TERMS OF BUSINESS

Rich Legal is the trading name of Rich Legal Limited (the “Firm”), a private company limited by shares and registered in England with company number 15941340 .  Rich Legal Limited is authorised and regulated by the SRA. SRA Registration Number 8014356.  A copy of the SRA Code of Conduct can be found on our website (www.sra.org.uk).  A list of directors of the Firm is open to inspection at our registered office, 15a Stoughton Grange Rural Centre, Gartree Road, Leicester, LE2 2FB.  Any reference to a “director” in relation to the Firm means one of our directors and does not indicate that any director, employees or consultants of the Firm are carrying on business in partnership.

These are our Terms of Business and we ask that you take time to read them.  These Terms, together with any accompanying engagement letter, constitute a contract between you and the Firm provided that, in the event of any conflict, the engagement letter shall prevail.  In these Terms of Business, a reference to “we”, “us”, “ourselves”, “our” or Rich Legal Limited means the Firm. Any reference to “you” or “your”, or any similar expressions, means the individual, company or organisation for and on behalf of whom we are or will be acting (the “Client”).

• Your contract is with the Firm alone and no contractual relationship of any nature will arise with, nor will any services be provided by, any individual director, employee and/ or consultant of the Firm other than for and on behalf of the Firm.
• The engagement letter will tell you which of our lawyers will be working for you and who will be your day to day contact. It may be necessary to involve additional or substitute lawyers as circumstances require.

We hope that you will never feel the need to complain about the level of service we provide. However if you are dissatisfied with our service we want to know immediately. We shall look into your complaint promptly and thoroughly and do what we can to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

Should you wish to make a complaint, please follow the Stages below

You will not be charged for our time spent dealing with a complaint internally.

If you are not satisfied by the end of the internal complaints procedure, you do also have the right to refer any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our final written response who can be contacted at:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough, SL1 0EH
Telephone: 0300 555 0333

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern.

These time limit rules should normally be satisfied for the Legal Ombudsman to accept the complaint. Please refer to the Legal Ombudsman’s scheme rules for further information: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/about-us/#scheme-rules

Alternative complaints bodies such a ProMediate (http://www.promediate.co.uk/professionals-complaints/consumer-guidance) exist, which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. Rich Legal Limited does not agree to use ProMediate as we prefer the Legal Ombudsman’s clear adjudication process.

For the avoidance of any doubt, a complaint may include a complaint about our bill. Depending on the type of matter we are handling for you, you may also have the right to object to the bill by applying to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. Please note that if all or part of a bill remains unpaid we are entitled to claim interest upon that proportion that is unpaid.

Complaints About Misconduct

If you have any concerns about any misconduct or breach of the SRA Code of Conduct by our firm such as taking or losing your money, dishonesty or discrimination, you can also report the matter to our regulatory body, the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Their details are:

The Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
0370 606 2555
http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page

1. This agreement is governed by English Law and is solely between you and us.
2. Where there is more than one of you, your obligations will be joint and several.
3. The Courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any disputes that may arise between us.

The firm 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.

