charge, depending upon the sum involved. 6.9 In the event that two or more individuals are instructing this Firm then unless expressly provided otherwise than in these terms then individuals shall be jointly and severally liable for their respective obligations and liabilities arising under this agreement. Hillyer McKeown LLP may take action against, or release or compromise the liability of any person with joint and several liability or grant time or other indulgence without affecting the liability of any other person. 7. LIABILITY TO OTHERS FOR CHARGES AND DISBURSEMENTS 7.1 In some cases and transactions a client may be entitled to payment of costs by some other person. It is important that you understand that, in such circumstances, the other person may not be required to pay all the costs and charges that you incur with us. You have to pay our charges and disbursements in the first place and any amounts which can be recovered will be a contribution towards them. If the other party is in receipt of Public Funding no costs are likely to be recovered. The other person will not be liable to pay the VAT element of your costs if you are able to recover the VAT yourself. 7.2 If you are successful and a court orders another party to pay some or all of your charges and disbursements, interest can be claimed on them from the other party from the date of the court order. We will account to you for such interest to the extent that you have paid our charges and disbursements on account, but we are entitled to the rest of that interest. You will also be responsible for paying our charges and expenses of seeking to recover any costs that the court orders the other party to pay to you. 7.3 A client who is unsuccessful in a court case may be ordered to pay the other party s legal charges and expenses. That money may be payable in addition to our charges and disbursements. Arrangements can be made to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses. Please discuss this with us if you are interested. 7.4 In Conditional Fee and Contingency Fee cases any liability to pay the other party s charges and disbursements will normally be covered by an insurance policy. When advising on after-the-event insurance policies we will consider all relevant factors including the financial stability of the provider, the level and recoverability of premiums and the indemnity cover provided. We receive a commission on such policies from the insurer of 12% of premiums in Road Traffic Accident to fast track policies and 15% of premiums in all other cases. By signing the Terms you agree to us retaining the whole of any commission paid.

3 7.5 In Personal Injury cases where a fixed fee is paid by or recovered from a third party and in Contingency Fee cases where our fee is a proportion of the damages recovered, we will be entitled to retain the whole of the fee whether or not it exceeds the value of the work actually carried out. 8. INTEREST ON CLIENT MONEY In accordance with the Solicitors Account Rules it is this firm s policy to account to our clients, on a fair and reasonable basis, for a sum in lieu of interest in respect of client monies held by the firm. We are required by the Solicitors Account Rules to hold such client money for the purpose for which it has been provided and it is therefore necessary for it to be held in an instant access account. For this reason, any interest that will be paid on the funds held, when appropriate, is unlikely to be as high as that obtainable by a client depositing the funds themselves. In particular:- 8.1 Client monies will normally be held in general client bank accounts, in which monies for different matters and clients are pooled. 8.2 A sum in lieu of interest will be payable on amounts held in general client bank accounts on the following basis: Interest will be calculated from the date that the money has been cleared in our bank account and is regarded by the bank as cleared funds. Simple interest will then be paid, or credited, when the monies are paid out for the purposes for which they were required Interest paid will be based upon the rate of interest payable by the Nat West Bank on the relevant amount if it were to be held separately in our instant access general client account In normal circumstances, if the total amount of interest calculated is less than 20.00, no interest will be paid or credited to the client, as our administrative charges would exceed this amount. 8.3 Client monies will normally be held in an instant access bank account to facilitate transactions. However, if specific instructions are received from the client requesting that funds be placed on a term deposit, or separate designated deposit account and if this is appropriate (bearing in mind the nature and duration of the transaction) interest earned on such deposits shall be paid to the client in full, less any reasonable administration fee to be charged by ourselves in respect of setting up, administering and terminating such deposit account. 8.4 If client monies are held in a separate designated deposit account (i.e. a specific bank account for a specific matter) all interest earned on that account will be credited to that bank account and paid to the client in full. Interest will normally be paid to the clients gross and it will be for the client to account for tax thereon. In designated deposit accounts and term deposit accounts, the bank may deduct tax at source and if this occurs the net sum will be paid or credited to the client. 