TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT
Introduction
This document sets out the terms on which I accept instructions and charge for my services. My aim is to provide you with high quality legal services tailored to meet your requirements in a friendly and cost-effective manner and to develop a close working relationship with you.
Person Responsible for your Work
As a sole principal I will be responsible for your matter throughout.
Fees
The Solicitors' (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 2009 requires that "solicitor's fees" be "fair and reasonable to both solicitor and entitled person, having regard to all the circumstances of the case". The circumstances which may affect the level of the fees include the following matters specified in that Order: the amount or value of any money or property involved, the importance of the matter to the client, the complexity or the difficulty or novelty of the questions raised, the skill, labour, specialized knowledge and responsibility involved, the number and importance of documents prepared or perused, without regard to length, the place where and the circumstances in which the business or any part of it is transacted, whether any land involved is registered land, and the time spent on the business.
The time spent is usually the most significant factor in assessing the fees and is recorded by me. My current hourly rate is £230 plus VAT. Where your instructions require work to be carried out necessarily outside our normal office hours, I reserve a right to increase the level of hourly rate to reflect this factor.
Any special arrangements agreed with you concerning our fees will be set out in a separate letter. If we have quoted hourly rates they are subject to revision when we revise rates generally.
VAT
VAT is chargeable on my professional fees and will be added to all bills at the rate prevailing at that time (currently 17.5%). Our VAT registration number is 774 0788 94.
Interim Information on Fees
At your specific request I will inform you when fees have reached an agreed figure.
Billing and Payment
Unless I tell you otherwise in writing my practice is to bill matters on completion of a transaction.
All payments made on your behalf ("disbursements") will be charged to you on completion of a transaction.
All bills are for payment within 14 days. I reserve a right to charge interest for late payment at the rate of 4 percent over Barclays Bank plc base rate, calculated on the daily basis from the date of invoice and added to the outstanding balance at quarterly intervals. Interest will accrue at this rate even after I obtain any judgment in any court for the payment by you to me of what you owe.
Payment on Account of Fees and Disbursements
I may require a payment in advance in respect of fees and disbursements. I will place any such payments into a Clients' Account and apply them against future bill.
Commissions
If I receive a commission from a third party in relation to a matter which I am handling for you I will credit you with that commission, unless the amount is insignificant.
Interest
Frequently, in the course of dealings with a client’s affairs, I will receive and hold money for a client. For your protection all clients’ money is kept in a separate client account.
Our charges do not allow for the costs of administering the calculation and payment to clients of small amounts of interest. Accordingly we will pay you a sum in lieu of interest (on your money) if “interest” in relation to any matter exceeds £100 in any period of one year ending 5th April. The “interest” paid will reflect the rate of interest that might reasonably be obtainable on the amount in question for the period in question if placed with our bank at the time by a member of the business community. This is a variation of the Solicitors Accounts Rules 1998 (laid down by our regulatory body the Solicitors Regulation Authority) of which we are required to advise you. Payments in lieu of interest will be made within a reasonable time and in any event not later than 6 months after the end of the year to which they relate.
If we pay sums in lieu of interest on a clients account without deduction of tax, you will be responsible for declaring and paying any tax due.
If at anytime you feel that these arrangements for interest are not appropriate in your particular case, or have worked unfairly in the circumstances or were not properly understood by you, please let us know and we will be happy to consider revised arrangements for the future and retrospectively.
Papers Held by the Firm
After completing the work, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
We will keep our file of papers for up to 6 years, except those papers you ask to be returned to you. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy the 6 years after the date of the final bill. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody.
If we take papers or documents out of storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act for you, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may charge you both for:
- time spent producing stored papers that are requested,
- reading correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions in relation to retrieved papers.
Termination of Instructions
Once instructed I will normally continue to act for you in that matter until its conclusion. Circumstances may however arise where it is appropriate for either of us to terminate the arrangement (e.g. if the transaction fell through or you can not give us clear instructions on how we should proceed or it is clear that you have lost confidence in the way we are carrying out work on your behalf or you provide instructions which are unreasonable or would require us to breach a professional rule or a duty to the court or involve the commission of a criminal offence) and when this happens you will be responsible for fees and disbursements up to the date of termination, and any fees and disbursements necessarily associated with our ceasing to act or the transfer of the work to another adviser of your choice.
Complaints
Salinger Solicitors is committed to high quality legal advice and legal care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about the bill, please contact Mr PK Salinger on 020 7937 8524 or office@salingernotary.co.uk by post to our office in Kensington. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Complaints Service at Victoria Court, 8 Dormer Place, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 5AE to consider the complaint.
