Terms Of Business

Introduction

We are a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England and Wales under Registration Number OC333138. The Registered Address is 30 Greek Street, Stockport, Cheshire, SK3 8AD. Our Registered VAT number is 157350662. Please note that when we refer to “a Partner” or “Partners” of sas daniels LLP, the term “Partner” indicates a member of sas daniels LLP or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications. A list of members of the LLP is available from the registered address, together with a list of those non members who are designated as partners. It should not be construed as indicating that the members of sas daniels LLP are carrying on business in partnership for the purposes of the Partnership Act 1890.

Our Aim

We aim to offer our clients high quality legal advice with a personal service at a fair cost. As a start, we hope it is helpful to you to set out in this statement the basis on which we will provide our professional services.

Equality And Diversity

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of our dealings with clients, third parties and employees, and are required to produce a written equality and diversity policy. Please contact us if you would like us to send you a copy of that equality and diversity policy.

Our Commitment To You

We will:

REPRESENT your interests and keep your business confidential.

EXPLAIN to you the legal work which may be required and the prospects of a successful outcome.

MAKE SURE that you understand the likely degree of financial risk which you will be taking on.

ADVISE YOU if any form of alternative funding (including public funding) might be available to you.

KEEP YOU regularly informed of progress or, if there is none, when you are next likely to hear from us. If you require regular reporting this will be agreed with you at the outset.

TRY to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you.

DEAL with your queries promptly, for example, we will always try to return your telephone calls on the same day.

Our Hours Of Business

The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.00am and 5.30pm on weekdays. Messages can be left on the answerphone, voicemail or by email outside those hours and appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential.

Charges And Expenses

Unless we have agreed an alternative basis of charging or a fixed fee in the Letter, our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually spent by the solicitors and other staff in respect of any work which they do on your behalf. This will include meetings with you and perhaps others, reading and working on papers, correspondence, including e-mails, preparation of any detailed costs calculations, and time spent travelling away from the office when this is necessary. From time to time we may arrange for some of this work to be carried out by persons not directly employed by this firm.

Routine letters written and incoming letters requiring consideration are charged as 6 minute units of time and we charge for the time spent on making and taking telephone calls in 6 minute units.

The current hourly rates are set out in the Letter. We will add VAT at the rate that applies when the work is done.
These hourly rates have to be reviewed periodically to reflect increases in overhead costs and inflation. If a review is carried out before this matter has been concluded, we will inform you of any variation in the rate before it takes effect.

In addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors including any need to carry out work outside our normal office hours, the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action has to be taken, any particularly specialist expertise which the case may demand. In particular, in property transactions, in the administration of estates and in matters involving a substantial financial value or benefit to a client, a charge reflecting, for example, the price of the property, the size of the estate, or the value of the financial benefit may be considered. It is not always possible to indicate how these aspects may arise but on present information we would expect them to be sufficiently taken into account in the rates which we have quoted. Where a charge reflecting any value element is to be added we will explain this to you.

Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses on behalf of clients ranging from Land or Probate Registry fees, to court fees, experts’ fees, and so on. We have no obligation to make such payments on your behalf 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 are able to meet the majority of your printing requirements in-house. When we provide these services ourselves the costs will be itemised separately. When it is necessary for us to use outside suppliers, their charges will be included in our bill as a separate expense item.

If, for any reason, work on any matter conducted on your behalf is not finalised we reserve the right to charge you for work done and expenses incurred based upon the hourly rate set out in the Letter.
Payment Arrangements

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 for 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.

Other cases or transactions:- Unless otherwise agreed in the Letter we will render invoices to you monthly in arrears.

It is also normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and expenses which are expected in the following weeks or months. We find that this helps clients in budgeting for costs as well as keeping them informed of the legal expenses which are being incurred. If such requests are not met with prompt payment, delay in the progress of a case may result. In the unlikely event of any bill or request for payment not being met, this firm must reserve the right to stop acting for you further. When we put these payments towards your bill(s), we will send you a receipted bill. We will off-set any such payments against your final bill, but it is important that you understand that your total charges and expenses may be greater than any advanced payments.

