TERMS OF BUSINESS
These are the standard terms and conditions which set out the basis upon which we (Regler & Company Solicitors) will provide legal advice and services and carry out work for you (our client) unless they are specifically amended by the applicable engagement letter accepted in writing by you and any subsequent correspondence between us and you. Any legal advice and services received by you from Regler & Company Solicitors are subject to these terms of business.
We will provide you with a copy of these Terms of Business along with our client engagement letter before work commences on your behalf. These Terms of Business are subject to review from time to time. A copy of any revised terms of business will be sent to you and any revised terms of business will supersede previous versions.
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Contact and Complaints
If you feel that you are not receiving the service you expected, please tell us – it is important that we know if you are unhappy with us for any reason. We will look into any comments promptly and try to put things right where necessary.
If you are not happy with the handling of your complaint,
- And the problem relates to our provision of investment services, we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (0870 606 2555 www.sra.org.uk) which also provides a complaints and redress scheme
- And the problem relates to any other aspect of our service, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ ( Tel: 0300 555 0333) www.legalombudsman.org.uk to consider the complaint – normally you will need to bring a complaint to the legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint
As solicitors we are bound by the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct, which can be viewed on the website of the Solicitors Regulation Authority at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors.
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Time Recording
Time spent on your file is recorded in units of six minutes and fractional units are rounded up to the next whole unit. We may also charge for travelling time and waiting time but usually this will be at a reduced rate.
Where appropriate to the type of work to be done, we will give an estimate of the likely fee, exclusive of VAT and disbursements, based on the information you provide to us. We may in some instances quote a fixed fee for the work to be done but this will be clearly stated to distinguish it from an estimate which may be subject to change. Estimates are given in good faith on the basis of the information available at the time, but the fee actually charged may be higher or lower than the estimate.
In addition, we will also charge for expenses we incur on your behalf such as travel costs, couriers, barristers’ fees, company search fees and stamp duty. The cost of usual day to day office expenses such as routine photocopying and postage is included in our hourly charge-out rates. However, where we produce A3 or larger coloured plans (typically for commercial property work) or where there is a high volume of photocopying, we reserve the right to make an additional charge.
If the fee looks likely to exceed the estimate we will try to give you prior warning of this.
Unless we have quoted a fixed fee, our charges will be calculated on the basis of the time spent by the relevant lawyer:
Brian Regler (Director): £ 300.00 per hour
Pamela Regler (Director): £ 300.00 per hour
Jay Syed (Director) £ 300.00 per hour
Tamsin Lester-John (Trainee Solicitor) £ 250.00 per hour
Aisha Khan (Paralegal) £ 200.00 per hour
These fees will be reviewed from time to time and you will be advised of any changes in our hourly rates.
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Money on Account of Costs and Disbursements
Our policy is to hold clients’ money on account of our costs and expenses as appropriate. We hold that money in our client account (which is in effect a special account which is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority) unless we issue you with a bill, or until we incur third party expenses on your behalf. We will let you have a full breakdown of sums withdrawn against this sum on request. We may ask for further sums to be held on account in this way as the matter progresses.
If we hold money on your behalf, you will be entitled to be paid interest by us, at a rate equivalent to the rate of interest received by this firm by its bank, HSBC Bank Plc, provided that such interest exceeds £20.00.
We may need money on account of costs and disbursements, either in the initial stages, or as the work progresses.
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Bills
We will usually issue bills on completion of a matter. Where a matter has been going on for some time, we may issue interim bills, which are payable as set out below. Where we are holding funds on your behalf (for example on the receipt of completion money, or because we have asked for money on account or as part of a retainer) we may take payment for our bill from that money. This money will either be offset against a final bill or offset against an interim bill.
We will issue separate bills on the individual matters for the work which we carry out for you.
Payment of our bills is due on the earlier of completion of the transaction to which it relates or within fourteen days of us sending the bill to you. You agree that we may charge interest on late payment at a rate equivalent to the current late payment interest rate chargeable from time to time under the late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 (whether or not that Act applies to this engagement letter). This letter is written on the basis that you are our client to whom we will look for payment of our fees. If a third party undertakes responsibility for payment of our fees and expenses, and fails to pay, you will still be responsible for payment.
