Business Philosophy - Legal Craftsmen

We believe that, while traditional values are to be cherished, the way in which legal and property services are delivered should not be rooted in the past. At Corrigall Black(“CB”) our philosophy is to deliver a friendly and efficient service that represents value for money.  To achieve this level of service we work as a team, pooling our talents to provide a solution tailored to your needs.

The business of a solicitor is no different from any other.  There is no one person who can do everything.  Just as it takes more than one craftsman to build a house, so it takes a team of skilled people to provide a quality legal service. We each rely on the skills of the other team members to achieve the client and professional satisfaction that comes from a job well done.

An essential part of teamwork at CB is for every member of the team to have multiple skills.  Every team member has the fundamentals:-

·                    a shared concern for the well being of the client’s affairs;

·                    an honest, friendly and efficient approach to people and the task in hand;

·                    a level of skill in the use of software tools and computer technology.

Over and above these fundamentals each team member has to have their own area of expertise and be proficient in at least two others.  This ensures that the quality of the advice you receive is of the highest standard and that your instructions are carried out quickly and efficiently.

If we cannot deal with a particular type of work, we will “know a man who can”.  Please contact us in the first instance and we will refer you to someone who will look after you. CB is a member of the CONNECT 2 LAW group of legal firms – a UK wide group offering assistance across the range of legal specialities

Standard Terms of Engagement applying to all transactions

We want to retain your business and to do such a good job for you that you will recommend us to your friends and family.  We do not want to lose you because we have not set out our terms of business clearly from the outset.  Here, therefore, are our standard terms of business.

Good Communications

At any one time, there may be several team members working on your transaction.  Overall responsibility for the transaction rests with Mrs Elspeth Black, but the day to day progress of the transaction will often be handled by another team member.  We hold regular meetings when we update each other on the progress of each active transaction.  At the outset of your transaction you will be given our best estimate of the course the transaction will follow.

As your agents, we can only act on the information and instructions you give to us.  You can instruct us either verbally or in writing, although we may ask you to confirm your instructions in writing or we may write to you confirming our understanding of your instructions.  You should not assume that we have knowledge of your personal circumstances.  If there is any change to your instructions, you must notify us immediately.

If, at any stage in the transaction there is anything concerning you about what has happened, what has not happened or what may happen, please contact us.  The chances are we will have the answer. If not, we will formulate a solution and come back to you.  Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Policy on Fees and expenses.

It is the Firm's normal practice to agree a fee basis, including timing and method of payment, for the particular transaction with clients before any work is carried out on the transaction.  If a Fee Estimate for the current transaction is attached to this agreement, the fees shown are based on our best estimate of the work involved in completing the current transaction.  All fees are subject to VAT at the current rate.

Except in so far as specified below our fee will be arrived at by totalling the amount of time we spend dealing with your transaction plus, where appropriate, a Risk and Responsibility factor. Our fees are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate. The hourly charge out rate for each of our personnel is currently £146.30 VAT per hour (matters all handled by solicitors, Elspeth Black, Sarah McGhie or law accountant, Wallace Colquhoun, or support staff under their direction)

These hourly rates are reviewed annually and the new rates take effect from the 31^st of January in each year. We will advise you, in writing, of any changes to these rates.

If someone new joins the firm and takes over the handling of your transaction, unless we advise you to the contrary, their hourly rate will be the same as the person who was handling your transaction previously.

Letters and documents will be charged on the basis of the following Unit charge unless the time taken in producing them is significantly more than the Unit charge.

You are liable for expenses normally and properly incurred in a transaction of this type. By acceptance hereof you give your consent for us to incur and settle these expenses.

Sometimes we may need to employ non-CB personnel to do work on your behalf, e.g. surveyors, accountants, other solicitors or anyone who has the necessary skills required to progress matters. If this is required you will be liable to settle their fees and expenses and you hereby authorise us to settle their fees and expenses from any funds we hold on your behalf.

Any estimate given will be for a probable fee based on our experience of the amount of work usually involved in a transaction of this type.  Generally we split an hour into ten units of 6 minutes each and log each “unit” of time spent. Most letters and phone calls are charged at a minimum of 1 unit, but brief letters or calls may be charged at ½ a unit.

If, due to unforeseen complications, it looks likely that there will be an overspend on the transaction we will try to alert you to this before the overspend occurs.  No further work will thereafter be carried out on the transaction without your authority.

Risk and Responsibility Factor

The figure arrived at by totalling the time spent may be increased by a “Risk and Responsibility” factor. This reflects the complexity and difficulty of the transaction, the urgency with which you want it carried out, the value of any money or property involved, the skill or specialist knowledge required, the risk and responsibility we are required to shoulder on your behalf and anti-social hours involved in looking after this transaction for you. Usually this will be 0.5% of the value of the money or property involved.

