Terms of Business

Our Terms of Business, detail the basis upon which our fees are calculated, and set out our commitment to achieve service excellence. Please read our Terms of Business carefully, and let us know if you have any queries. By instructing us you will be deemed to accept our Terms of Business.

A.    THE SERVICE WE PROVIDE

A:1     instructions and exchange of information
We aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective legal service. Our legal staff will endeavour to establish a close working relationship with you. As required by the Solicitors Code of Conduct, we will keep you informed of the work which we are carrying out including:-

• Identifying clearly your objectives in relation to the work to be done
• Giving you a clear explanation of the issues involved and the options available to you
• Agreeing with you the next steps to be taken
• Keeping you informed of progress

It is important to us that you feel at ease and confident with the advice that you are receiving, and with the work which we are carrying out for you. If there is anything that you do not fully understand at any time, or about which you are in any way uncertain or unhappy, please do not hesitate to raise this with us.

We can and will only act upon your instructions, and we cannot do anything to progress your matter unless your instructions are clear, precise, and above all, complete. If you are not sure whether something might be relevant to a particular problem, please tell us and let us decide. Whilst we reserve the right to accept and act upon telephone or email instructions, we are not obliged to do so unless corroborated by letter or fax.

If "our client" in a particular matter comprises more than one person, we reserve the right to accept instructions from any one or more person or persons on behalf of all the persons concerned, unless we receive specific written instructions to the contrary (in which case we may have to decline to continue to act in the matter). Each person for whom we are acting in the matter will be jointly and severally responsible for payment of all our fees.

By way of confirmation of your instructions and your agreement to our Terms of Business we will require you to complete and sign the proforma at the foot of our Client Care Letter and return it to us as soon as possible.

Where the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2008 apply to the work we undertake for you by instructing us to carry out that work, you agree that we will commence that work on your behalf and you acknowledge that on our commencing that work you will be incurring fees attributable to that work. When we commence work at your request you may not cancel your contract with us in relation to the work after it has begun under the Regulations and our fees for that work will be payable by you.  Although we may endeavour to complete a particular matter by a particular time there is no time limit for the performance of our services.

A:2. responsibility for your work
Every client of this firm is designated to one of the Partners, who are all fully qualified solicitors. The designated Partner is responsible for relations with that client, and is known as the Client Partner.

The Client Partner will not necessarily be the person who is responsible for the day to day conduct of a particular matter. You will be informed as soon as possible after receipt of your instructions of the name and status of the person who will be dealing with the day to day conduct of the matter (who might not necessarily be a solicitor), and of the Partner responsible for the handling of your work. If the identity of these persons should need to change (which will only happen in exceptional circumstances) we will let you know immediately.

We are committed to providing excellent service. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about the bill, please raise this with the person dealing with the matter in the first instance, but if you are still concerned, please contact your Client Partner.   In the unlikely event that there is a continuing problem, you should raise the matter with Mark Moseley, our Quality  and Complaints Manager. We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints which is available on request. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman at www.legalombudsman.org.uk, or at PO Box 15870, Birmingham B30 9EB. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us.

A:3. office hours and appointments
Our offices are open from 8.45am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Between 12.45 pm and 1.45 pm, many of our staff may be at lunch, although the offices remain open and our main switchboard is operative. Save in exceptional circumstances, we request that you make an appointment before calling at this office to discuss your matter in person - this enables us to plan our working week and provide a more efficient service with the minimum of delay.

When telephoning, if the person dealing with your matter is unavailable, we encourage you to speak with his or her Secretary, rather than suffer the inconvenience of having to telephone again. Our Secretaries will often be able to deal with routine enquiries, and will be able to take a message if a return call is requested. We endeavour to make any requested return telephone calls within 24 hours.

Messages can be left on the answer phone outside those hours and appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential

A:4. quality management standard (QMS)
As longstanding members of LawNet, the Federation of Independent Law Firms, Band Hatton ^LLP adopts ISO9001, an internationally recognised Quality Management Standard. Our administrative procedures and file management are externally audited twice yearly to ensure that the necessary standards are maintained. As part of this audit, the firm's records and files will be checked in a way which ensures that confidentiality is maintained. Your file will be made available for audit unless you specifically request otherwise. Details of the ISO9001 Quality Management Standard, and its relevance to the highest standards of client care and service are available on request.