Payment is due to us within 28 days of our sending you a bill. Interest will be charged on a daily basis at 8% per annum from the date of the bill in cases where payment is not made within 28 days of delivery by us of the bill.

We are required to issue our bill in the name of the client who instructs us, even if the bill is being paid by a third party. If VAT is chargeable on a bill to that client, irrespective of whether it would be chargeable on a bill to that third party, we are obliged to charge VAT on the bill. We are happy to discuss the VAT position of non UK clients separately.
Other Parties’ Charges And Expenses

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 or may not be able to pay all the charges and expenses which you incur with us. You have to pay our charges and expenses 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 legal aid no costs are likely to be recovered.

If you are successful and a court orders another party to pay some or all of your charges and expenses, 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 or expenses 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.

A client who is unsuccessful in a court case may be ordered to pay the other party’s legal charges and expenses. That money would be payable in addition to our charges and expenses. It may be possible to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses. Please discuss this with us if you are interested in this possibility.
Funds Held By Us

Any money received on your behalf will be held in our Client Account. Subject to certain minimum amounts and periods of time set out in the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 1998, interest will be calculated and paid to you at the rate from time to time payable on Royal Bank of Scotland plc Corporate Money Market account. Such interest will usually be paid to you without deduction of tax.

We will not be liable to you should any funds of yours or money received on your behalf be lost as a result of the failure or insolvency of our bank or any other event beyond our reasonable control.

Where we are holding money for you, on account or otherwise, we may use this money towards payment or part payment of any invoices submitted by us which remain outstanding from you. We will advise you of when this is being done.

We are not obliged to hold your funds in a high interest account.

Should you transfer funds to us prior to your identity being verified (see below) we may be unable to return those monies to you or to pay them to any third party without the prior consent of the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA).

The period for which interest will be paid will normally run from the date(s) on which cleared funds are received by us until the date(s) of issue of any cheque(s) from our Client Account.

Where a client obtains borrowing from a lender in a property transaction, we will ask the lender to arrange that the loan cheque is received by us a minimum of seven working days prior to the completion date. If the money can be telegraphed, 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 the lender may charge interest from the date of issue of their loan cheque or the telegraphing of the payment.

At the end of our retainer any sums due to you will be paid by cheque (or equivalent) but not in cash and will not be made payable to a third party.

Identity, Disclosure and Money Laundering

As an organisation we are bound by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and corresponding Money Laundering Regulations (together “the Regulations”).

As part of the Regulations we are required to verify your identity before undertaking any work on your behalf. We are obliged to refuse to act for you if we are unable to obtain appropriate proof of identity for yourself or for any principal whom you may represent. You agree that whenever we deem it appropriate we may obtain such proof by utilising on-line ID verification services provided by third party agencies.

Except as authorised or required by statute Solicitors are not allowed to disclose information about a client’s affairs without the client’s authority. By accepting these Terms and Conditions of Business you authorise us to disclose to the other parties in the transaction and, if applicable, to all other parties in the chain of transactions and their agents and advisers, all information which we have in relation to your involvement in the transaction including any related sale or mortgage and other financial arrangements and wishes as to dates for exchange and completion. You may withdraw this authority at any time but if you do so you should appreciate that we will inform the other party or parties and their agents or advisers that this authority has been withdrawn.

Our policy is only to accept cash up to £500. If clients circumvent this policy by depositing cash direct with our Bank we reserve the right to charge for any additional checks we deem necessary regarding the source of the funds.

We will not be liable for any loss, damage or delay arising out of the firm’s compliance with any statutory or regulatory requirement.