1. We are under a professional and legal obligation to keep your affairs 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 Crime Agency (NCA). Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of the client involves money laundering or other financially related activities the solicitor may be required to make a disclosure to NCA. If this happens we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made, or of the reasons for it, because we may be prohibited by law from doing so. You agree to waive any legal professional privilege in respect to any disclosure we make to NCA. Where the law permits us to do so we will tell you about any money laundering problem and explain what action we need to take. We do not accept any liability for any loss flowing directly or indirectly from our compliance or with our duties relating to matters outlined in this section.
2. We may ask you for proof of your identity, home address and source of funds and those of related third parties for anti-money laundering purposes. We may also verify your identity and carry out checks on your credit worthiness by using external database providers as appropriate. You hereby consent to us accessing and storing such external electronic data. We may make a charge of up to £20.00 plus VAT to cover the cost of any such checks and any associated printing and copying. The Money Laundering Regulations requires us to retain documents obtained to fulfil our AML obligations for a period of 5 years. However, it is our policy to retain our full file of papers for a period of 6 years. Please see paragraph 16 below.
3. In property transactions, where you are making a purchase, we will require confirmation of your source of funds such as savings, gift, loan etc, including that of any giftors.
4. It is our firm’s policy to only accept cash up to a limit of £500.00 per transaction. If you try to avoid this policy by depositing cash directly with our bank, we may decide to charge you for additional checks we decide are necessary to prove the source of these funds.
5. Your files and papers will be used only by us in order to deal with your matter unless otherwise expressly agreed with you.
6. External Firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. In addition, External Compliance firms may assist in regulatory and compliance matters including complaints handling. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files. For quality control purposes, and if required by our accreditation body (if any), your files or papers may be selected for internal or external quality review. You must notify us in writing please if you wish your files or papers to be excluded from quality checks of this kind.
7. The Firm hopes to achieve the Conveyancing Quality Standard (CQS) of the Law Society. As a result of this we may become subject to periodic checks by outside assessors. This could mean that your file is selected for checking, in which case we would need your consent for inspection to occur. All inspections are, of course, conducted in confidence. If you prefer to withhold consent, work on your file will not be affected in any way. Since very few of our clients do object to this we will assume that we do have your consent unless you notify us to the contrary. We will also assume, unless you indicate otherwise, that consent on this occasion will extend to all future matters which we conduct on your behalf. Please contact us if we can explain this further or if you would like me to mark your file as not to be inspected. If you would prefer to withhold consent, please notify us in writing immediately.
8. Any private and personal information about you will be processed in accordance with the principles of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. You have the right to ask to see any personal information about you that we have and to have it corrected if it is inaccurate. We will only provide third parties with personal information in the furtherance of your interests and where we are legally obliged to provide that information; otherwise we shall obtain your prior consent before disclosing any private information.
9. We are registered under the Data Protection legislation with number ZC201642 and you consent to the storage and use of your data by manual or electronic means.
10. Subject to our on-going duty of confidentiality and in compliance with the Data Protection Act we may wish, with your consent, to seek publicity concerning our involvement in any transaction or case. You will have the opportunity to review any proposed publicity material prior to its release.
11. In property transactions, we will advise the lender client of any relevant information arising during the retainer.

Unless otherwise agreed, and confirmed in writing by us, our charges are calculated primarily by reference to the time spent on your matter by us. This may include (for example) meetings with you or others, making and receiving telephone calls, drafting and receiving correspondence (including e-mails), considering, preparing and working on documents and where appropriate travelling. All time is recorded in units of a minimum of 6 minutes and multiples thereof.

The value of time is expressed as an hourly rate. Unless otherwise indicated the current range of hourly rates (exclusive of VAT) are:

1. Hourly rates are subject to change both generally and in specific cases. General revisions usually apply from 1 April each year. In individual matters we may agree an increase in the hourly rate where there is particular urgency, complexity or responsibility. In such cases we reserve the right to terminate our retainer if we cannot agree increased substitute rates.
2. All quotes and estimates of fees exclude VAT and disbursements. We will charge VAT in accordance with the prevailing legislation. We are registered for the purposes of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and our VAT registration number is 516 2772 90.
3. Where we give an estimate, it is based on the assumption that the matter proceeds reasonably smoothly and without undue complications or delays. An estimate is only a guide and is neither a cap nor a quotation. If an estimate is going to be exceeded, we will try and give you as much notice as possible. Requests to expedite matters may require further work to be undertaken and additional resources to be deployed. Estimates and quotes in respect of fees are usually prepared on the basis of certain assumptions which will be clearly set out. Where those assumptions prove to be inaccurate or there is a change of circumstances we will not be bound by the figure we have given and will provide you with a revised estimate or quote on the basis of the new circumstances.
4. In property transactions except where we agree otherwise, fees may be calculated by reference to both the time spent on the matter and a percentage of the value of the property to reflect the additional risk associated with larger transactions. This rate will in practice vary according to the value of the property and the nature and complexity of the transaction.
5. In all matters our fees and any estimates or quotes which we give are subject to the addition of VAT and disbursements incurred. Disbursements are sums we pay in their entirety to third parties on your behalf, such as Court fees, search fees, copy documents and the fees of barristers or experts. We may also levy a reasonable charge for services such as photocopying, faxing, document production, telephone conference, international calls, electronic money transfers and verification of identity.
6. Fees are payable whether or not your matter is successfully concluded or completed. We only act on a contingency fee, conditional fee or “no win no fee” basis where we agree this in writing with you in advance. Details of such arrangements, where appropriate, will be set out in the engagement letter.
7. You may, on written notice to us, set an upper limit on the legal fees to be incurred on your matter without further reference to you. This will mean that when the limit has been reached we will not proceed with any further work on the matter without your prior consent to expending further costs or fees.
8. In property transactions if your transaction should go abortive, regardless of fault, you will be responsible for paying this firm’s legal fees which will be calculated in accordance with the time carried out on your file to the date the transaction becomes abortive, together with any disbursements which have been incurred to that date subject to a minimum fee of £300 plus VAT. Where the transaction is aborted and the matter was ready for exchange and completion then the full quoted fees will be charged.

