Probate

Terms of business

Our aim
Our commitment to you
Our hours of business
Charges and expenses
Payment arrangements
Other parties' charges and expenses
People responsible for your work
Equality and diversity
Communication between you and us
Identity and disclosure requirements
Data protection/quality standards
Outsourcing of work
Financial services
Insurance mediation
Payment of commissions
Interest payment
Tax advice
Vetting of files and confidentiality
Termination
Limited companies
Storage of papers and documents
Financial arrangements with clients
Acceptance of these terms

1. Our aim

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

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 might be available to you.
KEEP YOU regularly informed of progress or, if there is none, when you are next likely to hear from us.
TRY to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you – 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.
ADVISE you on tax matters, but only if specifically requested to do so. .

3. Our Hours of business

The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 8.30am and 5.30pm on weekdays. Messages can be left on the voicemail of either your advisor or of the firm outside those hours and appointments or home visits can be arranged at other times when this is essential.

4. Charges and expenses

Our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually spent by the solicitors and other staff in respect of any work which they do on your behalf. This will include meetings with you and perhaps others, reading and working on papers, correspondence, including e-mails, preparation of any detailed costs calculations, and time spent traveling away from the office when this is necessary. It will also include any time spent in relation to our obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations. From time to time we may arrange for some of this work to be carried out by persons not directly employed by this firm. You will be charged at rates not greater than those shown on our client care letters. The person responsible for the day to day handling of your work will be able to give you an approximate indication of the amount of fees incurred at any given time, and discuss any other factors which may affect the final fee. The charge for our time includes the normal cost of using other resources such as telephones, photocopiers, facsimiles, etc.
Routine letters are charged as 6 minute units of time and we charge for the time spent on making and taking telephone calls in 6 minute units and considering incoming letters at units of 6 minutes.
Unless advised to the contrary, i.e. when an estimate is sent for a conveyancing transaction - the current hourly rates of the person dealing with your matter are set out in the client care letter. We will add VAT to these at the rate that applies when the work is done. At present, VAT is 17.5%.
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 May 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 addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors including any need to carry out work outside our normal office hours, the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action has to be taken, any particularly specialist expertise which the case may demand. In particular, in property transactions, in the administration of estates and in matters involving a substantial financial value or benefit to a client, a charge reflecting, for example, the price of the property, the size of the estate, or the value of the financial benefit may be considered. Where a charge reflecting any value element is to be added we will explain this to you.
Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses on behalf of clients ranging from Land or Probate Registry fees, to 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’. We normally request payment in advance for expected disbursements so that we can pay them promptly. Please respond quickly as delay in providing funds may result in delay in dealing with the matter for you. Where disbursements are relatively small, we may exercise a discretion and make payments without your specific instructions. If you prefer, however, we are willing to undertake not to make such payments without reference to you, although this may cause delay.
If, for any reason, your matter does not proceed to completion, we will be entitled to charge you for work done and expenses incurred.

5. Payment arrangements

We normally ask clients to deposit an advance payment on account of fees and disbursements. We reserve the right to make the receipt of such payment a condition of our accepting instructions.
A member of our accounts department is available to discuss payment options with you at any time.
Property transactions. We will normally send you our bill following the exchange of contracts and payment is required on a purchase prior to completion on a sale. If sufficient funds are available on completion, and we have sent you a bill, we will deduct our charges and expenses from the 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 our normal practice to ask clients to pay interim invoices which will be raised at regular intervals as work progresses. They will not necessarily cover all work done but this will be made clear to you. When sending an interim invoice any payments made on account will be shown and we may ask for further funds on account so that we can continue to work on the file. We find that this helps clients in budgeting for costs as well as keeping them informed of the legal expenses which are being incurred. If such requests are not met with prompt payment, delay in the progress of a case may result. In the unlikely event of any bill or request for payment not being met, this firm must reserve the right to stop acting for you further.
Payment is due to us within 21 days of our sending you a bill. Interest may be charged on a daily basis at 4% over our bank's base rate from time to time from the date of the bill in cases where payment is not made within 21 days of delivery by us of the bill.
In the event of payment not being made within these terms, we reserve the right to suspend work on your file where the account is unpaid and on any other matters being dealt with for you and, ultimately, to decline to represent you further. In those circumstances, final accounts will be rendered for work on all matters calculated on that date.

6. 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. 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 be made to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses. Please discuss this with us if you are interested in this possibility.
Some types of work, e.g., property purchases and settlement of large claims, may involve us in making substantial payments to third parties from the money which we hold in our client bank account. Our client account is operated in accordance with professional rules which govern payments against uncleared funds. Where money is to be paid to a third party at least four working days must be allowed for clearance of any cheques deposited with us by you or anyone on your behalf for the purpose of making such payments. In many cases, it will be both cheaper and more convenient for you to arrange for funds to be sent to us by telegraphic transfer and we will advise you when this is appropriate..