Investments

Sometimes our work involves investments. We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority and so may refer you to someone who is authorised to provide any necessary advice. However, we can provide certain limited services in relation to investments, provided they are closely linked with the legal services we are providing to you, as we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

If you have any problem with the services we have provided for you then please let us know. We will try to resolve any problem quickly and operate an internal complaints handling system to help us to resolve the problem between ourselves. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then the Solicitors Regulaion Authority and the Legal Complaints Service provide complaints and redress mechanisms.


The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 but reponsibility for regulatoin and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal Complaints Service is the independent complaints handling body of the Law Society.

Insurances

As stated above this firm is not authorised by the Financial Services Authority (“FSA”). However we are included in the register maintained by the FSA so that we can 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 Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be accessed via the FSA web site at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.

The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, but responsibility for regulation and complaints handling has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal Complaints Service is the independent complaints handling body of the Law Society.

We might occasionally recommend or arrange insurance policies on behalf of our clients if this is necessary for the proper provision of our legal services. Although we will take reasonable steps to ensure that any recommendation we make is suitable for your needs, it will not necessarily result in a fair analysis of the market because the provision of the Insurance Mediation Service (as it is called) is secondary to the provision of our main service and there is no separate charge for this undertaking. We only select products from a limited number of insurers but are not contractually obliged to conduct business this way. Details of insurance undertakings with which the firm conducts business are available upon request.

Confidentiality Data Protection and Disclosure

As noted above, like all solicitors,we are under a strict professional duty of confidentiality to you in respect of your matters. The only exceptions to this are when you authorise us to disclose information, where we are required to make a disclosure under applicable regulations or legislation (for example under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and associated Regulations), by way of Court Order, or where the information is already within the public domain. If we were to make a claim under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in respect of client money on your behalf we will need, subject to your agreement, to provide certain information to the FSCS to help them identify you and the amounts to which you are entitled.

All your information will be dealt with in accordance with our obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

You agree that we are authorised to disclose that you are a client of this firm, that we have acted for you on any matter where information on that matter is in the public domain and on any other matter where you consent to such disclosure.

We will use your personal information for marketing our services, providing you with legal updates and profiling your legal and professional requirements. We will disclose your information to the various divisions of this firm. We may keep your information for a reasonable period to contact you about our services in the future.

As stated above it may be necessary to outsource work such as photocopying. Whilst we will always try to ensure client confidentiality is preserved in such circumstances you should be aware that this may be outside our control. Unless you advise us to the contrary we will assume that you consent to the outsourcing of work where necessary.

Quality Standards

We are accredited by the Legal Services Commission and also holds the Law Society’s Quality Assurance Standard, LEXCEL, and Investors In People. Such accreditations require a quality system to be in place which guarantees the highest levels of service to clients.

In order for the firm to be properly assessed for accreditation it is necessary for certain files of clients to be made available to the assessing body for review. As the firm owes you a duty of confidentiality we consider it proper to inform you of the possibility of files relating to your affairs being disclosed to the assessing body as part of the review process. Files are randomly selected for review. The assessing body will not, of course, disclose any information contained in those files to any third party. The assessing body is only concerned to ensure that your affairs receive the level of attention appropriate to our quality system.

You are free to inform us that you do not wish files relating to your affairs to be disclosed and indeed you may refuse to give your consent at any time without reason. A refusal of consent will not affect in any way the quality of the work we carry out on your behalf.

Unless and until you inform us that you are not content to have files disclosed we will assume that you consent to files relating to your affairs being selected for review.

Electronic Communication And The Internet

We will be pleased to discuss with you ways of setting up electronic communications links with us.

In the absence of your written instructions to the contrary, we may from time to time communicate with you electronically via the internet. Although the majority of internet messages reach their destination safely you will be aware that the internet is neither private nor secure nor are there service guarantees for correct message routing or promptness of delivery. Electronic communications also introduce a risk of computer viruses causing system failure. Consequently we can accept no responsibility for any claims, costs, damages, losses awards or other liability incurred by or made against you and arising directly or indirectly as a result of the use of the internet.