If payment is not received for a bill, or in response to a request for money on account, then we may decline to act any further for you, and we will charge you for any work done up to that date.
Payments should be made to Regler & Company (Chinnor) Ltd.
Where appropriate:
- You are entitled to complain about your bill;
- There may also be the right to object to the bill by making a complaint to the Legal Complaints Service (or the Office for Legal Complaints) and/or applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974; and
- If all or part of the bill remains unpaid, we may be able to charge interest (as stated above)
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How You Can Help Us
It will help us to conduct your work efficiently if:
- You prepare and organise documentation and make it available to us in advance of any meetings or discussions;
- You tell us as soon as possible if there are any changes of plan or if any new information comes to light that you think may be relevant to your matter; and
- You give us instructions as early as possible; and notify us immediately if the matter is not going to proceed.
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Working with other professionals
Sometimes, either at your request or from our knowledge of the matter, we may feel we can assist you by recommending other professionals or individuals to provide advice or services. Any recommendation or referral is given in good faith but you are responsible for satisfying yourself that the person recommended is suitable for your needs. You are under no obligation to us to accept any such recommendation or referral. We do not accept liability for any such recommendation and referral, nor do we receive fees for such referrals.
If we are asked to instruct other persons to act on your behalf we do this only as your agent. You are responsible for the fees of the other person and for satisfying yourself that the work they do is suitable and acceptable to you.
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Data Protection
We will hold personal information about you and the people involved in the matter (for example the names of contact details) in our files and on our computer system to assist with the work you have asked us to do and to assist with the firm’s administration (including archiving files in accordance with Solicitors Regulation Authority guidelines. )We will only disclose this information where you have asked us to do so, or where required by law, where reasonably necessary to carry out the activities set out above, and to our auditors and the Solicitors Regulation Authority where they require us to do so.
You consent (and where you have given us personal information about anyone other than yourself, you confirm that you have that person’s consent) to our use of this information as set out above. You confirm that you have complied with any applicable law and regulations relating to the holding and processing of any personal information provided by you.
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Storage of Documents
We are entitled to keep your files while you still owe us money. We store files after they have closed for a period of six years, and you give us your authority to destroy them after that time has elapsed. We do not destroy any documents you ask us to hold in safe custody. We charge £20.00 plus VAT per file, for file storage (excluding original documents such as Wills, Deeds and Lasting Powers of Attorney).
We do not normally charge for retrieving documents from storage, but if you ask us to retrieve specific documents or do any further work on a matter after it has been closed, we may charge you for the cost of retrieving the file and the time spent in doing the work, at our rates at the current time.
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Money Laundering
The anti-money laundering legislation applies to solicitors as it does to other professional advisers and services. Strict requirements are now imposed upon us by laws intended to stop the movement of the proceeds of crime however small, and in whatever form.
We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential, but if we become aware, or even suspect that something we are doing for you involves dealing in any way with the proceeds of crime or the funding of terrorism, or that someone has been involved in dealing in any way with the proceeds of crime or the funding of terrorism, then depending on the circumstances, we may be required to report that to the
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and to stop work on your matter until we receive clearance from the SOCA to carry on, and we may be barred from telling you that such a report has been made or the reasons for it. Consequently, we are obliged by law to verify your identity and to obtain evidential documents to confirm that verification.
If we are not able to make this verification to our satisfaction we will be unable to act for you.
We need to know if you are a Politically Exposed Person – that is if
- You are, or
- You are related to or
- You are a close associate of,
- Someone who is, or has within the last year been, the holder of one of the following public posts for a state other than the United Kingdom:
• Head of state, head of government, minister, deputy minister or assistant minister
• Member of parliament
• Judge
• Member of parliament
• Diplomat
• Officer in the armed forces
• Member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of a state-owned enterprise
If you are a Politically Exposed Person, we must comply with additional regulations before we can act for you.