What if I do not think your charges are fair?

1. Our objective is to ensure that the legal fees which we charge are fair and reasonable. If you do not consider this to be the case, then you should first of all discuss the matter with the director responsible.
2. If you are still unhappy then you may object to your bill:
   1. By way of the Firm’s complaints procedure; and/or
   2. By making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman; and/or
   3. By applying to the Court for an Assessment of the bill as set out in sections 70, 71 and 72 of the Solicitors Act 1974.

1. Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph payment of any monies is due and payable within 14 days on presentation of our invoice. If all or part of our invoice remains unpaid after 31 days we are entitled to charge interest on the outstanding amount at the rate payable on judgement debts in accordance with article 5 of the Solicitors’ (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 2009.
2. In property transactions we may send an invoice in respect of our fees, charges and disbursements following exchange of contracts and payment in full in cleared funds is required in accordance with our normal invoice terms or, if earlier, prior to or upon completion.
3. We will normally submit monthly interim invoices during a transaction unless we have agreed an alternative schedule for the timing of invoices before a matter or transaction is concluded or completed.
4. Where funds are payable to you upon completion of a matter we may deduct monies due to us, or becoming due, on this or any other matter we are handling on your behalf, unless otherwise agreed in advance. If you provide us with funds (such as purchase monies) to be used in completing the matter those funds must be cleared through the banking system before we can use them. We would charge a fee for the services we provide for both special clearance of funds or for any electronic bank transfers made or received in connection with your matter and this will include any fees charged to us by our bankers.
5. Any monies due to you from us during the course of or at the conclusion of the retainer will be paid by cheque in your name (or the equivalent) or electronic transfer to a UK bank account held in your name or in joint names (if we are acting jointly for two or more clients) and will not be paid to a third party.
6. From time to time we may require you to make a payment on account of fees, charges or disbursements in advance. We will hold any such funds in our client account until the fees or charges are invoiced or disbursements fall due. We have your authority to transfer funds from our client account to settle relevant invoices or disbursements as long as we have sent you an intimation of costs or an invoice. We also have your authority to transfer funds between differing matters we are handling on your behalf to clear outstanding invoices and disbursements.
7. Payments to us should, wherever possible, be made by direct transfer or banker’s draft.
8. If any payment of an outstanding invoice or disbursement or payment on account of costs is not made in accordance with our agreed terms, then we may suspend or cease work on your behalf both on the matter in question or any other matter in respect of which we may be acting for you. In such cases, we will not be responsible for any loss or damages you may suffer as a result.

Any of your money which we hold for you, for whatever reason, will be held in a bank account, separate from our own money. We will account to you for interest on this money, in accordance with the current SRA Accounts Rules but we will not account to you if the interest earned is less than £50. Generally, such interest is paid to UK resident clients without deduction on account of tax and should be declared by recipients to the appropriate taxing authorities accordingly.

We bank with National Westminster Bank Plc and have notified the bank that we deposit monies from multiple clients into a single account. On this basis, we are advised that funds held by us on behalf of clients who are individuals or small businesses are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in case of a bank collapse, which is currently limited to £120,000 per eligible person (or such other amount as may be enforced from time to time). Please note that if you also bank with the same bank as us then the FSCS would, in calculating the £120,000 limit would add all monies held in your name together with all funds belonging to you held in our client account. We will not be liable to any client for any monies lost by virtue of a bank collapse, failure or any similar event, nor will we be liable for any consequential loss arising from an inability to withdraw such funds, other than may be prescribed by law or by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

1. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, we are included on the register maintained by the FCA so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity, which is broadly 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 Solicitors Regulation Authority. The register can be seen on the FCA website at www.fca.org.uk
2. If during this transaction, you need advice on investments we may refer you to someone who is authorised by the FCA. 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.
3. If you have any problem with the services, we have provided for you then please let us know. We will try to resolve any problem quickly and operate an internal complaints investigation procedure to facilitate this. If for any reason, we are unable to resolve the problem between us then the Legal Ombudsman or the Solicitors Regulation Authority is responsible for providing a complaints and redress scheme.
4. If we receive commission for financial services provided to you then, unless otherwise agreed between us, we will account to you for that part of the commission which exceeds the amount of our fees and disbursements.