9. FINANCIAL SERVICES Should you require advice in connection with investments or pension planning, we are pleased to recommend the services of our associated firm of financial advisers, Hillyer McKeown Financial Services LLP, which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This Firm is run by Sean Murphy, an experienced Independent Financial Adviser who is able to provide independent advice on a wide range of investment or pension options, and has been associated with Hillyer Mckeown for over 20 years. Sean is highly recommended, and we will be happy to arrange an introductory meeting, without any charge or obligation. Alternatively, if you would prefer to receive financial advice from another firm of your choice, we would be happy to liaise with them. (NB, Statutory protection provided by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Legal Ombudsman Service does not extend to work done by Financial Advisers, which is separately regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and enjoys the benefit of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme). 10. STORAGE OF PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS 10.1 If you give us papers that relate to a particular matter we are handling for you these will be kept in your file. We will assume that you do not want the papers returned to you unless you tell us otherwise. 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 disbursements. In addition, we will keep your file of papers for you in storage for not less than one year. After that, storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy your file of papers after such period as we consider reasonable, or to make a charge for storage if we ask you to collect your papers and you fail to do so We will not destroy any documents or papers of value which you ask us to hold in safe custody, such as Wills, Powers of Attorney and Property Deeds. No charge will be made to you for such storage unless prior notice in writing is given to you of a charge to be made from a future date which may be specified in that notice If we have to retrieve your file or other papers from storage to answer questions raised by you or others, we will not normally make a charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on time spent for producing stored papers or documents to you or another at your request, or if the papers are required urgently. We may also charge for reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions, and for the work involved in copying such papers or files for our records, to enable us to answer any future queries or correspondence. 11. COPYRIGHT When we draft or prepare documents for you, the copyright in them belongs to us and you are licensed to use them for the purpose for which they were prepared. 12. 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 and expenses incurred to that time. 13. TAX ADVICE Any work that 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 with us immediately. If we are able to offer the advice or help you need then we will do so;

4 if we cannot, we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you. 14. COMMUNICATION AND COMPLAINTS 14.1 Our aim is to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service at all times, and we hope you will be pleased with the work we do for you. However, if there is any part of our service with which you are unhappy, please raise your concern in the first place with the person you are dealing with, or the Head of the Department they work in, or the partner with overall responsibility. If you still have queries or concerns, please contact our Client Services Manager, Paul Beckett at Gorse Stacks House, George Street, Chester, CH1 3EQ (telephone ). If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, then you can refer it to the Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at P.O. Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ. (Tel ). This should be done within 6 months of our final written response to you about your complaint We will aim to communicate with you by such method as you request. Unless you withdraw consent, we will communicate with others when appropriate by or fax, but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence sent by or fax. 15. DATA PROTECTION We will use the information you supply primarily to provide you with legal services and for related purposes including: updating and enhancing client records; management and analysis of our practice; statutory returns; legal and regulatory compliance. Our use of the information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 1998 and our duty of confidentiality. We may sometimes have to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. You have a right of access to the personal data we hold about you. We may from time to time send you information that we think may be of interest to you. If you do not want to receive that information, please opt out by ticking this box. 16. VETTING OF FILES AND OUTSOURCING 16.1 External firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality We may sometimes ask other companies or persons to do typing or other work on our files to ensure that this is done promptly and cost-effectively. In such cases we will enter into a confidentiality agreement with those outsource providers. If you do not want your file to be outsourced, please tell us as soon as possible. 17. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY Hillyer McKeown LLP is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy. 18. LIMITATION OF OUR LIABILITY 18.1 We will perform the work which we do for you with reasonable skill and care and we acknowledge that (subject to the other exclusions and limitations in the Terms) we will be liable to you for losses, damages, costs or expenses ( Losses ) caused by our negligence or wilful default, subject to the following provisions: We will not be so liable if such Losses are due to the provision of false, misleading or incomplete information or documentation or due to the acts or omissions of any person other than a member of this firm. The aggregate liability, whether to you or any third party, of whatever nature, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, of the firm for any Losses whatsoever and howsoever caused arising from or in any way connected with each matter upon which we are instructed and/or advice on it, shall not exceed 10 million. Details of our Professional Indemnity Insurance cover and provider are available upon request from our Head Office at Gorse Stacks House, George Street, Chester CH1 3EQ or by mail@law.uk.com or by telephone Our liability, whether to you or any third party, in contract or tort or under statute or otherwise, shall exclude any indirect or consequential economic loss or damage (including loss of profits) suffered by you or any third party arising from or in connection with the matter on which we are instructed and/or advice on it, however the indirect or consequential economic loss or damage is caused, including our negligence but not our wilful default Nothing in this section of the Terms shall impose on the firm any liability of any kind or for any amount which we would not have but for this section The firm has no duty to clients or any other person to inform them of any changes in the law or in practice occurring after the completion of a matter, and shall not be liable for Losses which arise from any failure to do so Nothing in this section of the Terms shall have the effect of restricting our liability in respect of any kind of loss, damage or liability which cannot or must not be excluded or limited under English law. 19. TERMINATION OF INSTRUCTIONS 19.1 We may decide to stop acting for you if there is or may be a conflict of interest, where you fail to produce satisfactory evidence of identity, or where there is another good reason (such as failing to pay an interim bill). We will give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you 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 this clearly in writing If you or we decide that we will no longer act for you, you will pay our charges up until that point Our letter of engagement will tell you if the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply to your matter. If they do, you have the right to cancel your instructions to us within seven working days of receiving the letter. You can cancel your instructions by contacting us by post or by fax. Once we have started work on your file, you may be charged if you then cancel your instructions Termination will not affect any rights or liabilities that have accrued under the contract. 20. MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS 20.1 The law requires solicitors to obtain and verify information about your identity, and the identity of any principal, beneficial owner or shareholder you represent. This is to comply with current Anti-Money Laundering legislation and regulations made under such legislation. To comply with the regulations we need to get evidence of your identity as

5 soon as possible, so you will be asked to produce suitable evidence of such identity and your address to us before we can act upon your instructions. The regulations may also require us to make enquiries of you (and possibly others) about the source of money or property involved in the matter or transaction in which we are instructed. We may use an electronic identification service to confirm your identity, and that of any principal or beneficial owner you represent. The cost of using this service may be charged to you. work on your behalf until one copy of them, signed by you, has been returned to us We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, solicitors may be required by statute to make a disclosure to the Serious Organised 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 accountable or liable to you or to any other person for any delay, loss, damage, demand, breach, interest, costs or other claim occasioned by or as a result of such a disclosure made by us (or any other person), and whether or not the disclosure relates to you or your property. 21. CASH PAYMENTS The maximum amount of cash that can be accepted by the firm from you or any other person in the matter or transaction in which we are instructed is 500. No cash or any other payment at all may to be made into any of our bank accounts without our prior written consent and without the source of the funds being identified to us. Unauthorised payments will be returned to the sender. 22. WAIVER A delay or partial delay in exercising the rights available under the agreement following a breach does not count as a waiver of those rights. 23. SEVERABILITY If any clause in the agreement is found by a Court to be unenforceable, the remainder of the agreement will be unaffected and stay in force. 24. FORCE MAJEURE For the avoidance of doubt neither party shall be liable for matters or losses arising from a Force Majeure event. 25. STATUS AND REGULATION Hillyer McKeown LLP is a limited liability partnership, registered number OC344864, and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, number Hillyer McKeown LLP is registered for Value Added Tax, registration number TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS 26.1 Unless otherwise agreed in writing, or unless superseded by a later edition of our Terms and Conditions, (and subject to the application of the then hourly rates), these Terms and Conditions shall apply without variation to all present and any future instructions given by you to us Although your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business, it may not be possible for us to start or continue