Liability Cap
To the extent permissible by law, you agree that our aggregate liability to you for a breach of your instructions shall be limited to £2,000,000 (two million pounds). We will not be liable for any consequential, special, indirect or exemplary damages, costs or losses or any damages, costs or losses attributable to lost profits or opportunities. This limitation will not exclude death or personal injury caused by our negligence.
We are wiling to discuss with you agreeing a higher limit on our liability in return for an increase in the fees payable by you for handling the matter. Please contact the Principal if you wish to discuss. Please note that only the Principal of this practice have the authority to agree such an increase.
Equality and Diversity
Salinger Solicitors 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.
Confidentiality and Vetting of Files
Information passed to us is confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties except as authorised by you or required by law. If on your authority we are working in conjunction with other professional advisers we will assume that we may disclose any relevant aspect of your affairs to them. External firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files.
Data Protection Act
We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:
- updating and enhancing client records
- analysis to help us manage our practice
- statutory returns
- legal and regulatory compliance.
Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 1998 and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you.
We may from time to time send information which we think might be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive that information, please notify our office in writing.
Future Instructions
Unless otherwise agreed and subject to the application of the current hourly rates these terms and conditions of business shall apply to any future instruction given by you to me.
Corporate Clients - Personal Guarantee
In consideration of me accepting instructions from any private limited company, limited liability partnership, or plc, the directors or members signing acceptance on behalf of the company, limited liability partnership or plc hereby guarantee (and if more than one jointly and severally) all fees and disbursements payable by the company to me to the intent that the directors or members shall be jointly and severally liable with the company to me.
Copyright
I retain the copyright in all documents prepared by me. No liability is accepted for the consequences of any amendments made by you or a third party to any document prepared by this firm, or use made of any document save for the express purpose and transaction for which specifically it was prepared and provided by me.
Taxation Advice
I do not accept any responsibility to advise on taxation issues that arise from or in the course of the service to be provided to you save where this has been specifically agreed in writing by me as part of the service to be provided.
Exempt Financial Services
We are not authorised by the Financial Services 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 necessary advice.
However, we may provide certain limited 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 Complaints Service is the independent complaints-handling arm of the Law Society. If you are unhappy with any investment advice you receive from us, you should raise your concern with either of those bodies.
Scope of Salinger Solicitors' Responsibility
No provision of this retainer is intended to be enforceable by any third party pursuant to the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. Accordingly, no third party shall have any right to enforce any provision of this retainer. I do not assume any liability to any one else who may use or be allowed access to or rely upon the advice given by me to you and any documents prepared by me and whom are not the named client to whom I have agreed to provide the relevant service.
I assume no liability for the acts or omissions of the third parties such as experts, consultants, foreign lawyers, the authors of or providers of searches or reports used to provide any advice or service to you.
I will not be liable to you for any losses if I become unable to carry out any of my services due to the events or circumstances occurring beyond the firm’s reasonable control.
I will not be liable to repay any moneys lost through a banking failure.
I do not offer advice on the commercial wisdom or prudence of entering into any transaction, contract or other obligation.
Mortgage Fraud
When we are also acting for your proposed lender in the conveyancing transaction, we have a duty to reveal to your lender all relevant facts about the purchase and mortgage. This includes:
- any differences between your mortgage application and information we receive during the transaction,
- any cash back payments or discount schemes that a seller is giving you
Money Laundering Regulations/Proceeds of Crime Act
I am required by law to comply with this legislation. Before commencing any matter I am required to ask you to provide two means of proof of identity and address. If these are not provided to my satisfaction I may decline to start or undertake the transaction until such is provided to my satisfaction.
I, along with other professional firms have a duty at law to keep these records for at least 5 years.
I am also required by law to notify the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) (without obtaining your prior consent or notifying you) if I have reasonable grounds to suspect that your funds or property or that belonging to anyone else involved in the transaction are the proceeds of or the benefit from criminal conduct. In this context, crime means not only the proceeds of criminal activity in this country, but also abroad. It also includes the money that is derived from the failure to account for tax including tax evasion. Having notified SOCA I am not permitted to take any further steps in relation to that transaction (without their written consent). In that case I may not be able to tell you or anyone else why we have stopped work.
Where I make such notification acting in good faith, I do not accept any liability to you or any inconvenience caused to you or for any delay or disruption caused to your matter or transaction or for any financial or other loss thereby arising.
I regret that where any money is required for any transaction from you I am not able to accept cash from you or cash paid directly into my bank account by you or anyone on your behalf in excess of £500.00 or to accept money from a third party whose identity is not previously approved by me and verified in accordance with the above requirements.
Changes to these Terms of Business
I reserve the right to make changes to these terms of business to reflect new legislation, practice and procedures, or changes in market conditions. If any changes become necessary then I will notify you with details in writing wherever practicable before the change takes effect.
Applicable Law
My relationship with you will be governed by English law and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
Revised – March 2010