Terms & Conditions

Introduction
General Basis for Accepting Clients
Indemnity Insurance
Terms of Business
Complaints Procedure
Specific Points for the Internet
Disclaimers and Warning Notes


Introduction

Reciprocal trust, courtesy and respect are the hallmarks of the solicitor-client relationship. Within that relationship, the client looks to the solicitor for expertise, education, sound judgement, protection, advocacy and representation. Our responsibility is to supply those skills.

In return the solicitor expects the client to fulfil the following responsibilities:

1. The client is expected to treat the solicitor and the solicitor's staff with courtesy and consideration.
   
   
2. The client's relationship with the solicitor must be one of complete candour and the lawyer must be apprised of all facts or circumstances of the matter being handled by the solicitor even if the client believes that those facts may be detrimental to the client's cause or unflattering to the client.
   
   
3. The client must honour the fee arrangement as agreed with the solicitor, in accordance with law.
   
   
4. All bills for services should be paid promptly.
   
   
5. The client may withdraw from the solicitor-client relationship at any time subject to paying any outstanding bills or other charges, and, in certain circumstances, subject to court approval.
   
   
6. Although the client should expect that his or her correspondence, telephone calls and other communications will be answered within a reasonable time frame, the client should recognise that the lawyer has other clients equally demanding of the solicitor's time and attention.
   
   
7. The client should maintain contact with the solicitor, promptly notify the solicitor of any change in telephone number or address and respond promptly to a request by the solicitor for information and co-operation.
   
   
8. The client must realise that the solicitor need respect only legitimate objectives of the client and that the solicitor will not advocate or propose positions which are unprofessional or contrary to law or the Solicitor's Code of Professional responsibility.
   
   
9. The solicitor may be unable to accept a case if the solicitor has previous professional commitments which will result in inadequate time being available for the proper representation of a new client.
   
   
10. A solicitor is under no obligation to accept a client if the solicitor determines that the cause of the client is without merit, a conflict of interest would exist or that a suitable working relationship with the client is not likely.

A. General Basis for Accepting Clients

This is a general form and we accept that much of the content may not be pertinent to you, it is being posted because of our professional rules. If you are in any way concerned about any element, please do not hesitate to contact us.In accordance with current professional rules we will write to you to confirm the basis upon which our firm is acting. All work will be carried out by the person whose reference appears at the top of correspondence but in every case if it is not carried out by a partner then it will be under a partner's direct supervision.


Terms of Business

For details of our charges please contact us. Because of the high values involved in conveyancing transactions professional indemnity insurance currently costs us an average of about £100 per case even though we have a clean claims record. To help cover this we also charge a contribution towards that insurance of £50 + VAT per transaction These charges will not be varied without the client’s consent. Preparing the final bill for work done involves going through the entire file and calculating the amount of work done during its life. As this takes a substantial amount of time to do we will not normally prepare the final bill until a case is nearing completion. Clients will be aware of the progress of their case from the correspondence and the telephone updates they receive but if you need to know the ongoing cost at any particular moment please request an interim bill. The time involved in preparing such a bill will normally be in the region of 30 minutes and as all time spent on a file has to be charged for we will not normally provide ongoing cost estimates unless the client specifically requests them. (Please do remember that letters and phone calls to you are only a small part of the work we do. We will also be regularly writing to and telephoning all the other parties involved, sometimes many times a day at crucial moments in the files life ). Both Sayer Moore & Co and the Client have the right to terminate this Agreement by giving to the other notice in writing of their intention to do so.This document forms a non-contentious business agreement in accordance with section 57 or a contentious business agreement under section 59 of the Solicitors Act 1974 (in other words, this is a clear agreement between the solicitor and the client about how the costs are to be calculated ). Where there is such an agreement about how charges are to be calculated the client is not normally able to use the Law Society’s Remuneration Certificate procedure as this is designed for situations where no such agreement exists. The client therefore accepts that except in so far as the rules of the court may otherwise provide his/her right to challenge the costs by way of a Remuneration Certificate or other means are restricted in accordance with those sections.

Charge-out rates are reviewed annually on 31st December each year. These rates do not include any element of VAT or disbursements (out of pocket expenses) such as stamp duty and land registry fees which will be added to the bill.which will be added to the bill.

In some cases we ask clients to make regular payments on account of anticipated costs and disbursements. If there is any difficulty then please let me know as soon as possible. In particular, where we are acting on behalf of a client in a property purchase we will need to request a sum to cover the Local Search fee. As it can take time to check with each local council how much they currently charge for a search, for convenience's sake the sum requested will be £300.00. If the search costs less than this we will credit any balance towards the purchase. If it costs more we will ask you for the balance in due course.

Indemnity Insurance

Our basic charge for acting for you will be calculated on one of the bases as stated above. We are members of the Solicitors Indemnity Fund which means we are covered for claims arising out of your transaction and you are protected by comprehensive professional indemnity arrangements. In conveyancing matters we make a separate charge of £80.00 +VAT per standard fixed fee transaction as a contribution towards the costs of that cover. This charge will appear on your completion statement along with such items as H.M. Land Registry fees over and above the basic fee of £500.00 or £1000 as appropriate.The effect of the professional indemnity system is that while in our hands or the hands of any solicitor your money is safe and is guaranteed by all solicitors in the country through the fund.

Complaints Procedure

In the event of your having any complaint about our handling of the case then such complaint must be addressed in writing to the partner in our practice who has not been involved with your case in any way. He/She will look into your complaint and report back to you within ten days. If he/she is unable to do so within that time limit he/she will, within the time limit explain the reason for the delay, give an estimate of when he/she will be able to report and then contact you again within that estimated time.By your instructing us further in this case we will have entered into this agreement it would mean that the charge rate as set out above will be fixed and given this agreement your rights to challenge those rates will therefore be restricted. In other words this is an agreement in accordance with Sec 57 of the Solicitors Act and replaces any right to a Remuneration Certificate. For the purposes of data protection legislation please note that by instructing us you accept and agree that personal information about you will be held on our computer system.We will keep you informed from time to time as to the progress of your matter. If you have any questions on any aspect then please do not hesitate to contact us or anyone else within the relevant department at this office at any time.