Standard Terms of Business
Contacting Us
The Office Golden Lion Yard, Leyburn, North Yorkshire, DL8 5AS is open from 9.00 a.m. through to 5.00 p.m. each weekday. The Office is ground floor premises equipped with the latest technology.
Our telephone number is 01969 625526 and when the office is closed there is a telephone answering service. We encourage electronic communication, please use our Contact Form.
Our fax line is open at all times and the number is 01969 625255. We are available to meet with you outside normal hours by prior appointment.
Quality Service
In all our dealings with our clients we aim to provide a high quality service, to find out what our clients want, and achieve it. We try to work quickly and efficiently and we hope you find us friendly and approachable. At the end of the transaction we hope you will think that our fee represents good value for money.
What We Aim To Do
We have already outlined our aim to provide a quality legal service at reasonable cost. Your matter is important to you and it will be treated by us as equally important. In order to provide a quality service we have to set ourselves targets. We aim to meet those targets at all times, but it has to be appreciated that there may be reasons beyond our control which may prevent us from doing so.
- We aim to act upon any correspondence within 3 working days.
- We aim to deal with any telephone calls within 24 hours.
- At the outset we will confirm your instructions in writing and advise you what action we will be taking and if possible advise you of the approximate time the matter will take.
- We will give you the best information we can as to the likely costs involved and how and when they be met. During the matter we will keep you informed of progress. If you wish, we will send you copies of any correspondence, but you should remember that this could increase the amount of our costs.
- We will advise you of any unforseen delays and explain the reasons.
- We will explain the effects of any important documentation or procedure.
- We will advise you if a costs forecast needs revising.
- At the end of the matter, we will write to confirm its conclusion and explain any continuing consequences. We will render our bills as promptly as possible and account to you for all monies due you without undue delay.
How You Can Help Us
- Please give us clear instructions and tell us if there are any important time limits.
- Ask us if you are not sure of anything. It is important that we understand each other correctly throughout.
- Deal promptly with any important questions that may arise.
- Keep in regular contact. Do not be afraid to ask for a progress report if you are worried about anything or if you do not hear from us when you expect to do so.
- Tell us if you are moving or if you are going to be unavailable for some time. Please give us details of forwarding addresses and telephone numbers. Much of our work involves deadlines and time limits and if we are unable to contact you prior to a time limit expiring, the consequences could be very serious.
How We Calculate Our Charges
The main factors in calculating solicitors charges, as laid down by law, are the time spent and the value of the matter to the client. Other factors that may be relevant are: particular cases of complexity, the need for special expertise and speed where a matter has to be dealt with particularly quickly.
Our offices cost a certain amount to run. The majority of these costs relate to staff salaries, accommodation expenses, equipment costs and professional insurance. We also incur operating expenses such as postage and telephones. These costs have to be spread over the number of working hours available to your legal advisors.
In addition to our charges, VAT is payable at the normal rate. Disbursements, which we pay to others on your behalf, such as search fees and land registry registration fees, are also payable.
FIXED FEES or VARIABLE FEES?
We charge either on the basis of a fixed fee or a variable fee:
- Fixed Fees: Where it is possible to estimate the normal amount of work required in a standard case, the figure can be quoted with certainty from the onset. Fixed Fees are most commonly quoted in relation to domestic property transactions and drawing up wills.
- Variable Fees: However, with other matters brought to us by clients it is not possible to assess with any accuracy at the outset or even at a later stage, the amount of time needed to be spent to bring the matter to a conclusion.
Variable Fees are therefore based upon the actual time spent plus any ascertainable value of the matter to the client. At the outset we are happy to agree a budget which we will not exceed without reference back to you.
As a matter progresses, the amount of time spent on each stage of proceedings is recorded on our computer. The time is recorded in blocks of units and each unit represents six minutes worth of chargeable time.
The chargeable rates for any legal adviser who might be involved in your case will be notified in writing at the outset. Please note that chargeable unit rates are reviewed on 1st December of each year and will come into immediate operation.
Payment Terms
If it is anticipated that your matter will be concluded in a short time we will normally issue our bill when the work is finished.
In matters that have a longer duration, we generally render interim bills as the case progresses as this helps the clients to plan cashflow and avoids a large outlay on conclusion. Our billing dates are 28th February, 31st May, 30th August and 30th November.
Similarly if we have to pay our disbursements to third parties during the course of a matter, we normally request these payments to be refunded at the time they are incurred.
Frequently, we have to ask a client to let us have a payment on account of the costs to be incurred at the commencement of a matter. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, all bills should be settled within 30 days of the bill being rendered.
In cases where we are holding money on your behalf it is our normal practice to deduct our charges from the money and account to you for any balance.
If for any reason a matter is not completed then we charge on the basis of the proportion of the work actually carried out to date. If any other work is requested other than that upon which we were originally instructed it will be separately charged.
Who Has Responsibility For Your Matter?
Each matter will be conducted by a Solicitor with the support of legal assistants.
It is important that you know who has responsibility for your particular matter. During the course of your matter if the person who has day to day responsibility for your matter is not available please feel free to contact any other legal advisor who will endeavour to assist you.
Insurance Cover
For your protection, and as required by Law Society rules, we confirm we maintain Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Confidentiality
Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory exception: recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering, the solicitor may be required to make a money laundering disclosure.
If, while we are acting for you, it becomes necessary to make a money laundering disclosure, we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it because the law prohibits "tipping-off". Where the law permits us to do, we will tell you about any potential money laundering problem and explain what action we may need to take.
Original Documents (Including Title Deeds and Wills)
These items may be stored free of charge but we cannot accept responsibility for the loss of or damage of any items so held.
Other Papers
On completion of a matter, we will return to the client any documents belonging to the client, subject to rights to exercise a lien on documents belonging to a client in the event of charges remaining unpaid. We reserve the right to destroy files without further reference to the client after completion of a matter although, as a matter of practice, we endeavour to keep files for a minimum period of six years.
We do not normally make a charge for retrieving stored papers or deeds. 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.
Any money received on your behalf will be held in our client account. Interest will be calculated and paid to you at the rate set by HSBC Bank (but only on balances above £20,000.00). That of course may change. The period for which interest will be paid normally runs from the date when funds are received by us until the date(s) on the cheque(s) issued to you. The payment of interest is subject to certain minimum amounts and periods of time set out in the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules 1998.
Data Protection Act
In order to act for individuals, it is necessary for us to record on our files and also on our computer system personal details such as dates of birth, addresses and telephone numbers. In addition, other information which sometimes it is not essential for us to record in connection with any particular matter may also be held for reference, analysis and our own marketing purposes. Such items could include for example an individual's occupation, financial circumstances and interests. Again when acting for a business certain non-essential information such as trading activities, the number of people employed and turnover may also be recorded by us.
You are entitled at any time to ask for a copy of the information that we hold about you or your business. We will not pass on these details to any third party without your express permission unless it is essential to do so in connection with your matter. If you do not want to receive information from the firm about its services and its activities or marketing information, please let us know and we will remove your name from our mailing lists.
Investment Business and Insurance
Sometimes conveyancing/family/probate/company work involves investments. We are not authorised by the Financial Services Authority and so may refer you to someone who is authorised to provide any necessary advice. However, we can provide certain limited services in relation to investments, provided they are closely linked with the legal services we are providing to you, as we are regulated by the Law Society.
If you have any problem with the service we have provided you then please let us know. We will try and resolve any problem quickly and operate an internal complaints handling system to help us to resolve the problem between ourselves. If for 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.
In respect of insurance 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 Law Society. The Register can be accessed via the Financial Services Authority website at www.fsa.gov.uk/register
Identification
As part of the legal requirement placed upon Solicitors under the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime legislation we are required to obtain evidence of identification for every client and to keep copies of that evidence on file. We need to comply with these procedures even where we have previously done work for you.
The means of identification are set out in the Schedule annexed. Please arrange to bring appropriate evidence of identification to us when we shall take copies for our file. If you cannot call you will need to send us original evidence which we will return after taking copies for our file. However we will return this by ordinary post and cannot accept liability for any loss you may suffer from the originals not reaching you. We are aware that the sending of valuable personal identity documents by post causes concern and as an alternative you may wish to discuss with us the possibility of you producing the documentary evidence to someone else qualified and willing to take and certify copies on your behalf.
We shall also access information from a credit reference agency to confirm your identity. They will authenticate your name and address, which involves checking the details you supply against those held on any databases that the company carrying out the checks on our behalf has access to. We will use scoring methods to authenticate your identity. Please note the information is used to verify identity to fulfil anti-money laundering regulations and not to check credit worthiness.
By accepting these Terms of Business you consent to the search-taking place by electronic means.
Termination
You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time. For example, you may decide you cannot give clear or proper instructions on how to proceed, or you may lose confidence in our work. As stated above we shall be entitled to keep all your papers and documents whilst money is owed to us.
We will decide to stop acting for you or to suspend our services only with good reason and on giving you notice of our intention to do so. If we decide that we will stop acting for you or we suspend our services, you will be responsible for our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out earlier.
Liability
If you engage other professionals to work on any matter (including, for example, accountants, surveyors or financial advisers) and whether we have recommended those professionals or not it is very important that you check the terms of those engagements very carefully, as we do not accept any liability arising wholly or partly from any failure by those professionals. If we are jointly liable with any other party for any loss, we do not accept any liability greater than the amount for which we would have been liable if the other party had not excluded liability and had met its liability in full.
Equality and Diversity
Critchley Hall is committed to promoting equality 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.
What To Do If You Are Dissatisfied
We sincerely hope that all our clients will be satisfied with the legal service that we provide. However, if you should feel that you are not receiving the service that you hoped for, please tell us. We will endeavour to put it right as quickly as possible.
If you have a complaint, mention it first to the person looking after your matter. Research shows that most complaints are as a result of misunderstanding or poor communication. If you are still unhappy after that, you should contact the Senior Partner, Mr John C Hall.
After investigation, the Senior Partner will contact you about the problem and then write to you to confirm what we will be doing about it. This will be at no extra cost to you.
Acceptance
These Standard Terms of Business set out the terms upon which we are willing to deal with transactions on your behalf.