Routine letters and routine telephone
calls made and received will be
charged in units of 1/10th of
an hour. Our charges for considering
routine letters received will
be in units of 1/20th of an hour.
Other letters and calls made and
received will be charged for on
a time basis. (If your instructions
require us to work outside normal
office hours, we reserve the right
to increase the hourly rate/s.)
On 1st May each year the hourly
rates are reviewed (to take account
of changes in our overheads) and
we will notify you in writing
of any increased rate. (If you
have any query about the revised
rates, please contact the Rajesh
Khakhar straight away.)
In acting in the purchase and
sale of leasehold properties and
properties with unregistered titles
considerably more work is involved.
It is our practice to levy an
additional minimum fee of £80
plus VAT in such cases. Similarly,
where we are instructed to complete
a transaction within 14 days of
exchange a separate charge of
a minimum of £70.00 plus
VAT will be payable in addition
to our normal fees. A separate
charge of £40.00 plus VAT
is made relation to completing
the Stamp Duty Land Transaction
Return Form in the case of purchase
transaction.
We are unable to agree with you
an alternative charging arrangement,
such as a fixed fee.
We will add VAT to our charge
at the rate that applies when
the work is done. At present,
VAT is 17.5%.
There may be certain other expenses,
including payments we make on
your behalf, such as Local Authority
Search fee, Land Registry fees,
stamp duty etc which you will
have to pay. VAT is also payable
on certain expenses.
We will inform you if any unforeseen
extra work becomes necessary -
for example, due to unexpected
complexities or difficulties or
if your requirements or the circumstances
change significantly during the
matter. We will also when possible
inform you of the estimated cost
of the extra work before incurring
extra costs.
If this firm does not complete
the work, we will charge you for
the work done and expenses incurred.
We will discuss with you how you
are to pay for our charges and
expenses.
We will need £350.00 or
such other sum as we may advise
you at the outset to enable us
to pay expenses before we start
work on the matter. We will then
pay expenses as they become due.
We may request further payments
on account of expenses and our
costs as the matter progresses.
These amounts will be shown as
paid on your final bill.
3. Bills
In relation to property transactions,
we will send you a bill for our
charges and expenses, payment
of which is due on or before completion.
If sufficient funds are available
on completion and we have sent
you a bill, we will usually deduct
our charges from the funds.
In relation to the administration
of estates, we will usually send
you a bill on account for our
charges and expenses after the
Grant of Probate has been obtained
(and every two months thereafter
during the administration of the
estate). We will also send you
a final bill for our charges and
expenses when the administration
of the estate is completed. If
we hold sufficient funds on your
behalf and we have sent you a
final bill, we will usually deduct
our charges from these funds.
In relation to other matters,
we will send you a bill for our
charges and expenses when the
work is completed or if appropriate
on an interim basis from time
to time. Where funds are held
on your behalf we have your authority
to deduct any sums due to us under
a bill whether or not funds are
held on a different matter. Payment
is due to us within 28 days of
our sending the bill to you. If
you do not pay the bill within
this time, we will charge you
interest on it at 9% per year
on a daily basis from the date
of the bill. If you have any query
about the bill, you should contact
the senior partner Rajesh Khakhar
straight away.
4.
Storage of papers and deeds
After completing the work, we are
entitled to keep all your papers
and documents while money is owing
to us. We will keep our file of
papers (except for any of your papers
which you ask to be returned to
you) for no more than six years
and on the understanding that we
have your authority to destroy the
file six years after sending you
our final bill. We will not destroy
documents you ask us to deposit
in safe custody.
We do not normally make a charge
for retrieving stored papers or
deeds in response to continuing
or new instructions to act for you.
However, we reserve the right to
make a charge based on the time
we spend on reading papers, writing
letters or other work necessary
to comply with the instructions.
5.
Termination and Cancellation rights
You may terminate your instructions
to us in writing at any time. For
example, you may decide you cannot
give us clear or proper instructions
on how to proceed, or you may lose
confidence in our work.
We are entitled to keep all your
papers and documents while money
is owing to us.
We will decide to stop acting for
you only with good reason and on
giving you reasonable notice.
If you or we decide that we will
stop acting for you, you will pay
our charges on an hourly basis and
expenses or as stated in any separate
correspondence.
