We aim to offer our clients quality legal services at a fair cost. We are committed to encouraging equality and diversity among clients, third parties, and employees.

We will:

(a)  communicate in plain language;

(b) explain the legal work required as the matter progresses;

(c) provide regular updates on the cost and progress of the matter;

(d) provide updates on whether the likely outcomes still justify the potential costs and risks associated with the matter whenever there is a material change in circumstances;

(e) advise you of any circumstances and risks of which we are aware or consider to be reasonably foreseeable that could affect the outcome of the matter;

(f)  notify you if any changes in the law while we are acting for you may affect the progress or likely outcome of the matter;

(g) continue to review whether alternative methods of funding are available;

(h) respond to your queries promptly;

(i)  follow our legal obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018.

Any work we do for you may have tax implications or require you to consider tax planning strategies. We may not be qualified to advise you on the specific tax implications of a matter you have instructed us to deal with or the likelihood of them arising. Therefore, you should seek your own tax advice. If you have any questions in this respect, please raise them with us immediately. If we can undertake the research necessary to answer your question, we will do so and advise you accordingly. If we cannot, we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you. We may charge you the fees incurred if we instruct specialist tax counsel on your behalf or refer the issue to tax advisers.

We will communicate with you by email, telephone, and letter. If you have a preferred method of communication, please let us know.

All emails received will undergo a virus check. Unless you withdraw consent, we will communicate with others when appropriate, but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent by email or fax.

We do not accept the service of documents by email.

 We will monitor and retain records of our calls, letters, emails, text messages, social media messages, and other communications relating to your dealings with us. We will do this for regulatory compliance, self-regulatory practices, crime prevention and detection, to protect the security of our communications systems and procedures, for quality control and staff training, and in preparation for circumstances where a record of what has been said becomes necessary.

We observe a general duty of confidentiality.

Subject to data protection legislation and our duty of confidentiality, we may share your personal data with:

 (a) third parties and others who help us provide our products and services;

(b) Companies and others providing services to us;

(c) our legal and other professional advisors, including our auditors, in the conduct of audits or quality checks on our practice;

(d) fraud prevention agencies, reference agencies, and debt collection agencies;

(e) government bodies and agencies in the UK and overseas;

(f) courts to comply with legal requirements and for the administration of justice;

(g) other parties connected with your matters;

(h) anyone else with your consent or as required by law.

It may be necessary for us to disclose information about you in circumstances other than the normal conduct of your matter, including:

 (a) In an emergency or to otherwise protect your vital interests;

(b) to protect the security or integrity of our business operations.

External firms or organisations will maintain confidentiality about files.

We use cloud storage for client files. Our cloud software provider is LEAP. LEAP’s cloud infrastructure is provided and maintained by Amazon Web Services. Amazon Web Services demonstrates a commitment to information security at every level of the organisation and complies with internationally recognised standards, the EU Data Protection Directive, the General Data Protection Regulation, and the Data Protection Act 2018.

When we act for several parties, such as spouses, family members, or business partners, we will assume that each person can give instructions on behalf of everyone else. However, we must carry out identity checks on each client before we begin work.

In the case of companies, we will accept instructions from an individual company director unless otherwise instructed in writing.

Unless otherwise agreed, each party instructing us is jointly and severally liable for the costs and disbursements.

Joint owners will receive the net proceeds of a sale equally unless you instruct us otherwise. Unless notified, we shall assume that only you are interested in those proceeds, and there are no trusts or similar in favour of third parties.

When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a limited company, we may require a director or controlling shareholder to sign a personal guarantee for our legal costs and disbursements.

We will not normally act for two or more clients in the same matter where an actual or potential conflict of interest exists between those clients. We may act for two or more clients in the same matter if a substantially common interest exists, we have explained the relevant issues and risks to each client, and they have subsequently given informed consent to us acting for all of them. We will only act in these circumstances where we are satisfied it is reasonable for us to do so, it is in the best interests of all clients, and that the benefit outweighs the risks.

In any such case, no individual within the firm will act for or be responsible for supervising work done for more than one of the clients. Appropriate safeguards will be in place to ensure each client’s confidential information is protected. If we subsequently cease acting for one of the clients, they will be required to pay the costs and disbursements incurred on their behalf up to that point.

We may pay a referral fee for work to be referred to us. If so, we will inform you in writing and tell you what fee we have paid.

The advice we give you will be independent, and we will treat you the same as any other client.

You are free to raise questions on all aspects of the transaction. Any information you disclose will be treated as confidential and will not be disclosed to the referrer or any other third party without your consent. We will not act for the referrer in connection with the same transaction in any way and you are under no obligation to instruct us in connection with the transaction.

Law firms do not usually carry out a physical inspection of the property; surveyors do this. Please make a specific request if you wish us to do this. We will not advise on the valuation of the property, the suitability of your mortgage, or any other financial arrangements. We will explain your obligations under the mortgage.

The local authority search only relates to the land being bought or mortgaged and will not cover neighbouring properties or any wider area unless specifically requested.

Unless specifically requested, we will not advise on the planning implications of a proposed purchase beyond reporting on any relevant information provided by the usual search results.

We will not advise on environmental liabilities. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will assume that you are arranging any appropriate environmental investigation. It may be necessary for us to obtain an environmental search on your behalf or on behalf of your lender. In such circumstances, we will not advise you about issues relating to the possible contamination of any land unless specifically requested by you to do so.

Please let us know if you believe the property might be located within the Church of England parish of a medieval church. We can arrange to obtain a chancel repair liability search.

We are not qualified to advise on non-legal results of any search and will only provide the actual results of such a search.

We must be vigilant in protecting our lender clients against mortgage fraud. All funds must be paid through our bank account and cannot be directly transferred to the seller. We are also obliged to report to your lender any allowances or incentives the seller gives.

All obligations under the Law Society Conveyancing Protocol are subject to overriding client confidentiality obligations and our obligation to act in your best interest.

Where we also act for a lender in the transaction, we must disclose to the lender all relevant facts relating to you, the purchase, and the loan. This includes disclosing any discrepancies between the loan application and information provided to us during the transaction. We must also disclose any cashback payments or discount schemes that a seller provides to you. If a conflict of interest arises, we must cease to act for your lender in this matter, and in some instances, we must also cease to act for you.

You may end your instructions in writing at any time, but we can keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for costs and disbursements.

We will only cease acting for you with good reason and after giving you reasonable notice. Possible reasons for terminating the retainer may include:

(a)  Failure to respond twice to requests for instructions;

(b)  Failure to respond to a request for information required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002;

(c)  Failure to comply with a request for payment on account of costs and disbursements;

(d)  Failure to pay an interim account;

(e)  A conflict of interest arises.

We also reserve the right to stop acting in the event of rude or abusive conduct directed against any staff member.

If we stop acting for you, you must pay our charges up until that point. These will be a proportion of the agreed fee.

After completing the work, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for costs and disbursements.

The retention of files varies according to the type of matter completed. For example, in the case of conveyancing, we will generally retain a purchase file for 12 years and a sale file for six years. If we know a property has been sold within 12 years of purchase, we will destroy the purchase file six years after the property’s sale date. If you require your files to be retained longer, please let us know

At the end of the retention period, the file is destroyed.

Time limits imposed by documents such as rent review dates and dates for service of a break notice under a lease are your responsibility. The firm does not take responsibility for dates occurring after a transaction is concluded. In certain circumstances, and only by express agreement with you, the firm will diarise dates.

We are not responsible for advising you of any future changes in the law that may impact you.

We will not usually charge for retrieval if we take papers out of storage due to continuing or new instructions to act for you. However, we may charge for time spent producing stored documents and work done to comply with your instructions.

We will not destroy documents deposited into safe custody.

You may be able to obtain a contribution toward the legal costs from another source including:

(a)       Legal expenses insurance through a home, vehicle, or other insurance policy. Even if you have this type of insurance, our agreement is with you and you are responsible for paying our fees. The limits and terms of your policy will be available from your insurer.

(b)       Trade union membership. The terms of any legal costs assistance will be available from your trade union.

(a)       Factors affecting costs

In some transactions, we base our costs on a value element, such as a property’s price, an estate’s size, or a financial benefit’s value. We may also consider other factors, such as the exclusive allocation of time and resources and the complexity of the matter.

The value reflects the risk and responsibility placed on the firm.

If less work is required, we will charge for the work done and disbursements incurred.

 (b) Initial costs

As we spend money on your behalf from the start of the matter, we may need to ask you for a payment on account of our costs, disbursements, and VAT. From time to time, we may ask for a top-up amount. When your matter is completed, we will return any surplus to you. If we ask for costs on account, we are not obliged to do any work until they are received.

 These amounts will appear on your final invoice.

(c) Paying the invoice

Invoices can be paid in several ways, including by cheque, bank transfer, and credit or debit cards. Cash is not accepted.

If payment is made by credit card, we may add a surcharge of 2% plus VAT. If a credit card payment cannot be made personally at our offices, we will require sufficient information to ensure that the cardholder is making the payment.

To maximise protection against fraud, we recommend you always telephone our office to confirm the bank account details before making a transfer.

(d)  Invoicing

We will send you a statement of our costs and disbursements for property and commercial transactions, payment of which is due at least five working days before completion unless otherwise arranged. If sufficient funds are available on completion and we have sent you an invoice, we will usually deduct our charges from the funds. If a matter does not proceed to completion, we will send you an invoice for our work.

For the administration of estates, we will usually send you an invoice after the grant of probate has been obtained and at intervals of one to three months during the administration of the estate. We will also send you a final invoice for our costs and disbursements when the estate administration is completed. If we hold sufficient funds on your behalf and have sent you a final or interim invoice, we will usually deduct our charges from these funds.

We will send you an invoice for other types of work when the work is completed. However, if the matter extends over several months, we reserve the right to send invoices at monthly intervals.

If you have any questions about an invoice, please contact us as soon as possible.

You may be entitled to complain about an invoice to the Legal Ombudsman or apply to the court for the invoice’s assessment.

If an interim invoice is not paid within seven days or a final invoice is not paid within 14 days, we may terminate your instructions and retain your papers until the account is settled.

If we require payment from you or others to complete your matter, we may postpone completion until we receive cleared funds. We accept no liability for any loss arising from delays in clearing funds that are not attributable to us.

We reserve the right to charge interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate.

Money held on your behalf is paid into a client account at a bank we use under our regulator’s rules.

 In some circumstances, money will be held in a designated deposit account.

 We will pay money to you by bank transfer or cheque as agreed, where reasonably possible or as we think appropriate.

 We pay interest on certain balances under our regulator’s rules. Interest on money held in a designated deposit account will be calculated at the rates of the holding bank, and tax will be deducted at source based on your tax status.

 Where we retain a balance of your money, we will return it to you on termination of instructions and completion of the matter.

 We will take all reasonable steps to keep your money safe.

The anti-money laundering guidance that UK banks and other financial services firms adhere to is issued by the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG).

 The JMLSG does not require banks to routinely identify the beneficial owners of pooled accounts held by law firms as they do with most other accounts on the proviso that this information is available on request.

 You agree to us disclosing your details to our bank if it requests information about the beneficial owners of our pooled client account. If further information or documents are required from you to identify the owners of funds held by us, you agree to provide them.