A:5. questionnaires - survey and comments
At the conclusion of a transaction, we will usually send you a Client Feedback Questionnaire. There is naturally no obligation to answer this, but we do appreciate your assistance in completing this form, as it enables us to maintain a higher standard of client care and service.

A:6 retention of files and storage of documents
We retain completed files for a minimum period of 6 years. Files may be destroyed after this period has elapsed. You are entitled to see or receive your file, if you wish.

You may be charged, at our discretion, for administrative costs of retrieving files from storage or releasing property deeds. We will make a charge if either you or a third party acting on your behalf requests information from your file, or requests your property deeds. We will notify you of our charges at that time.

We also have facilities for storing your Deeds and other important documents, such as your Will, and we are pleased to provide these services free of charge.

A:7 commission received
Any commission that we receive as a result of acting for you will be applied to your benefit towards our fees for the work involved, and towards any other outstanding charges. Any balance will be paid to you.

This position may be affected if you have entered into a separate written agreement with us, which will deal with various matters including commission. This will only apply in a very limited number of cases.

A:8. bank interest
Where applicable, we will account to you for interest earned on monies held on your behalf in accordance with The Solicitors Accounts (Deposit Interest) Rules. Such interest will be applied to your benefit towards our fees for the work we are carrying out for you, and any balance will be paid to you.

You will appreciate that monies in our general client account are held on immediate call, and therefore the interest on these monies will be less than might be achieved in an investment account. Full details of the circumstances in which interest is payable, and the rate we are able to pay, are available upon request.

If we hold money on which interest might be payable to you, we reserve the right either to deposit the money in a separate designated deposit account at a bank or building society, or to hold it in our general client account, unless we have your express instructions in appropriate circumstances.

B: FEES

B:1. How we calculate our fees
Our fees are calculated mainly by reference to the time spent working for you, which we record daily on our computer system. Different hourly rates will be charged according to the status of the person who handles the work for you and possibly according to the type of work involved.  Information as to how much time has already been spent on your file or is likely to be spent for the matter to reach a conclusion and of the appropriate hourly rates is available upon request from the person responsible for the day to day handling of your matter, at any time during the course of the work which we carry out for you.

There may be other factors in addition to the time spent, which will affect the fees we charge, for instance the importance and complexity of the matter, the value of the transaction and exceptional urgency.

With regard to telephone calls, emails and routine letters, we charge clients based on a percentage of our normal hourly rate for each telephone call and email (received or made) or letter (received or sent). These rates are available upon request.

Our hourly rates are reviewed each January. If your matter has not been concluded before the next review takes place, the rates might increase but we will advise you in writing of any variation in the charge rate.

You have the right to have your bill assessed by the Court under Part 111 of the Solicitors Act 1974 within one month of the date of receipt of our invoice. We are entitled to charge interest on the outstanding amount of the bill in accordance with article 5 of the Solicitors' (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 2009.

In some limited areas of work you might have to pay the costs of a third party. When applicable we shall endeavour to obtain a firm figure, a clear estimate or an upper limit for such costs and to let you know when they are likely to be payable.

B:2. estimates and fixed fee quotations
We are able in some instances to give you fixed fee quotations for certain types of work, eg. most residential property transactions, wills and undefended divorces.

We will provide you with a written estimate of our legal fees and detail any disbursement costs you will incur. The estimate is an indication of the likely overall costs for your individual matter. In some cases it is not possible to determine the likely overall costs at the outset; therefore, we will give you the best information possible at that time and keep you informed of all charges as the matter progresses at least every six months.

On occasion, we will ask clients to agree an upper limit for our legal fees, which you are liable to pay in full without any further authority. We will not exceed an agreed limit without your written instructions and agreement for a revised figure

B:3. disbursements
"Disbursements" are payments which are made on your behalf so that work which we are doing for you can be carried out, eg. Court fees, search fees. Disbursements will be shown separately on our invoice and will be charged in addition to our fees.