7. People responsible for your work

Will be detailed in our client care letter. 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.
There will always be a partner of this firm with final responsibility for work done on your behalf.

8. Equality and diversity

This firm is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of its dealing with clients, third parties and employees (please contact us for a copy of our equality and diversity policy).

9. Communication between you and us

Our aim is to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service at all times. We are proud that we hold the accreditation ISO 9001:2000 and our clients and our staff are of first importance to us. 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, please raise your concern in the first place with the person dealing with the matter or head of the department which is dealing with your case. If you still have queries or concerns, please contact the Partner responsible for the department dealing with your case. Stephen Quy is the client care partner to whom any final difficulty can be reported.
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 you and 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.

10. Identity and disclosure requirements

To comply with the Money Laundering Regulations, we will require evidence of identity for certain transactions and may decline to accept payments and deposits in cash.
In addition to asking you for evidence of identification and address we may from time to time use electronic verification in order to comply with our obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations.
We are obliged 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 this 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.
We will not be liable for any loss, damage or delay arising out of the firm’s compliance with any statutory or regulatory requirement.

11. Data protection/quality standards

The Data Protection Act requires us to advise you that your particulars are held on our database. We may, from time to time, use these details to send you information which we think might be of interest to you.

12. Outsourcing of work

Although we do not outsource work at present, such as typing or photocopying documents, we may do so in the future.
In the event that we adopt this practice we will use our best endeavours to ensure that client confidentiality is preserved.
Should you object to this practice, please advise us in writing so that your file can be noted accordingly. .

13. Financial services

We are not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 but we are able, in certain circumstances, to offer a limited range of investment services to the client because we are members of the Law Society. We can provide these investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide.
If you have any problem with the service we have provided for you then please let us know. We will try to resolve any problem quickly and operate an internal complaints handling system to help us to resolve the problem between ourselves. If your any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then we are regulated by the Law Society, which also provides a complaints and redress scheme.

14. Insurance mediation

This firm is 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, 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.

15. Payment of commissions

Vanderpump & Sykes is authorised by the Law Society to conduct investment business under the provisions of the Financial Services Act. Any commissions which we receive (from brokers, insurance companies etc) as a result of acting for you will be used to your benefit by being applied towards any outstanding fees. Should commission received exceed fees incurred, we will pay you any balance.

16. Interest payment

Any money received on your behalf will be held in 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 the Royal Bank of Scotland Designated Client 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. Please note that we may not be liable to repay any monies lost through a banking failure.
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 four 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.

17. Tax advice

Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning strategies. We may not be qualified to advise you on the tax implications of a transaction that you instruct us to carry out, or the likelihood of them arising. If you have any concerns in this respect, please raise them with us immediately. If we can undertake the research necessary to resolve the issue, we will do so and advise you accordingly. If we cannot, we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you.

18. Vetting of files and confidentiality

As this firm is registered under the ISO quality standard, we are subject to periodic checks by outside assessors. This could mean that your file is selected for checking, in which case we would need your consent for inspection to occur. All inspections are, of course, conducted in confidence. If you prefer to withhold consent, work on your file will not be affected in any way. Since very few of our clients do object to this we propose to assume that we do have your consent unless you notify us to the contrary. We will also assume, unless you indicate otherwise, that consent on this occasion will extend to all future matters which we conduct on your behalf. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further explanation or if you would like your file to be marked as not to be inspected.

19. 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 work which we have undertaken for you does not proceed to a conclusion, we will charge only for work done up to the point when he matter proves abortive and for any disbursements paid on your behalf.
Where you terminate your instructions to us before a matter is concluded, again we charge only for work done up to the point of termination. If required your files and other papers will be released once payment of our account and any other outstanding accounts has been made.
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.
Under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, for some non-business instructions, you may have the right to withdraw, without charge, within seven working days of the date on which you asked us to act for you. However, if we start work with your consent within that period, you lose that right to withdraw. Your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business will amount to such a consent. If you seek to withdraw instructions, you should give notice by telephone, e-mail or letter to the person responsible for your work. The Regulations require us to inform you that the work involved is likely to take more than 30 days.

20. 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.

21. 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. In addition, we will keep your file of papers for you in storage for not less than one year. After that, storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy it after such period as we consider reasonable 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 which may be specified in that notice.
If you wish us to store your deeds we would ask you to note that our liability is confined to that of a Banker and that the standard of construction of any storage area and the standard of any security system shall be such as we consider suitable. No liability can be accepted for damage to articles deposited where it is occasioned by atmospheric conditions, flooding or fire.
No charge will be made to you for storage without prior notice in writing. 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 charged 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.

22. Financial arrangements

We can only accept amounts of cash up to £1,000.
On the conclusion of the retainer, monies due to the you will be paid by cheque (of the equivalent), but not in cash, and will not be made payable to a third party.

23. Acceptance of these terms

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 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 signed and returned to us then kept on our file.

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Vanderpump & Sykes are registered for VAT
Number 220652696