If you are, or believe you may be, a Politically Exposed Person, please contact us so that we can discuss your circumstances.
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Investment Advice
We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to conduct financial services activities which require such authorisation. However, we are registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and we are accordingly permitted to give advice in some ancillary services concerning investment, but this advice is given as legal advice.
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Our liability and your responsibility
We will provide legal advice and services to you with reasonable skill and care and we acknowledge that (subject to the other exclusions and limitations in these terms of business and the engagement letter and any related correspondence) we will be liable to you for “Losses” (being losses, damages, costs or expenses caused by our negligence or willful default other than those excluded or limited as explained below).
Our responsibility shall only extend to the legal advice and legal services we provide on matters upon which you have actually instructed us. We rely on you for the accuracy of the information and/or documentation you provide. We will not be liable to you for any losses caused wholly or in part by the provision by you of false, misleading or incomplete information or documentation or due to the acts or omissions of anyone other than our members or employees or arising from any cause beyond our reasonable control. If you have concerns which are particular to you, and not of general application, it is your responsibility to advise us of these.
Nothing in this section of this engagement letter shall restrict our liability for any kind of loss, damage or liability which cannot or must not be excluded or limited under English law, including the rules governing the conduct of Solicitors.
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Notifying us of Claims
Your rights in respect of any breach on our part of the terms of our engagement to act for you will only be enforceable if we are given notice in writing, including all significant details of any claim on or before the third anniversary of the date of the relevant engagement letter.
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LIMITATIONS ON OUR LIABILITY
Our liability for losses is limited in the following ways:
No liability for the fault of others: We will not be liable for losses which are due to the provision of false, misleading, or incomplete information or documentation, or due to the acts or omissions of any person other than Regler & Company.
No liability for some types of loss or damage: Our liability for Losses whether to you or any third party, in contract or tort (including negligence) or under statute or otherwise shall exclude any loss of profits, goodwill or opportunity (whether these losses are direct or indirect) and any indirect or consequential economic loss or damage suffered by you or anyone else arising from, or in connection with, the matter on which we are instructed and/or our advice on it. This limitation applies howsoever these excluded losses or damages are caused, including by our negligence but not our willful default.
No extra unexpected liability: Nothing in this section of these terms of business shall make us liable for anything or for any amount for which we would not have been liable but for these terms.
A Maximum Limit on our liability: Our aggregate liability to you or anyone else, of any kind, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any losses, whatsoever and howsoever caused,, arising from or in any way connected with the legal advice and services described in our engagement letter shall not exceed the amount of our relevant insurance cover provided that this maximum limit on our liability will not be less than the minimum level of insurance cover required by the Solicitors’ Indemnity Rules. This maximum limit on our liability is a total figure regardless of the number of any persons who comprise our client(s) for any particular matter. It is up to you to decide for yourselves if you wish this maximum limit to be divided between each of you and, if so, how this limit is to be shared between each of you. You do not need to tell us of any such division and the maximum will apply, whether or not you have agreed any such division.
Notwithstanding any other limitation or exclusion, you agree that the liability of any individual is limited to the fullest extent permitted by law or any rules of professional conduct.
No liability to third parties: Our responsibility for our legal advice and services is only limited to you, our client. We are not responsible to any other persons who may rely upon or act or fail to act in reliance upon our legal advice or services provided to you.
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TERMINATION OF INSTRUCTIONS
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 can 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 plus expenses as are stated in your engagement letter and any separate correspondence.
Regulation, Law and Jurisdiction
Regler & Company is the practising name of Regler and Company (Chinnor) Limited, whose Registered Office is at First Floor, 98 High Street, Thame, Oxon, OX9 3EH (Company Number 10374622); and we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, which regulates solicitors in England and Wales, SRA Number 633869.
The firm maintains professional indemnity insurance in accordance with the Rules of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Details of the insurers and the territorial coverage of the policy are available for inspection at our offices: First Floor, 98 High Street, Thame, Oxon, OX9 3EH.
Our agreement with you will be governed by English law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts except for the collection of unpaid fees which we may pursue in any appropriate jurisdiction.