1. We carry professional indemnity insurance for the services we provide to the value at present of up to £3 million per claim.
2. For the purposes of paragraph ‘a’ above, “per claim” means all claims against the Firm arising from:
   
   • One act or omission, one series of related acts or omissions, the same act or omission in a series of related matters or transactions and similar acts or omissions in a series of related matters or transactions; or
   • One matter or transaction.
3. Details of our professional indemnity insurance is available upon request.

1. We exclude any and all liability for damages, claims, actions, proceedings, awards, compensation, costs, expenses and all other losses and/or liabilities which exceed the amount covered by our professional indemnity insurance from time to time.
2. You agree not to bring any claim against any individual director, employee and/or consultant of the Firm in respect of loss and/or damage suffered by you arising out of and/or in connection with the services provided by us (including, but not limited to, negligence or non-performance with the service by us).
3. The restriction above, will not operate to limit or exclude the liability of the Firm (as opposed to its directors, employees and/ or consultants) for the acts and/or omissions of any individual director, employee and/or consultant of the Firm. You and we both agree that any individual director, employee and/ or consultant of the Firm will have the right to enforce paragraph 13.1 and 13.2 under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
4. Each of the limitations and/ or exclusions contained in these Terms of Business is deemed to be repeated and apply as a separate provision for each liability in contract (including material/ fundamental breach), liability in tort (including negligence), liability for breach of statutory duty and liability for breach of common law except our cap on liability under paragraph headed ‘Insurance’ above, which applies once to cover all of these bases of liability.
5. The limitations contained in these Terms of Business do not limit and/or exclude our liability for death or personal injury due to our negligence/ liability for our fraud and/ or liability of ours which it is not permitted to limit and/or exclude as a matter of applicable law.
6. We exclude any and all claims for damages and/ or loss arising from any loss of funds occasioned by the failure, insolvency or inability of any bank or other financial institution to honour its obligations to you whether in respect of client account balances or other monies.

1. For the avoidance of any doubt any advice we give will be provided solely to you as our client. Our advice may not be used or relied upon for any other purpose or by any other person (including any other advisors instructed by you) without our express prior written agreement. Furthermore, our advice may not be disclosed to any other person (except your other advisors for the purposes of the transaction or matter in question) without our express written agreement.
2. To the extent permitted by law we exclude any and all liability for any damages, claims, actions, proceedings, awards, compensation, costs, expenses and all other losses and/or liabilities to third parties in relation to the relevant matter.
3. You agree to indemnify us, and keep us indemnified, against any damages, claims, actions, proceedings, awards, compensation, costs, expenses and all other losses and/ or liabilities which arise from a third party obtaining from you any aspect of the work carried out or advice provided by us unless we have agreed in writing to accept liability to such third party in relation to that advice.
4. All third party rights are excluded and no third party may enforce the contract between you and us unless we expressly agree in writing to the contrary or unless and to the extent otherwise stated in these Terms of Business.
5. If we agree to accept liability to third parties, our fees may be adjusted to reflect this additional risk.
6. In acting for a corporate entity, we do not assume a separate legal responsibility for advising members and/or shareholders and/or directors and/or employees and/or officers of the corporate entity unless specifically requested by such persons to do so and then only with our prior written consent and with the consent of the corporate entity. Such advice will be given subject to there being no conflict of interest and the issue of a separate engagement letter.

1. You may end your contract with us at any time.
2. We may terminate the contract:
   
   1. Where we are unable to obtain your instructions;
   2. Where for whatever reason the relationship between us has broken down or issues of conflict arise or our rules of professional conduct prevent us, or make it imprudent for us, to continue to act; or
   3. Where you have failed to pay our fees, charges, VAT or disbursements on time, or to provide a payment on account sought.
3. We also reserve the right in the alternative to suspend work in these circumstances until such time as the problem has been rectified and in such circumstances the following will apply:
   
   1. You will be responsible for payment of all fees, charges, VAT and disbursements for work undertaken or expenditure incurred up to the date of termination subject to a minimum fee of £300 plus VAT.
   2. We are entitled by law to retain any documents or property belonging to you until such time as all legal fees, charges, VAT and disbursements that you owe to us have been paid.
   3. After we have completed your matter, or the contract between us has terminated, we are not responsible for reminding you of any date or deadlines that may arise in connection with it. You should diarise critical dates such as dates for service of notices, expiry of time limits, exercise of options, renewal of leases, break dates and rent reviews.

