BBH LEGAL SERVICES LIMITED

TERMS OF BUSINESS

LEGAL STATUS

BBH (Legal Services) Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales under number 04092584 and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. A list of the directors is available for inspection at the registered office.

BBH (Legal Services) Limited registered office is at Eastham Hall, Eastham Village, Wirral, Cheshire, CH62 0AF.

WHAT IS A LIMITED COMPANY

A limited company is an alternative to the traditional partnership model. It is a corporate structure that is an entity in its own right which can be subject to legal action. The company has to be registered at Companies House and its directors have more legal, financial and administrative responsibilities than sole traders or partnerships.

INSURANCE

BBH (Legal Services) Limited, as required under the Solicitors Regulation Authority Rules, maintains professional indemnity insurance. That insurance is with WR Berkeley Insurance (Europe) Limited of 40 Lime Street, London, EC3N 7AW. The policy number is B080124634P15.

VAT

BBH (Legal Services) Limited is registered for VAT purposes with VAT registration number 787228683.

VETTING OF FILES AND CONFIDENTIALITY

External firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your file.

SPECIALISATION

To give you the best possible service, our lawyers work in teams, which concentrate on particular areas of the law. Your lawyer can call on specialist help whenever it is needed. The person dealing with your matter is detailed on the letter accompanying these Terms of Business.

We will try to avoid changing the people who handle your work but if this cannot be avoided, we will tell you promptly of any change and why it may be necessary.

COMMUNICATION

We will let you know regularly how your case is progressing. Whenever there are material developments at your end, it is important that you let us know in writing by letter, fax or e-mail. Please quote our reference on all communications. If you wish to have a meeting with us, please first telephone our office for an appointment.

We will aim to communicate with you by such a method as you may request. We may need to virus check disks or e-mail. Unless you withdraw consent, we will communicate with others when appropriate by e-mail or fax but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent by e-mail or fax.

We will communicate with you in plain language. We will explain to you either by telephone or writing the legal work required as your matter progresses. We will update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the likely costs and risks associated with your matter whenever there is a material change in circumstances. We will update you on the likely timescales for each stage of this matter and any important changes in those estimates. We will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your matter can be refunded.

PROFESSIONAL SAFEGUARDS

As solicitors, we are required to put our client's interests first, and provide a range of safeguards, which are not available elsewhere. Anything you tell us in confidence is protected. We will not knowingly act for two people with conflicting interests. The Solicitors' Practice Rules and the Solicitors' Accounts Rules protect you. You are covered by the professional indemnity insurance that we have in place (we review every matter to make certain that it is within our cover) and the Law Society Compensation Funds. We do not make secret profits from our clients. If your case results in our receiving any commission of more than £20 (for example, from an insurance broker or stockbroker) we will account to you for the commission unless you say we can keep it. BBH Legal Services Ltd is committed to promoting quality and diversity in all of its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.

INSURANCE MEDIATION

We are not authorized 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 Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be accessed via the Financial Services Authority website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.

DATA PROTECTION AND CONFIDENTIALITY

We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including updating and enhancing client records, analysis to help us manage our practice statutory return legal and regulatory compliance. Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 1998 and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you. We may from time to time send you information which we think might be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive that information please notify our office in writing.

External firms or organisations may conduct audit or undertake quality checks on our practice. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files.

We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, solicitors may be required by statute to make a disclosure to the Serious Organised Crime Agency where they know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working on your matter for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why.

INTRODUCERS

Some clients are introduced to us by other organisations. Our advice is entirely independent and you are free to raise questions on all aspects of the matter. We will not pass on to any introducer any information you give us, unless you consent. If we act for the introducer in the same matter and a conflict of interest arises, we might be obliged to cease acting.

DISTANCE SELLING

We have not met with you, so the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply to this file. This means you have the right to cancel your instructions to us within seven working days of receiving this letter. You can cancel your instructions by contacting us by post or by fax to this office. Once we have started work on your file, you may be charged if you then cancel you instructions. If you would like us to commence work on your file within the next seven working days, please: sign these terms and conditions and return them to us.