B:4. value added tax
VAT will be charged on all professional fees and on some disbursements. Estimates and fixed quotations are given exclusive of VAT, which must be added. The current standard VAT rate is 20%. All estimates and quotations are necessarily subject to alteration (up or down) with any change in the rate of VAT.

B:5. payments on account, interim bills
It is our normal practice to request payment of anticipated disbursements either upon receipt of your instructions, or as the matter continues, and we may also ask you to make payments on account of our anticipated fees.

We shall deliver bills at regular intervals for the work carried out during the conduct of your matter, which enables you to keep track of the costs which you incur. Interim accounts of this nature may be for the whole or part of the costs appropriate for the work carried out to date.

Unless otherwise agreed, we shall tell you at regular intervals (not longer than six months) how much the costs are at that stage and estimated costs to a conclusion of the matter.

Monies received on account of our costs will be deducted from your final invoice.

B:6. liability for costs
In any litigation case- (and in certain other limited circumstances) you will have a potential liability for your own costs and those of any other party including:

B:6.1  Your own costs even where an order for costs is made against your opponent
B:6.2  Your opponent's costs as well as your own if the case is lost
B:6.3  Your own costs even if the case is won where your opponent might not be ordered to pay or be capable of paying the full amount.

B:7  abortive work
If for any reason we cease to represent you, or a transaction that we are dealing with on your behalf does not proceed, we reserve the right to charge for the work done up to date.

B:8  payments of fees
B:8:1   All invoices must be settled within 28 days, and any invoices not paid within such time will attract interest at the rate of 2% above our Bank's base lending rate, calculated from the date of the invoice until the date of payment.
B:8:2   Unless otherwise agreed the person or persons to whom our Client Care Letter is addressed is responsible for and guarantees payment of all our fees, charges and disbursements even if the Client is a company. If more than one party is to be responsible then all relevant parties should sign the Client Care Letter and their liability will be joint and several, although continuing instructions from or on behalf of any person to whom the Client Care Letter is addressed will be taken as acceptance of these terms and conditions and their liability (whether or not jointly and severally with others) to pay our fees, charges and disbursements. The full names and addresses of any additional guarantors should be given in writing and failure to do so will mean that the person/persons to whom the Client Care Letter is addressed will be fully liable.
B:8:3   In property transactions (and certain similar transactions where monies are payable to another party upon the conclusion of the transaction) we shall invoice you and require payment of our fees (cleared funds) prior to legal "completion" taking place.   Five working days must be allowed for cheques to clear.
B:8:4   When we are holding monies that are due to you, we reserve the right to deduct our fees and any other payments due to us before accounting to you for the balance.
B:8:5   We accept payment by personal cheque, or if you call into the office we will accept cash payment up to a maximum of £750.00. If you prefer to pay by credit or debit card, simply contact us with your card details. A charge may be made for credit card payments. You may also pay on-line go to www.bandhatton.co.uk and follow the link from ‘online services’

B:9 updating costs information
We will keep you properly informed about costs as the matter progresses and, in particular, we shall where appropriate:-
B:9.1 Tell you (unless otherwise agreed) how much the costs are at regular intervals and discuss how you intend to fund these costs
B:9.2 Explain any changed circumstances which will or may affect the amount of costs, the degree of risk involved or the cost benefit of continuing with the matter
B:9:3 Inform you as soon as it appears that a costs estimate or agreed upper limit may or will be exceeded
B:9:4 If relevant, discuss with you your potential liability for any other party's costs and whether such payments may be covered by existing insurance.

B.10 electronic transfers
Please note that if it is necessary for monies to be electronically transferred to any bank account, a charge of £30.00 plus VAT will be made in respect of each transaction.

C: GENERAL

C:1. personal details - data protection act
Certain information that you give us during the conduct of your work, may be recorded on our computer to assist us in running our business efficiently. We are registered under the provisions of the Data Protection Act.

C:2 anti-money laundering regulations
Under the above we are required to satisfy ourselves as to the identity of all Clients. It will be necessary to ask you for personal identification (eg. your Passport). If any suspicions arise regarding money laundering we are obliged to report these to the appropriate authority and this will override our duty of confidentiality to you. 

C:3