1. We operate on a largely paper light office and therefore all documents received by the firm will be copied and scanned on to our case management system and the copy document then destroyed. If you wish to have any original documents returned to you then please advise your fee earner at the time of sending in your document so that arrangements can be made to return the original document back to you. The document will be returned by ordinary first class post unless the document is a passport, driving license or other equally important document. Upon completion of any matter for you we are entitled to retain your papers, documents or other property held by us if there is any money owing to us in respect of our charges until you have paid any outstanding amount, including interest in full.
2. We shall keep our file of papers (except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to you) on the understanding that we have your authority to destroy the contents of the electronic file six years from the date of delivery of our final invoice in respect of the matter. Under the Money Laundering Regulations, we are required to destroy any documents or information obtained as part of our client due diligence obligations after five years. However, it is our policy to destroy files after six years as such you consent for the firm to destroy such CDD documents in line with our file destruction policy. We shall not, however, destroy documents which you specifically ask us to deposit in safe custody such as wills or deeds.
3. We do not normally make a charge for retrieving your file or original deeds in respect of continuing or new instructions to act for you. However, we reserve the right to make a charge based on the time we spend reading the file, writing letters and other work necessary to comply with your instructions. If later we are asked by you to retrieve copy papers or documents from your file in relation to this matter we will charge for such retrieval the sum of £40.00 plus VAT. However, we may also make a charge based on time spent for producing papers or documents.
4. If we are given or asked to take custody of any original documents or deeds belonging to you, those documents or deeds will be retained in our storage system to your order until their return is requested by you or separate arrangements have been made with your consent. We reserve the right to withhold release of any documents or deeds until payment of any outstanding charges is made by you.

   We will make every reasonable effort to keep documents left with us safe and undamaged and in the event of loss or damage will help to restore or replicate any document, but we do not guarantee absolute safe custody and if this is required any deeds or documents should be deposited with your bank or secure safety deposit facility.

As between ourselves we own the copyright and intellectual property rights in any documents, clauses or other materials that we produce for you. All materials may be used by you only for the purposes covered by our retainer and not for the commercial exploitation unless we agree otherwise.

1. Under the Regulations, for some instructions made outside our normal place of business or at your home, you have the right to withdraw within 14 calendar days after the date on which the contract between us comes into force.
2. Where the Regulations apply to the work we do for you, you acknowledge that we will be incurring fees attributable to that work.
3. Under the Regulations, you will not have the right to withdraw if you have expressly asked us to start the work before the end of the 14 calendar day cancellation period, and the work is fully performed, and you have also acknowledged that you would lose the right to cancel once the work has been fully completed.
4. By you accepting these Terms of Business, you are expressly requesting us to start your work before the end of the 14 calendar day cancellation period, and you acknowledge that if we fully complete the work, you do not have the right to withdraw, and will be responsible for all our fees together with any disbursements
5. If you validly withdraw before the end of the 14 calendar day cancellation period, and we have not fully completed the work before then, then you will be responsible for a proportion of our fees calculated from the date we started the work, until the date you informed us in accordance with the Regulations that you wished to withdraw.
6. If you seek to withdraw your instructions and cancel, you should give notice to the person named in the Client Care Letter as being responsible for your work or to us. The Regulations require you to either complete a model cancellation form as attached, or that you make a clear statement setting out the decision to withdraw.

1. You have the right to cancel this contract within 14 calendar days without giving any reason.
2. The cancellation period will expire after 14 days after the date on which our contract comes into force.
3. To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel this contract by a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or e-mail). You may use the attached model cancellation form, but it is not obligatory. Please email at akumar@richlegal.co.uk or write to us at Rich Legal Limited, 15a Stoughton Grange Rural Centre, Gartree Road, Leicester, LE2 2FB. Please quote your full name, address and reference number
4. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the 14 calendar day cancellation period has expired.

1. If you validly cancel this contract within the 14 calendar day cancellation period, and we have not started any work, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you.
2. We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 calendar days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel this contract.
3. We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement.
4. If you requested us to start the work during the cancellation period, you shall pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been performed until you have communicated us your cancellation from this contract, in comparison with the full coverage of the contract.

1. You may have been referred to this firm by an estate agent or other third party for which a referral fee has been paid
2. If your matter is one which has been referred to this firm then this will be set out in the accompanying engagement letter.
3. We only take instructions from you and will not disclose your affairs to them unless it is necessary to the dealing of your matter.
4. We confirm that the advice we give is completely independent from any referral source.