OUR CHARGING POLICY

Wherever possible, we operate on a fixed fee basis. However, for non-residential transactions or if the exact nature and extent of the work is not clear at the outset, it may not be possible to accurately predict a fixed fee.

Our professional rules indicate that we must give you clear information about costs. This will be included in our initial engagement letter. If you have not received this please let me know. This may also be the case where the work turns out to be complex or if you require the transaction to be expedited outside of our usual procedures.

In any of these circumstances, we shall give you the best indication we can as to our charging rates and how they are to be calculated. We are always prepared to discuss a ceiling figure with you and not to exceed it without your agreement.


Please remember:

We will require a payment in advance from you in respect of any search fees payable on your transactions.

Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses on behalf of clients ranging from Land Registry or Probate fees and so on. We have no obligation to make such payments unless you have provided us with funds for that purpose. We refer to such payments generally as "disbursements".

BANK TRANSFER CHARGE

We describe our Bank Charges as a Legal Fee not as a disbursement. The reason for this is that we have professional and administration charges associated with the Telegraphic Transfer. The Transfer of monies is undertaken by our office on behalf of the Bank accordingly reduced their charge for the transfer but we have administration and IT charges which we must cover. The legal fees for the transfer are therefore as follows:-

Arranging the transfer of monies to the sellers solicitors bank inc VAT £34.50.
(This fee includes an element of charge made by our Bank in the amount of £5.00.)

LOCAL AUTHORITY INDEMNITY (REMORTGAGE ONLY)

Your lender requires that we carry out a Local Authority Search or obtain a suitable Insurance Indemnity. This is for the benefit of the lender. As you are remortgaging your property we would not normally advice you to update your local authority search but your lender does require such. The insurance indemnity we have been able to locate is LIS Ltd. The insurance is acceptable to your lender. The cost of such is:-

Standard Insurance Cost £10.00
Our Professional Charge for administration £75.00
(including VAT at 15%)
Total cost £85.00

Alternatively you can obtain your own search at a cost of approximately £150.00 estimate which may vary between Local Authorities. Please contact us if you prefer to obtain your own immediately.

OUR LIABILITY

Our liability to you for breach of you instructions shall be limited. We will not be liable for any consequential, special, indirect or exemplary damages, costs or losses or any damages, costs or losses attributable to lost profits or opportunities. We can only limit our liability to the extent the law allows. Please ask if you would like us to explain any of the terms above.

PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS

In Will transactions we will normally send you our bill with the Engrossed Will.

Payment is due to us upon receipt by you of our bill. We reserve the right to charge interest on a daily basis at 4% over NatWest Bank Plc's base rate from time to time from the date of the bill.

CASH PAYMENTS

In accordance with money laundering legislation it is necessary for us to indicate to you that we are not in a position to be able to accept payments in cash in excess of two hundred pounds. If you are likely to have to make such a payment then there are alternative methods, which we can assist you in relation to making such payments. Please contact the lawyer acting for you to discuss what would be most appropriate in the circumstances.

MONEY LAUNDERING PRECAUTIONS

Like all firms solicitors, we are now required by law to apply procedures to guard against the risk of money laundering. It will help us to avoid any problems with your legal work if you bear in mind the following points.

a) Identification checks:

We will need to obtain formal evidence of your identity. This may be necessary even though we have acted for you before, or even if you are known personally to a member of staff. We will tell you what type of evidence if necessary, but it will help us if you able to send the required evidence when you return the forms.

b) Source of funds:

At the start of any matter we will ask you to complete the enclosed Sources of Funds, Declaration Forms, which tells us, the source of any funds you will be using. It is simplest for us if the source is an account, in your name, in a UK bank or building society. If the source is an unusual one, such as an account in another country, or in the name of someone other than yourself, please complete this section on the enclosed form letting us know as early as possible, including the reason.

c) Destination of funds. (If applicable)

Where we are to pay money out to you, we will normally do so by cheque in your favour, or into an account in your name. If instead you want us to pay surplus money out into the name of someone other than yourself please tell us as early as possible, including the reason.

