Khakhar- Terms and Conditions

Routine letters that we write, and routine telephone calls that we make and receive will be charged as units of 1/10th of an hour. Routine letters received will be charged as units of 1/20th of an hour. Other letters and calls will be charged on a time basis.
On 1st April next we will review the hourly rate/s to take account of changes in our overhead costs and notify you in writing of any increased rate.
In addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors which include the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action must be taken, the expertise or specialist knowledge which the case requires and, if appropriate, the value of the property or subject matter involved. On the basis of the information currently available, we expect these factors to be adequately covered by the hourly rates set out above. The rates may be higher if, for example, the matter becomes more complex than expected; we will notify you of this.
If you have a query about the level of any revised rates notified to you, please contact the senior partner Mr Rajesh Khakhar straightaway.
The amount of our costs which you will have to pay may be greater than the amount you can recover from another party to the case.
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 court fees, fees for medical reports and barrister's fees, which you will have to pay. VAT is payable on certain expenses.
We will inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary (for example, due to unexpected difficulties or if your requirements or the circumstances significantly change during the course of the matter). We will also inform you of its estimated cost in writing before any extra charges and expenses are incurred.
You may set a limit on the charges and expenses to be incurred. This means that you must pay those incurred up to the agreed limit without our needing to refer back to you. We will inform you as soon as it appears that the limit may be exceeded and will not exceed the limit without first obtaining your consent.
If, for any reason, this matter does not proceed to completion, we will charge you for work done and expenses incurred.
It is 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. This helps to avoid delay in the progress of their case. We will need £300.00 or such other sum as notified to you in writing on account of our charges and to enable payment of expenses before we start work on your matter. We may request further payments on account for charges and expenses to be incurred as the matter progresses. When we put these payments towards your bill/s, we will send you a receipted bill. We will offset 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 advance payments.

3. Billing arrangements
We will send you an interim bill for our charges and expenses at least usually on a monthly basis or depending on the nature of the case at the end of each quarter while the work is in progress. This enables you to budget as the matter progresses. We will send a final bill after completion of the work.
Payment is due to us within 28 days of our sending you a final bill. We will charge you interest on the bill at 9% per year, from the date of the bill, if you do not pay our bill within this time. Interest will be charged on a daily basis.
If you have any query about your bill, you should get in touch with the partner responsible for your case straight away.

4. Other party's charges and expenses
It is important that you understand that you will be responsible for paying our bill/s. We will discuss with you whether your charges and expenses might be paid by another person. Even if you are successful, the other party may not be ordered to pay all your charges and expenses or these may not be recovered from them in full; if this happens, you will have to pay the balance of our charges and expenses. If the other party is legally aided, you may not get back any of your charges and expenses, even if you win the case.
If you are successful and the court orders the other 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 the charges and expenses of seeking to recover any charges and expenses that the court orders the other party to pay.
In some circumstances, the court may order you to pay the other party's legal charges and expenses; for example, if you lose the case. The money would be payable in addition to our charges and expenses. We will discuss with you whether our charges and expenses and your liability for another party’s charges and expenses may be covered by insurance, and, if not, whether it would be advisable for you to have insurance to meet the other party’s charges and expenses.

5. 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. 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. We need the file on the understanding that we have the authority to destroy it six years after the date of the final bill we send you for this matter. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody.
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 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 the instructions given by you or on your behalf.

6. 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.
In some circumstances, you may consider we ought to stop acting for you, for example, if you cannot give clear or proper instructions on how we are to proceed, or if it is clear that you have lost confidence in how we are carrying out your work.
We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason, for example, if you do not pay an interim bill or comply with our request for a payment on account or if you do not produce satisfactory evidence of identity or for us to continue to act would put us in breach of the Money Laundering Regulations or other rules or regulations or legislation. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.
If you or we decide that we will no longer act for you, you will pay our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out earlier.

7. Communication between you and us
We are confident of providing a high quality service in all respects. If, however, you have any queries or concerns about our work for you, please raise them in the first instance with person having day to day conduct of your case. If that does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction or you would prefer not to speak to him/her, then please contact this firm's senior partner who is Mr Rajesh Khakhar.
All solicitors must attempt to resolve problems that may arise with their services. It is therefore important that you immediately raise any concerns you may have with us. We value you and would not wish to think you have reason to be unhappy with us.

8. 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.

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 note giving detailed guidance 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 or to disclose the source of any finance 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. The Data Protection Act 1998 provides that I inform you of this fact.

11. Agreement
Unless otherwise agreed, these terms of business apply to any future instructions you give us.
Your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business. Even so, we ask you to please sign and date the enclosed copy of these terms and return it to us immediately. We can then be confident that you understand the basis on which we will act for you .
This is an important document: please keep it in a safe place for future reference.