Bespoke Conveyancing
THE SMALL PRINT (LEGAL STUFF)
Money Laundering
As a regulated law firm authorised to conduct the reserved activity of Conveyancing we are required by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing & Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to apply procedures to guard against the risk of money laundering. Identification Checks: Please refer to client care letter. Cash: We do not accept cash and will not accept any cash deposited directly into our bank account. When we must pay money to you, it will be paid by cheque or bank transfer. It will not be paid in cash or to a third party. Source of Funds: At the start of any matter we will normally ask you to tell us the source of any funds you will be using and may ask you to explain the source of these funds. 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 tell us as early as possible, including the reason. Confidentiality: We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, lawyers may be required under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency (NCA) where they know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. Money laundering includes all proceeds of crime and covers all offences, including for example tax evasion and benefit fraud. 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 and may not be able to tell you why.
Land Registration Act 2002
Under the Land Registration Act 2002 (which came into effect on the 13th October 2003), there is an obligation that all overriding interests are disclosed to the Land Registry on first registration, or on a dealing with any title, so that they can be noted on the Register. Overriding interest is an interest, right, or power not entered on the Register which buyers or mortgagees will be subject to. These would include easements (including rights of way, light support or for services), rights of occupation, certain leases and a variety of things that would only be apparent from inspection. On registration of land, we must state either that there are no overriding interests affecting the property, or if there are, give particulars of them. A disclosable overriding interest is one which affects the land in question and which is within the actual knowledge of the applicant i.e. you. There is therefore an obligation upon you to provide information to us of any disclosable overriding interests and any easements affecting the land in question. If any such interests affect the property, please advise us immediately. If you are not sure whether something should be disclosed or not, please ask us. There is an also an obligation on you as owner of the land to keep the Land Registry notified of your current correspondence address. This is important because any notice relating to the property will be sent to the address stated on the Register and if the notice does not reach you because you are no longer at that address, your rights in respect of the property could be affected. You must therefore tell the Land Registry if the address recorded on the Register is no longer applicable for you.
Termination of Representation
We reserve the right to cease to act for you in a matter, or in all your matters, and to decline to accept further instructions from you, if you fail to comply with any of your obligations to us. This includes obligations to pay our accounts as and when they fall due, and in such additional circumstances as may be prescribed by the SRA from time to time. We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you. You may end your instruction to us in writing at any time, but we can keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses. Please see the next section for more details of our right to a lien. If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will pay our charges up until that point, based on our normal charging rates.
Rights to a Lien
The common law entitles us to retain any money, papers or other property belonging to you which properly comes into our possession pending payment of our costs, whether the property is acquired about the matter for which the costs were incurred. This is known as a “general lien”. We are not entitled to sell property held under a lien but we are entitled to hold property, other than money, even if the value of it greatly exceeds the amount due to us in respect of costs.
Interest on Client Money
Any monies held or received by us on your account will be placed and held on our general Client Account in accordance with the SRA Account Rules. Our policy on the payment of interest in relation to money that we hold on your behalf is to account to you for all sums earned if the total exceeds £50. Below this sum we will retain any such sums earned without accounting to you for them. We believe that this policy is fair and reasonable and we will keep it under continual review, in the light of changing interest rates. By prior arrangement with you, we can sometimes place especially large sums of money on specific deposit if we feel the length of time we expect to hold it justifies doing so, in which case you will receive all the interest received on the account. General payments of interest are made without the deduction of tax but tax is deducted at source on specific deposits. Please note that the rates of interest we might earn on your behalf are likely to be lower than you might otherwise obtain as an individual investor since we need to have instant access to all such funds.
Storage of your Files
At the end of your matter, we can provide you with the papers to which you are entitled, subject to any right we may have to retain them if our charges have not been paid. A full copy of your file is held on our case management system electronically for 8 years. There is no fee for this service.
Data Protection Act
We use the information you provide to us primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related services including statutory returns and legal and regulatory compliance. Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 2018 and 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 advisors. You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you. Please be aware that as a regulated entity, the firm is open to inspection by its regulator – SRA. Files will be made available for such inspection if required. 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.
Equality & Diversity
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all its dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.
Our Fees
We will charge you in accordance with the estimate, which may have already been provided to you. For clarity, we set out our fees in full on a separate sheet which is sent to you with our initial client care letter. We will send you a bill for our charges and expenses normally after exchange of contracts and we ask that full payment of the bill be paid on completion. If sufficient funds are available on completion and we have sent you a bill, we will deduct our charges from the funds. Bills are due for payment upon issuing, which is generally the completion date of the transaction. Please note that you are entitled to complain about your bill. If you wish to do so, please address your concerns in the first instance in writing to Debbie Everett. If you are not satisfied with her response or you wish to refer the matter to an independent body then you may contact the Legal Ombudsman.
Our Responsibilities
In accordance with the SRA Code of Conduct we must:
- uphold the rule of law and the proper administration of justice;
- act with integrity;
- not allow your independence to be compromised;
- act in the best interests of each client;
- provide a proper standard of service to your clients;
- behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services;
- comply with your legal and regulatory obligations and deal with your regulators and ombudsmen in an open, timely and co-operative manner;
- run your business or carry out your role in the business effectively and in accordance with proper governance and sound financial and risk management principles;
- run your business or carry out your role in the business in a way that encourages equality of opportunity and respect for diversity; and
- protect client money and assets.
Your Responsiblities
In order to complete with the Code of Conduct, we ask that you:
- Co-operate with us.
- Give us instructions that allow us to do our work properly.
- Provide us with clear information and documentation.
- Respond to requests for instructions when asked to do so.
- Not ask us to work in an improper or unreasonable way.
- Not deliberately mislead us.
- Not have direct dealings with other parties or their solicitors about this matter without our agreement as this can lead to confusion and escalation of costs.
Professional Indemnity Insurance
Under the Provision of Legal Services Regulations 2009 we are required to provide you with details of our Professional Indemnity Insurance. Our firm is insured by Hera Indemnity Limited 68 Lombard Street London EC3V 9LJ. Tel. 0207 868 2498. www.heraindemnity.co.uk. The sum insured is £3,000,000.00.
Privacy Policy
We are committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to our website. This policy explains how we use any personal information we collect from you, via our website:
Collecting information: You can access most of the pages on our website without giving us your personal information. However, you may choose to provide us with your personal information for example, you may complete an enquiry form. Any information provided will be held solely by this firm and will not be disclosed to any third party without your knowledge or consent.
Accessing your personal information: You have a right to request any information we hold about you, and to have any inaccuracies corrected. If you would like to do so, or if you have any other concerns about our policy, then please email us.
Disclaimer
The terms of use govern your use of the eg.law Limited website (“our website”). We may amend these terms of use from time to time, and the revised version will be effective when displayed here.
Our website and all of the material within it has been prepared with the aim of providing key information only and does not constitute legal advice in relation to any particular situation. eg.law would be happy to advise on any specific legal matter or problem.
We are happy to accept requests for further information and instructions by email, but you should note that the internet is not a secure medium, and any information sent through our website or via email may be intercepted and may not arrive safely at its ultimate decision.
Our website relates only to the laws of England and Wales except where expressly stated otherwise, and these terms of use shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and you agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales in respect of any disputes which may arise in relation to our website.
Regulatory Info
eg.law and eg.law Limited are trading styles of eg.law Limited Registered in England Company No: 09812563
eg.law Limited is authorised and regulated by SRA, authorisation no: 655344.
CQS Accreditation: CQS04143
eg.law Limited is registered for VAT purposes.