TERMS & CONDITIONS:
Our Service
We aim to provide each of our clients with a professional and friendly legal service for fair value and hope it is helpful to set out the basis on which we will supply our professional services. At all times we will:-
EXPLAIN the legal work which is required to complete your remortgage;
KEEP YOU informed of the progress and set out the next stages of
the transaction;
TRY to avoid using technical legal language in our communications with you;
DEAL with your case and any queries promptly.
Charges and Expenses
Our remortgage legal services are charged on a fixed fee basis and we refer you to our initial engagement letter for specific details. The amount of our fee is set on a sliding scale depending on the value and complexity of your remortgage. VAT and Disbursements are added to our fee. Where applicable VAT is calculated at the prevailing rate during the period when your work is undertaken. At present the rate is 17.5 per cent.
In exceptional circumstances your remortgage may require us to provide you with advice or services beyond the scope of a conventional remortgage case. In such circumstances we will advise you immediately and provide you with a further quote for the additional work which is necessary to complete the matter. This quote may be on a time cost basis charged at our rates current at the time of your transaction.
During the course of your transaction we will have to meet various expenses in relation to your remortgage such as Land Registry Fees, Search Fees, Search Indemnity Fees and Bank Transfer Fees etc. We will have no obligation to meet such expenses unless you have provided us with the funds for that purpose. We may ask you to make a payment on account to cover these outgoings. Unless we hear from you to the contrary we will pay any required disbursements upon receipt by us of funds from you or your lender. VAT is payable on certain of these expenses.
If the property which you are remortgaging is a leasehold (or share of freehold) the managing agent or freeholder may require payment in relation to ground rent or service charge arrears and/or administrative expenses relating to the property or remortgage. It may be that we will be unable to progress your matter until you have made payment in this regard and these expenses may be significant.
If for any reason your remortgage transaction does not proceed to completion we may charge you for any aborted work undertaken and for all disbursement expenses that have been incurred by us in relation to you case. However the charge for any aborted work will be limited to 50% of the fixed fee quoted to you in the engagement letter plus all the disbursements incurred and VAT (where applicable).
We have taken out professional indemnity insurance which means that subject to policy terms we are covered for claims arising out of your transactions and you are protected by comprehensive professional indemnity arrangements. We will make a separate charge per case as a contribution towards the cost of this cover.
Communication between You and Us and Complaints
Our aim is to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service at all times. We hope that you will be pleased with the work we do for you. However if you are unhappy with any aspect of our service please raise your concern with us. We have a formal complaints procedure in place details of which are available in writing immediately on request. If you do have a complaint we will endeavour to resolve your complaint internally.
We will aim to communicate with you by such methods as you may request. Unless you withdraw consent we will communicate with others when appropriate by postal and electronic media but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent or transmitted via third party conduits. We may need to virus check email.
Confidentiality
Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep their clients affairs confidential. This obligation is subject to a statutory exception that recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering the solicitor may be required to make a money laundering disclosure. If this happens we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it because the law prohibits “tipping-off”. These provisions further require us to take steps to confirm the identity of you as our client and we make a charge as a contribution towards our expenses in this regard.
Data Protection
The Data Protection Act 1998 requires us to advise you that your details are held on our database. Any relevant information that we hold will be dealt with in accordance with this Act. Unless you request us not to do so in writing we may from time to time use these details to send you relevant information which we think might be of interest to you.
Dispersal of funds
Please note that if any payments are made on your behalf in excess of £5,000 they will be made by same day CHAPS transfer and each such payment will incur a fee. Payments below £5,000 will be made by cheque or BACS Transfer and ordinarily take 3-5 days to be received.
Hours of Business
The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.00a.m. and 5.30p.m. on weekdays. Messages can be left on the voice-mail outside those hours and appointments can be arranged at other times when necessary.
Interest Payment
In relation to monies held on client account we do not in the ordinary course pay interest on sums held on account for one week or less. The Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 1998 set out amongst other things provisions relating to interest. If you would like us to provide a copy of the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules please let us know. In relation to monies held on account for periods exceeding 7 days we invite you to contract out of the provisions of the Solicitors Accounts Rules 1998 and will treat your written acceptance of these terms and conditions as effective contracting out thereby waiving your right to receive interest. If you would like to discuss interest on funds held on client account please let us know.
Limit of Retainer
In representing you for your remortgage our principle work is to verify that your property provides satisfactory security under the conditions of your new mortgage for the benefit of your new lender, that this security is perfected and that (where applicable) your previous mortgage is redeemed. We limit our retainer to carrying out only this work and do not advise on any other matters. Specifically we do not advise you as to the terms and conditions of your new mortgage or the suitability there of the terms and conditions you may have agreed with any financial intermediaries or other third parties.
Additionally we cannot offer tax advice in relation to your transaction and the implications thereof and we do not certify to you that the property that you are remortgaging has good and marketable title.
Outsourcing of Work
Various services that we provide to you such as our web based case tracker are outsourced to third parties and this creates a risk to the confidentiality of your documents and affairs. We cannot accept any liability for breaches by third parties in this regard.
Payment Arrangements
We will send you our full bill at the time your remortgage completes and where applicable we will deduct the amount of our bill from the proceeds of the remortgage prior to disbursing any balance to you. If you have agreed to pay a financial intermediary a fee in relation to your remortgage we may also remit their fee from the proceeds of the remortgage.
However if payment of our bill remains outstanding for 28 days or more interest will be charged on a daily basis at 4 per cent over Barclays Bank plc base rate from time to time.
When you obtain borrowing from a lender in a remortgage transaction we will ask the lender to arrange that the funds are received by us a minimum of two working days prior to the completion date. If the money can be sent to us by same day telegraphic transfer we will request that we receive it on the business day prior to completion. This will enable us to ensure that the necessary funds are available in time for completion. You should be aware that in most cases your lender will charge interest from the date of dispatch of funds and you will be responsible for this expense.
Storage of Documents
We keep our file of papers in relation to your case (except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to you) for no more than 6 years and we keep the file on the understanding that we have the authority to destroy it 6 years after the date of the final bill for this matter.
If we retrieve papers or documents from storage 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 party 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 in connection with any file retrieval.
The Remortgage Solicitors
The Remortgage Solicitors is a trading style of Watsons Law LLP. Any reference made by us in correspondence to a ‘partner’ of the Remortgage Solicitors is intended to describe the position held by a member of the LLP.
Termination of Instructions
You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents whilst there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. In some circumstances you may consider that we ought to stop acting for you. For example if you cannot give clear or proper instructions as to how we are to proceed or if it is clear that you have lost confidence in how we are carrying out our work.
We may decide to stop acting for you but will only do so with good reason. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you. If you or we decide that we will no longer act for you then you must pay our charges as set out in the Charges and Expenses section above.
Terms and Conditions
Although your continuing instructions in this matter amount to acceptance of these Terms and Conditions it may not be possible for us to start work on your behalf until a copy of our Terms and Conditions has been signed by you and returned to us.
I have read and accept the terms and conditions above
