Terms and Conditions

1. Our Aim

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

2. 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 legal aid or other assistance might be available to you.
• INFORM YOU regularly of progress or, if there is none, when you are next likely to hear from us.
• AVOID using technical legal language when writing to you if at all possible - tell us when we fail in this aim!
• DEAL with your queries promptly, for example, we will always try to return your telephone calls on the same day and if this should not be possible on the next working day.

3. Out of Hours Business

The Abergavenny office is open between 9.00am and 5.30pm on weekdays. The Crickhowell office is open between 9.00am and 5.00pm on weekdays and closes at lunchtime between 1.00pm and 2.00pm. Messages can be left on the answerphone outside those hours, or sent by fax or e-mail. Appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential.

4. People Responsible For Your Work

Please refer to the letter accompanying this agreement.

5. How You Can Help Us

• Give us clear instructions.
• Tell us if you have any important time limits.
• Make sure that we have understood each other correctly. Ask if you are not sure about anything.
• Deal promptly with any questions that arise.
• Keep in regular touch. Don’t feel afraid to ask for a progress report if you are worried about anything or do not hear from us when you expect to.
• Help us plan our working day. Unless it is urgent write to us rather than telephone. Make an appointment if you want to see someone. Please avoid unnecessary calls and appointments - these can only add to the costs.

6. Charges and Expenses

• At the outset we will discuss how costs and expenses are to be met and whether some form of Conditional Fee Agreement (“no win, no fee”) would be appropriate. You may already have insurance cover for this or be entitled to help from some other organisation.
• We will give you the best information we can as to the likely cost either by agreeing a fixed fee with you, giving you an estimate of costs or giving the best indication we can at that stage of the likely costs.
• Where we have given you a specific estimate of costs of a particular transaction we expect to be able to keep to that figure but if any matters arise which cause unexpected additional work we do reserve the right to amend that estimate. Should this become necessary we will write to you immediately.
• In all other cases our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually and necessarily spent by the solicitors and other staff in respect of any work which they do on your behalf and/or the value of the transaction. This will include meetings with you and perhaps others, reading and working on papers, correspondence, telephone calls, preparation of any detailed costs calculations, and time spent travelling away from the office when this is necessary.
• Routine letters are charged as 6 minute units of time and we charge for the time spent on making and taking routine telephone calls in 6 minute units and considering incoming letters at units of 3 minutes per page. Longer telephone calls may be specifically timed and charged accordingly.
• Details of our current hourly rates for this work (if it is to be charged on this basis) are set out in the accompanying letter. We will add VAT to those at the rate that applies when the work is done. At present VAT is 15%.
• These hourly rates have to be reviewed periodically to reflect increases in overhead costs and inflation. Normally the rates are reviewed with effect from 1 January each year. 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 matters involving court proceedings, if your case is unsuccessful, or you are successful but the court does not make a costs order against your opponent, we may be prepared to charge you at such discounted rate as may be set out in the accompanying letter . Letters and telephone calls will be charged as above on the basis of the discounted hourly rate and any interim bills will be calculated at the discounted rate.
• Solicitors have to pay out various expenses on behalf of clients ranging from Land or Probate Registry fees, court fees, experts’ fees, and so on. We have no obligation to make such payments 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”.
• Sometimes conveyancing/family/probate/company 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 Law Society.
• If, for any reason, this matter does not proceed to completion, we will be entitled to charge you for work done and expenses incurred to the end of our instructions.

8. Payment Arrangments

• 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 on a sale at completion. If sufficient funds are available on completion of a sale and we have sent you a bill, we will deduct our charges and expenses from those 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. It is normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and disbursements which have been incurred or 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. Failure to pay promptly may delay progress of the matter. If any bill or request for payment is not met, we reserve the right to stop acting for you further.
• Payment is due to us within 28 days of our sending you a bill. Interest will be charged on a daily basis at the judgment debt rate as set by the County Court from the date of the bill in cases where payment is not made within that period.

9. 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 to pay all the charges and expenses which you incur with us or may not have the means to pay. 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. Arrangements can sometimes be made to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses. We will discuss this with you if we think it appropriate.

10. Interest Payments

• Any money received on your behalf will be held on 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 Barclays Bank plc’s Business Reserve Accounts. The period for which interest will be paid will normally run from the date(s) on which 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 4 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.

11. Storage of Paper 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 for not less than 1 year. After that, storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy it after such period as we consider reasonable without further notification to you, 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 that will 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 someone else at your request including reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.

12. Status Disclosure

• We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority. However, we are included on the register maintained by the Financial Services Authority 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 Law Society. The register can be accessed via the Financial Services Authority website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register/home.do

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

14. 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.

15. Communication Between Us and You

• 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, should there be any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy and which you cannot resolve with the member of the firm immediately involved, you should raise it with David Vaughan in our Abergavenny Office. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem then we are regulated by the Law Society which provides a complaints and redress scheme. If you are still not satisfied, you can get help from the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors. Ask us for their leaflet “What to do if you are dissatisfied with your solicitor” or telephone them on 01926 820082.

16. Money Laundering

• In order to comply with the law on money laundering, we need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as practicable. We should be grateful, therefore, if you would provide us with documents to verify your identity and address as set out on the attached sheet.
• Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory exception: recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency. 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 the reasons for it.
• Our firm’s normal policy is not to accept cash from clients of more than £1,000. 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.

17. Agreement

• In order to comply with the law on money laundering, we need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as practicable. We should be grateful, therefore, if you would provide us with documents to verify your identity and address as set out on the attached sheet.
• Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory exception: recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency. 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 the reasons for it.
• Our firm’s normal policy is not to accept cash from clients of more than £1,000. 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.

18. 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 give by you to this firm.
• 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 to keep on our file.

I confirm I have read and understood, and I accept, these Terms and Conditions of Business.

Signed………………………………………………… Date……………………………..Ref: