TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT
These Terms of Engagement (“these Terms”) are intended to provide more detail about our services, standards and charges.
1 Particular issues involved in the transaction and explanation of our responsibilities:
Please refer to your written engagement letter for full particulars.
Our responsibilities will include:
Reviewing your matter regularly
Advising you on any changes in the law during the course of your matter
Advising of any circumstances and risks of which we are aware or consider to be reasonably foreseeable that could affect your matter
Your responsibilities will include:
Providing us with clear, timely and accurate instructions
Providing us with all documents and information required to complete the matter in a timely manner
2 Matters outside the scope of our engagement
The duties and responsibilities of this Company under these Terms shall be limited to those expressly set out in these Terms and for the avoidance of doubt shall not include Tax or Financial Advice
3 Level of services
We shall endeavour to keep you updated on a regular basis as to the progression of the matter, and as to changes in the law either by telephone, email or letter.
4 Your responsibilities
You will provide, on a timely basis, such information and documents and monies required to progress the transaction as we may request and give us instructions on any issues raised by us.
5 Electronic communications
During the conduct of the Engagement we may wish to communicate electronically with each other. However, the electronic transmission of information cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error free, as it will be transmitted over a public network, and such information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete or otherwise be adversely affected or unsafe to use.
We shall each be responsible for protecting our own interests in relation to electronic communications. Neither of us (including our respective partners, directors, employees, agents or servants) shall be liable to each other on the basis, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, in respect of any error, damage, loss or omission arising from or in connection with the electronic communication of information between us or in reliance on such information.
6 Fees
Please refer to the attached engagement letter for an estimate of our fees.
Any fees for legal work in connection with the sale of any land or property in the estate will be advised separately by our Conveyancing Department.
Money on account and interest payments and Commission
We may from time to time require you to pay us a reasonable sum on account of costs. This will be held in our client account and we shall account to you for interest in accordance with the above policy. We may use your money held on account of costs to pay expenses incurred on your behalf even though not yet invoiced to you. In accordance with the CLC Accounts Rules it is the firm’s policy to account to its clients for interest on a fair and reasonable basis for both the client and the firm. When we receive monies on behalf of a client it will be paid into a general client account with HSBC PLC who is the firm’s banker. This general client bank account will hold pooled amounts for different matters and clients. These will usually be based on client money being held in an instant access account to facilitate a transaction. Clients are unlikely to receive as much interest as might have been obtained had they held and invested the money themselves as a result of our needing to have instant access to funds. The rate of interest paid to clients on money held in the general client account is in line with HSBC PLC’s published rates on their Business Instant Access Account. Interest on general client money is calculated on cleared funds on a daily basis and compounded and applied annually on the 30th September. Where client requirements demand, the calculation and application will be made on agreed dates (e.g. closure of the matter). The Accounts department will prepare the necessary calculation as instructed by the Fee Earner of the matter. In the event that the calculated total interest accruing to a client for the duration of a matter is less than £20 then no interest will be paid to the client on the basis that it is a de-
Invoicing and payment
Property transactions: We will normally send you our bill following the exchange of contracts and payment is required on a purchase prior to completion, and at completion on a sale. If sufficient funds are available on completion, and we have sent you a bill, we will deduct our charges and expenses from the funds. Administration of estates: We will normally submit an interim bill at regular stages during the administration, starting with the obtaining of a Grant. The final account will be prepared when the Estate Accounts are ready for approval. In other matters we will submit invoices to you on a monthly basis or at the end of a distinct section of the instructions, whichever is the sooner. All invoices are payable on demand and we request payment in full within 30 days. If an invoice is not paid within 30 days, we may charge interest on the balance outstanding at the rate of 8%/annum.
Disbursements
In addition to our above fees you will be charged for any additional disbursements which have been incurred. Disbursements are expenses i.e. payments we have to make to a third party on your behalf.
We anticipate having to pay the following disbursements on your behalf:-
Court Fee £155 plus 50p per office copy of Grant of Probate
Settling Fee £12 per document settled
LR Office Copy Entries £4 per title
Bankruptcy Searches £2 per beneficiary
Our fees and all disbursements we pay for you will be your sole responsibility.
Please note that our services are conditional on you complying with these Terms. In the event that you breach these Terms, we reserve the right to terminate all work on your behalf without further notice.
7 Abortive Matters
Should our instructions in this matter be terminated for any reason we reserve the right to levy an account for the time spent on the matter to the date of termination, including any disbursements actually incurred to that point. If any documents are prepared at your instruction but remain unexecuted we reserve the right to raise an account for 75% of the fee quoted above.
Accounts must be paid upon receipt. Interest will be charged on overdue accounts at 15% per annum.
8 Insurance Mediation (providing exempt financial services)
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 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 Council for Licensed Conveyancers. The register can be accessed via the Financial Services website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. The Legal Ombudsman is the independent complaints handling body that deals with complaints made about the provision of legal services. If you are unhappy with any insurance advice you receive from us, you should raise your concerns with either of these bodies.
9 Liability
You agree that the liability of this Company, its directors, employees and agents (in contract or tort under any statute or otherwise) for any loss or damage suffered by you arising out of or in connection with the provision of our services, however the loss or damage is caused, including our negligence but not wilful default, shall be limited to £2,000,000.00. We accept the benefits of this letter as agent and trustee for each of our directors, employees and agents. This letter shall not operate to exclude any liability, which by law may not be excluded or limited.
Any advice given under these Terms is provided solely for the purpose of the Engagement and to you and, without our prior written consent, may not be used for any other purpose or disclosed to any other person other than your other advisers (who may not rely on such advice).
Save as may be expressed elsewhere in these Terms, a person who is a third party to these Terms has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third parties) Act 1999 to enforce any part of these Terms.
10 Indemnity
You will indemnify us (on an after tax basis) from and against any losses, claims, demands, damages, costs, charges, expenses or liabilities (or actions, investigations or other proceedings in respect thereof) which we may suffer or incur or which may be made against us relating to or arising directly or indirectly out of or in connection with the Engagement and you will reimburse us for all the costs and expenses (including legal and professional fees) which are incurred by us in connection with investigating or defending any such claim or proceedings. This indemnity shall not however apply to the extent that the relevant loss, claim, damage, cost, charge, expense or liability resulted from our acts, omissions or negligence.
11 Terms of Business
It is this Company’s practice to obtain money on account of anticipated costs and disbursements; it is helpful if you can meet these requests promptly.
We will deliver a bill on completion of the matter unless it becomes protracted, in which case interim bills may be delivered to assist our cash flow and to enable you to budget for costs. In the event of a payment not being made we must reserve the right to decline to act any further and the full amount of costs incurred to that date, will be charged to you. Accounts must be paid upon presentation. Interest will be charged on overdue accounts at 15% per annum
You agree that we are authorised to apply any funds held on your behalf in our client account (but not those held for a specific purpose) towards the discharge of our outstanding bills.
12 Lien
We shall have a lien over all papers and property belonging to you but held by us until such time as our fees and disbursements in respect of the Engagement have been paid in full.
13 Client care
Northwood Banks & Co are committed to providing high quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any of the services you have received or about any bill we have sent you, please contact Roland Borriello on 0121 706 9811 or email to roland@northwoodbanks.co.uk or by post to 1600-
If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to look at your complaint. They can be contacted as follows:
Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton. WV1 9WJ
Tel No: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Web site: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Any complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of our final decision on your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman may not deal with a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for assessment of that bill.
The Legal Ombudsman can accept complaints up to 6 years from the date of the act/omission or 3 years from when the complainant should have known about the issue. The complainant may also refer their complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if our own complaints process has taken 8 or more weeks to complete.
14 Money Laundering
Proof of Identity
We must by law obtain satisfactory evidence of your identity and address. Please help us to do so by giving us the information and documentation we ask for. We are unable to proceed with your transaction until this has been provided.
Confidentiality
As lawyers, we are under a general professional and legal obligation to keep your affairs private. However, we are required, by current legislation, to make a report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) where we know or suspect that a transaction involves Money Laundering or Terrorist Financing. By instructing us to act on your behalf in accordance with these Terms you give us irrevocable authority to make a disclosure to NCA if we consider it appropriate.
You agree that this authority overrides any confidentiality or entitlement to legal professional privilege. We shall be unable to tell you if we have made a report.
Below is a list of documents we are able to accept as evidence of your identity and evidence of your address.
We need a photocopy of one of the documents from Group 1, plus a photocopy of one of the documents from Group 2. Please note original documents should not be sent to us through the post.
Group 1. Evidence of your identity from one of the following:
• A valid Passport
• A valid photo card driving licence
• A valid National Identity card (for non UK Citizens)
Group 2. Evidence of your address from one of the following:
• A current* Bank/Building Society statement or passbook
• A current* Utility bill (but not a mobile phone)
*Current means not more than three months old at the date on which we see the original document.
We may be carrying out electronic validation of your identification documents by means of an Anti-
It is vital that we receive the relevant documents as quickly as possible as we may not be able to proceed with your matter until we have seen these.
15 Claims against us and Professional Indemnity Insurance
If you make a valid claim against us for a loss arising out of work for which we are legally responsible, and we are unable to meet our liability in full, you may be entitled to claim from the Compensation Fund administered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (from whom details can be obtained).
We are insured through the Master Policy taken out by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers and administered by Prime Professions Ltd. Details of the insurers are available for inspection at our offices at the address shown at the end of these terms.
16 The Council of Licensed Conveyancers Code of Conduct
The professional rules applicable to this Company are contained in the Council of Licensed Conveyancers Code of Conduct which can be accessed via the Council of Licensed Conveyancers website at http://www.conveyancer.org.uk/.
17 Data protection
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 business, statutory returns, legal and regulatory compliance.
Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the the General Data Protection Regulations and our duty of confidentiality.
Full details of how we process your information can be found on our website www.northwoodbanks.co.uk/privacynotice. Printed copies are available on request.
18 Auditing of files and confidentiality
External firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks of our work. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files.
19 Intellectual property rights
You are entitled to make copies of material we create for you so far as is reasonably necessary for you to provide us with instructions but all copyright and other intellectual property rights in such material remains with us.
20 Storage of papers
You agree that we may store documents and papers electronically. After completing any matter, we may retain all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us. Subject to this, we will retain our files (except for any papers which you ask to be returned to you) for a period of six years from completion of the matter, after which time they will be destroyed.
21 Jurisdiction
These terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with English Law and each party irrevocably submits to the jurisdiction of the English Courts.
22 Termination of the Engagement
You may end your instructions to us in writing at any time, but we can keep all of your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us. We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason e.g. if you do not pay a bill of ours or a conflict of interest arisesthat prevents us from continuing to work for you.
If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our charges up to that point. These are calculated as set out in these Terms.
23 Importance of terms
Please read these Terms of Engagement because they contain important information about our costs and your rights under these Terms.
24 Commissions
In circumstances where the Firm is in receipt of commissions, we will not account to you for such commissions earned from introductions made on your behalf e.g. stockbroking or insurance commission.
I am obliged to advise you that where we have a financial arrangement with an introducer (“the Introducer”) we will pay the Introducer a sum equating to 20% of our profit costs as an introduction fee upon completion of this transaction.
Please note that this payment is made by us to the Introducer and you are not responsible for this payment in any way.
Any advice given to you by us will be independent and you are free to raise questions on all aspects of the transactions with us.
Any information disclosed by you to us will not be disclosed to the Introducer unless you consent. Where we are acting for the Introducer in the same matter and a conflict of interest arises we might be obliged to cease acting and you are free to choose another provider to carry out the transaction and are not obliged to use us.
If you have any queries relating to the above please do not hesitate to contact us.