If your initial instructions for
us to act for you have not been
given at a face to face meeting,
for example, by telephone, you have
the right under the Consumer Protection
(Distance Selling) Regulations 2000
to cancel those instructions without
any cost to you within seven days
of receiving these Terms and Conditions
of Engagement. You may cancel the
agreement by either delivering or
posting a note to our office canceling
your instructions. You may not however
cancel the agreement once we have,
with your permission, started to
do the work on your behalf. By signing
and returning the duplicate copy
of these Terms and Conditions of
Engagement you are agreeing that
to avoid any delay in the transaction
we may start work on your behalf
straightaway and we do not have
to wait for the cancellation period
to expire.
6. Raising
queries or concerns with us
We are confident that we will give
you a high quality service in all
respects. However, if you have any
queries or concerns about our work
for you, please take them up first
with the member of the firm having
day to day conduct of the matter.
If that does not resolve the problem
to your satisfaction or you would
prefer not to speak to that person,
then please take it up with the
contact partner. All firms of solicitors
are obliged to attempt to resolve
problems that clients may have with
the service provided. It is therefore
important that you immediately raise
your concerns with us. We value
you and would not wish to think
you have any reason to be unhappy
with us.
7 Payment
of Interest
We will account to you for interest
earned by us on cleared funds held
by us on your behalf in a separate
designated deposit account, where
such interest would be in excess
of £20.00 net of tax. We reserve
the right to charge a fee for administering
a separate designated deposit account.
Where funds are held in a general
client account the Solicitors Accounts
Rules 1998 provide for a sum in
lieu of interest to be paid unless
the amount calculated is £20.00
or less. These Rules also enable
a solicitor and a client to contract
out of the provisions for payment
of a sum in lieu of interest. We
will not pay a sum in lieu of interest
on funds held in our general client
account. By engaging us you consent
and agree pursuant to the provisions
of Rule 27 of the Solicitors Accounts
Rules 1998 to contract out of your
entitlement to the payment of a
sum in lieu of interest. If it likely
that funds provided by you are not
likely to be used immediately you
should inform us of this in writing
so that we can discuss with you
whether it is appropriate to place
the funds in a designated deposit
account and the interest less our
administration charge paid to you.
8. Commission
Where we introduce you to a lender
or other intermediary we will receive
a commission of 0.5 per cent of
the amount of loan or value of the
transaction. It is the firms policy
to retain the commission. The Solicitors’
Practice Rules 1990 (Rule 10) require
us to disclose to you the basis
of calculation of the commission
and to secure your agreement to
retain the commission. By signing
and returning the duplicate copy
of these Terms and Conditions of
Engagement you are agreeing the
basis of the commission and to our
retaining the commission.
9. Identification
Requirements
We are a regulated body and in order
to comply with money laundering
and other rules and regulations
we are obliged to check the identity
of our clients and the source of
any finance. We will need proof
of identity in the form for example
of a passport or valid driving licence
together with proof of your address
in the form for example of a utility
bill or bank statement no more then
three months old. A detailed guidance
note giving on the type of evidence
of identity that is acceptable is
available and if not already forwarded
to you can be supplied upon request.
We will need to see the original
documents and to retain copies for
our file. If you are unable or unwilling
to supply such proof of identity
to disclose the source of your funding
we will not be able to proceed and
accept any further instructions
from you.
10. Data Protection
Act 1998
We have up to date computer technology
which means information about you
will be kept on computer but only
selected members of this firm are
able to access this information.
We may use the data to provide you
with information on the products
and services the firm provides.
The Data Protection Act 1998 provides
that I inform you of this fact.
11. Agreement
Your continuing instructions will
amount to your acceptance of these
terms of business, but please sign
and date the enclosed copy of these
terms and return it to us immediately.
Then we can be confident that you
understand the basis on which we
will act for you.
We hope that by sending these terms
to you we have addressed your immediate
queries about the day-to-day handling
of your work and our terms of business.
However, if you have any queries,
please do not hesitate to contact
Rajesh Khakhar.
This is an important document which
we would urge you to keep in a safe
place for future reference.
Khakhar & Co
Solicitors Limited
I/We acknowledge receipt of your
Terms and Conditions of Engagement
the contents are noted and agreed.
Signed: …………………………………
Date:
Client
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