Storage of Papers and Documents

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 expenses. In addition, we will keep your file of papers for you in storage either as a physical or electronic file for not less than one year. After that, storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy it 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 of course destroy any documents such as Wills, Deeds, and other securities, which you ask us to hold in safe custody. 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 retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally 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. We may also charge for reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.

Copyright In Documents

Original materials which we generate for our clients are protected by copyright which belongs to us. The fee you pay for our work gives you an implied licence to make use of those documents for the purposes for which they were obtained and for all reasonably associated purposes. You do not, however, obtain ownership of the copyright in our work products unless we specifically agree to this in writing.

Limitation Of Liability

In certain circumstances there may be a risk that we will be prejudiced as a result of your arrangements with other advisors to limit their liability to you. This could arise where we are one of several professionals advising you when you have agreed a limitation of liability with another of your advisors. If this occurs in circumstances where we would otherwise be jointly and severally liable with those other advisors for a claim you agree that our position will not be adversely affected by the limitation of that other advisors potential liability. In other words, our liability to you will not exceed the net amount for which we would have been liable after deducting the amounts which the other advisor would have been liable to us in contribution proceedings if the limitation of their liability had not been agreed with you.

We ask you to advise us as early as possible if you have agreed or are likely to agree a limitation of the liability of your other professional advisors where we are also acting for you.

Unless otherwise agreed between us in writing, our aggregate liability, whether to you or any third party, of whatever nature whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, for any losses whatsoever and howsoever caused arising from or in any way connected with the provision of services to you shall not exceed £3m (three million pounds). However nothing in these provisions shall exclude or restrict any liability arising from fraud or dishonesty or any other liability which by law cannot be excluded or restricted.
Termination

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 we decide to stop acting for you, for example if you do not pay an interim bill or comply with the request for a payment on account, we will tell you the reason and give you notice in writing.

Under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, for some non-business instructions, you may have the right to withdraw, without charge, within seven working days of the date on which you asked us to act for you. However, if we start work with your consent within that period, you lose that right to withdraw. Your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business will amount to such a consent. If you seek to withdraw instructions, you should give notice by telephone, e-mail or letter to the person named in these Terms of Business as being responsible for your work. The Regulations require us to inform you that the work involved is likely to take more than 30 days.

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 on an hourly basis and expenses as set out earlier.

Tax Advice

Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning strategies. We may not be qualified to advise you on the tax implications of a transaction that you instruct us to carry out, or the likelihood of them arising. If you have any concerns in this respect, please raise them with us immediately. If we can undertake the research necessary to resolve the issue, we will do so and advise you accordingly. If we cannot, we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you.

If You Have A Complaint

Our aim is to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service at all times. We are proud to be holders of Lexcel and Investor in People accreditation as well as holding a franchise with the Legal Services Commission. Our clients and our staff are of first importance to us. We hope that you will be pleased with the work we do for you. However, should there be any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy, please raise your concern in the first place with the fee earner or partner with whom you have been dealing. Should he or she not be able to resolve matters with you, you should contact the Head of Department or Supervisor identified in the Letter. If matters still remain unresolved you should contact our Client Care Partner; Nigel Haddon. You can write to him at sas daniels LLP, 30 Greek Street, Stockport, Cheshire, SK3 8AD, phone him on 0161 475 7610 or email nigel.haddon@sasdaniels.co.uk. He will advise you of details of the firm’s complaints procedure and the steps which will be followed. If you remain unhappy with the outcome of your complaint then we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who also provide a Complaints Redress Scheme.
Assignment and Third Parties

This agreement and all rights under it may be assigned by sas daniels LLP.

Except as stated in these terms neither you or us intend any term of our agreement to be enforceable by any third party.

Terms And Conditions Of Business

Unless otherwise agreed, and subject to the application of then current hourly rates, these Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.

We may, by one month’s written notice to you, modify these terms from time to time to reflect our current practice and/or changes to professional and other regulatory requirements which we are obliged to meet.

Although your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business, it may not be possible for us to start work on your behalf until one copy of them has been returned to us for us to keep on our file.