TRANSFERRING MONEY

You should be aware that criminals are actively targeting solicitors and their clients to try to persuade them to send their money transfers to accounts other than those intended. If you ever receive a telephone call or email asking you to send money to an account other than the one originally specified please ensure that you speak to your case handler directly on the telephone number provided by ourselves to confirm the validity of the request.

INTEREST PAYMENT

When 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.

IDENTITY AND DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

We are entitled to refuse to act for you if you fail to supply appropriate proof of identity for yourself or for any principal whom you may represent.

Solicitors are not allowed to disclose information about a client's affairs without the client's authority. By signing these terms and conditions of business and returning it to us, 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.

Under the Law Society rules we are required to disclose to you any financial arrangements we have with brokers who refer business to us. You will be advised of the costs involved in your transaction at the outset broken down to how much you are paying BBH Legal Services Ltd and how much you are paying the broker.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

You will provide us with clear, timely and accurate instructions. You will provide all documentation required to complete the transaction in a timely manner. You will safeguard any documents which are likely to be required for discovery.

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.

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.

After completing the work, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for our fees and expenses. We will keep our file of your papers for up to 6 years, except those papers that you ask us to be returned to you.  We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them after 6 years. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody.

TERMINATION

You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time but we will be entitled to keep all of your papers and documents whilst 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.

We may decide to stop acting for you only with good reason, e.g. if you do not pay an interim bill or there is a conflict of interest. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.

If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our charges up until that point. These are calculated on an hourly basis plus expenses as set out in your initial letter.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

We are committed to providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. If you have a complaint, please write to us with the details, addressed to our Client Care Officer, Simon Wilson who is a director of BBH Legal Services Ltd., You can contact Simon by letter, to Eastham Hall, Eastham Village, Wirral, CH62 0AF, by fax to 0151 326 2374 or by email to simonw@bbhlegal.co.uk.

If your complaint is about Simon, then please write to our Deputy Client Care Officer, Chris Lyon, Solicitor. His email address is chrisl@bbhlegal.co.uk.

Our Complaints Co-ordinator, Alison Murray, will acknowledge receipt of your complaint and arrange for it to be considered by the appropriate Manager before a response is delivered to you. Her email address is alison.murray@bbhlegal.co.uk.

Team Managers will respond to complaints about members of their team. If you are dissatisfied with the response you receive from the Team Manager, the Client Care Officer will then deal with the complaint.

The Client Care Officer will respond to complaints about Team Managers. If you are dissatisfied with the response you receive from the Client Care Officer, the Deputy Client Care officer will then deal with the complaint.

What will happen next?

  1. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will do this within 1 day of receiving your complaint.
  2. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details of your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within 3 working days of us receiving your complaint.
  3. We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within 3 working days of your reply
  4. We will then investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps:
  5. We will invite you to discuss with our Client Care Officer or the appropriate Manager and, it is hoped, resolve your complaint. We will do this within 3 working days of receiving all the details we need from the member of staff who acted for you.
  6. Within 2 working days of the discussion we will write to you to confirm what took place and any suggestions we have agreed with you.
  7. If you do not want a discussion or it is not possible, we will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include our suggestions for resolving the matter and any appropriate redress. This will happen within 5 working days of us completing the investigation.

If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

If you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ about your complaint. You should take your complaint to them within 6 years from the date of the conduct that is complained of, or 3 years from the time when you are reasonably expected to have known about it. For further information, you should telephone the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333, go to the website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

QUALITY CONTROL

As part of our quality control system we are at times required to provide the file for examination by the law society. We are required to obtain your authority to have the file looked at by such a body. If we do not hear from you to the contrary we assume you have no objections to have these quality control measures.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS

Any dispute or legal issue arising from our terms of business will be determined by the law of England, and considered exclusively by the English Courts.

Unless otherwise agreed, these Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to any future instructions given 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 for us to keep on our file.