SANTERS SOLICITORS
                                                             "PUTTING THE LAW INTO BALANCE FOR YOU "
Client Care Rules

CLIENT CARE RULES




Our Fees:-

Our charges are calculated mainly by reference to the amount of time I spend on your case in dealing with correspondence and discussions, either with you or other parties involved, in preparing or perusing papers and documentation and generally to progress the matter for you.

We estimate that routine letters and telephone calls take the following time to deal with:-

Letters written and telephone calls made or received – six minutes
Letters received and perused – three minutes

Long letters written or received, and long telephone calls will be individually time recorded, as will for example time that I spend in interview with you or drafting papers.

Our charging rate incorporates the costs of us providing our services in terms of secretarial and administrative work, which is not charged separately.

However, where our fees are as per a quotation given then this quote is however subject to no unforeseen complications arising during the transaction.  Also, should the Solicitors that we are dealing with raise additional and extra matters over and above normal for this sort of transaction there is likely to be additional charges for you.  If these events occur, we will of course discuss with you again the question of costs.

We normally review our charging rates annually, and will, of course, update any change.

We reserve the right to deliver interim bills for work carried out, as this helps both you and us to keep the costs position up to date, and, in long complex matters in particular, we are happy to bill you regularly for work done if you prefer.

In the event that any account is not paid, either by the due date, or within 28 days of delivery, (whichever is sooner), we reserve the right to charge interest at 4% above National Westminster Bank Base Rate, from time to time.

Payments of interest on money held in client accounts:-

The Accounts Rules provide that you must account to the client for any interest earned on client monies, when it is fair and reasonable to do so in all the circumstances.

Additional and Incidental Matters:-

If during this transaction you need advice on investments, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised by the Financial Services Authority, as we are not.  However, as we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, we may be able to provide certain limited investment services where these are closely linked to the legal work, we are doing for you.


At the end of your case as files have to be held for 6 years there is a one-off storage charge of £20.00 plus VAT.  After the 6 years has elapsed your file will be automatically destroyed.  Please note that any Deeds and Documents that you have asked us to keep in our Deeds and Documents Safe are retained and not destroyed unless you instruct us so to do.

If you are selling a property please note that the Deeds and Documents that we may be holding will normally be used in the conveyancing process and most probably handed over to your buyers as part of the previous Deeds package on completion.

Should the file have to be obtained during the 6 years from storage there is currently a handling fee by the Storage Company of £10.00 plus VAT.




Data Protection:-

Due to the changes brought in on the 25th May 2018 by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force we set out below how this firm collects manages and uses personal data.

We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:

Updating and enhancing client records
Analysis to help us manage our practice
Statutory returns
Legal and regulatory compliance

Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulations 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 advisers.  You have the right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you.

In particular would you kindly note that the only information we gather and keep on you relates to your name, address and date of birth as well as any other information that you have kindly provided to us directly with regard to your transaction in which we are instructed.

The information that you have provided will not at any stage be disclosed to any third party under any circumstances unless for your transaction that we are retained you formerly authorise us to supply any such information.

Your information stays secure on the file that relates to your matter and at the expiration of 6
years in accordance with our normal terms and conditions the file and any information will be
destroyed.

Any information stored on our computers are automatically deleted every three months or within three months of the date of your transaction upon which we are retained formerly finishes.

If you have any queries concerning our privacy policy and how we deal with your personal data and its security please feel free to contact our Mr Santer.


Payments of Money:-

We must make it clear that nobody in our office is authorised to receive cash in excess of £500.00 except in VERY exceptional circumstances with the prior authorisation of a partner.

If you try to avoid this policy by depositing cash directly with our Bank, we may decide to charge you for any additional checks we decide is necessary to prove the source of the funds.

Where we have to 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.

We will also need to see evidence of your identity in the form of passports or other photo card identifications and household bills.  This is to protect all parties against money laundering.  Our specific requirements are detailed below:-

Money Laundering:-

1.    Proof of Identity – Money Laundering Regulations 2007:-

The law now requires solicitors, as well as banks, building societies and others, to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of their client.  This is because solicitors who deal with money and property on behalf of their client can be used by criminals wishing to launder money, in order to comply with the law on money laundering, we need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as practicable.  We should be grateful, therefore, if you would provide us with documents to verify your identity and address, as set out on the attached sheet.

2.    Confidentiality:-

Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of the client 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 money laundering disclosure.

If, while we are acting for you, it becomes necessary to make a money laundering disclosure we may not be above to inform you that the disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it because the law prohibits “tipping off”.

3.    Mortgage Fraud:-

Where we are also acting for your proposed lender in this transaction, we have a duty to fully reveal to your lender all relevant facts about the purchase and mortgage.  This includes any differences between your mortgage application and information we receive during the transaction and any cash back payments or discount schemes that the seller is giving you.



Complaints Procedure:-

We hope to offer an efficient and effective service but should there be any query or complaint as to our services or a bill please do not hesitate to raise the matter initially with me, and hopefully we can resolve the matter between ourselves with the minimum of formality, in accordance with our complaints procedures.  If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

If you are not satisfied with the handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 15870, Birmingham B30 9EB, Telephone 0300 555 0333, Email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk to consider the complaint.  Normally, you would need to bring a complaint to Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within a year of the act or omission which you are complaining occurring (or you become aware of it).

We are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and complaints and redress mechanisms are provided through the Solicitors Regulation Authority as well as the Legal Ombudsman.

You also have the right to challenge or complain about our bill in certain circumstances.  This can include the right to apply for a settlement of our bill under part 3 of the Solicitors Act 1974.  If this applies we will advise you with fuller details.

Distance Selling Regulations:-

As we have not met in person with you so far, so the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 apply to this work.  This means you have the right to cancel your instructions to us within seven working days of receiving this letter.  You can cancel your instructions by contacting us by post or by fax to this office.

Once we have started work on your file, you may be charged if you then cancel your instructions.  If you would like us to commence work on your file within the next seven working days, please sign these terms and conditions and return forthwith.

Provision of Service Regulations 2009:-

We comply with the above regulation by displaying the required details of our Professional Indemnity Insurance in our office.










MONEY  LAUNDERING

IDENTITY  REQUIREMENTS


List 1.

•    Current signed passport – (Black and White copy only)
•    Current full UK Driving Licence – photo card or old version (old style provisional licence in not acceptable) or Current EEA Driving  Licence.
•    Benefits book or most recent letter from the Benefits Agency confirming the rights to benefits.
•    Residence Permit issued by Home Office to EU Nationals on sight of own country passport.
•    National Insurance Card together with either P60 or a recent pay slip showing the National Insurance Number and name.


List 2

•    Confirmation from an Electoral Register search that a person of that name lives at that address.
•    Recent utility bill not more than three months old.
•    Most recent bank, building society or credit union statement or passbook containing current address.
•    Last recent mortgage statement from a recognised lender.
•    Benefits book or most recent notification from the Benefits Agency confirming the rights to benefit.
•    Current full UK Driving Licence – photo card or old version (old style provisional licence is not acceptable)
•    House insurance certificate for current year
•    Local Authority tax bill (valid for current year)
•    A certificate from a utility supplier issued in the last 3 months confirming the arrangement to pay for the services on pre-payment terms (mobile phone bills are not acceptable)
•    Local Council rent card or tenancy agreement.
•    Solicitors letter confirming recent house purchase of Land Registry confirmation (additional address identification document also required to verify previous address).
•    Most recent Inland Revenue tax notification.

You must provide the original of one document from list 1 and one document from list 2.


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