Whether a transaction merits a Risk and Responsibility factor and what is a fair and reasonable percentage to be applied will be determined by a suitably qualified Scottish Law Accountant ( we normally submit our files to Quinns, Law Accountants, or to the Auditor of Court)

The policy set out above applies to all transactions but it may be specifically amended if the work to be undertaken falls into one of the following special categories:

Executry Estates

Our fees for dealing with the administration of an executry estate are based on the value of the estate for which Confirmation is obtained, the time expended (charged at £146.30 VAT per hour) in ingathering and distributing the estate plus a percentage of the value of the estate and of the funds intromitted with. The maximum percentage charges are as follows:-

Where there is no Will additional work will be involved in obtaining a Bond of Caution and drawing up the Court Writ. (Note: There will also be an insurance premium payable to the Insurance Company who provides the Bond of Caution. In the absence of a Will this policy is essential and the premiums charged are high.)

Where Inheritance Tax is payable there will be significant additional work involved in dealing with the Inland Revenue.

An interim fee of 1% of the value of the estate for which Confirmation is obtained may be invoiced on Confirmation being obtained and settled from funds as they are ingathered. An interim fee, based on the time spent, may be charged every six months thereafter until the executry estate is distributed or transferred to the beneficiaries. Our final fee, under deduction of any interim fees, and any outstanding outlays will be settled immediately before the bulk of the estate is distributed or transferred to the beneficiaries.

By your signature hereto you agree that we can settle such fees from any executry funds we hold.

If there is a property to be sold or transferred, any Estate Agency or conveyancing work undertaken by this firm will be charged separately and in addition to the fee charged for administering the executry estate. If property is to be transferred to any beneficiary in settlement of his or her entitlement from the estate that beneficiary may require to instruct a separate firm of solicitors to represent his/her interests.

Administering Powers of Attorney and Trusts

Our fees for dealing with the administration of a Power of Attorney or a Trust are based on the time taken (charged at £146.30 VAT per hour), as detailed above, plus a Risk and Responsibility factor of up to a maximum of 1.5% of the value of capital realised, re-invested or transferred and 5% of any income collected.

A fee, based on the time spent and the Risk and Responsibility factor, will be charged every three months. A final fee and any outstanding outlays will be settled immediately before the conclusion of all work in connection with the Power of Attorney or Trust administration.

By your signature hereto you agree that we can settle such fees from any funds we hold.

If there is a property to be sold or transferred any Estate Agency or conveyancing work undertaken by this firm will be charged separately and in addition to the fee charged for administering the Power of Attorney or Trust estate.

Estate Agency

You agree that CB shall be the sole and exclusive selling agents in the sale of the Property.  We undertake to market the Property and to attempt to secure the best sale price.

The selling fee payable to CB, subject to any additional charge for accompanied viewing, shall be 1% of the sale price achieved (the price of the heritable Property and any movable items sold therewith) plus VAT. An estimate is shown on the attached fee estimate. The selling fee becomes due to us when a Contract for the sale of the Property is concluded or settled, whichever happens first.

You will be liable to pay CB for all advertising charges and other expenses incurred by us on your instructions in connection with the marketing of the Property.

If you withdraw or effectively withdraw the Property (or suspend the Property for a period of more than 30 days) from being marketed under our agency prior to the conclusion of a contract to sell the Property you will pay to us a restricted fee of £400 VAT plus the cost of any accompanied viewings and any expenses incurred by us on your behalf. The said sum being due for settlement within 7 days of the date you withdraw, suspend or effectively withdraw or suspend the Property from being marketed by us.

Any upfront marketing costs including any costs for Home reports and energy certificates if such are to be instructed through us and detailed in the attached fee estimate will paid to CB on signing this agreement.

CB will advertise the Property as instructed by you and will pay any advertising accounts on your behalf. You will require to reimburse us from time to time when the total amount paid on your behalf reaches £200.

You will pay the balance of any outlays and our selling fee at the date of entry for the Property and by signing this Agreement you agree that this Agreement shall form an irrevocable Mandate for payment of the said selling fee and outlays to CB at the date of entry from the net sale proceeds of the Property, by the Solicitor acting on your behalf whether or not this is CB.

If at any time a Contract is concluded for the sale of the Property (whether or not such a contract is subject to any suspensive of other conditions) with a purchaser introduced by CB during the period we were marketing the Property for sale or with whom we had negotiations about the Property during that period or with a purchaser introduced by another agent during that period then you will be liable to pay our full selling fee plus VAT.

If there is more than one seller then each of you is jointly and severally liable to pay the whole amount due to CB.

You confirm that you will notify us immediately of any faults or problems that develop with the Property or any of the fixtures and fittings that are to be included in the sale.

              Negotiation Fee

In most sales and purchases, an opportunity will arise for us to employ our commercial experience to negotiate a better deal for you. We will not do this and this condition will not be activated unless we have your express instructions to do so, as there is always a risk that the deal may be lost. If you instruct us to negotiate a better deal for you and we achieve this, we will apply an uplift to our fee of 5% of the improvement in the price. For example, if we were able to achieve an increase in a sale price of £5,000, you will be better off by £4,750 and we will have earned a negotiation fee of £250.

Rebates on fees charged by 3^rd parties

Certain Government Departments or Agencies and other organisations that we deal with when servicing your business will offer a discount on their normal level of fees if we send them information packaged in a way that eases their work processes, e.g. electronically. This typically involves us in installing technology and re-engineering our work processes to achieve these discounts, consequently, CB will be entitled to retain any discounts so earned.

Payment of fees

Except as otherwise detailed in this agreement, all fees payable to CB and any expenses due in connection with a transaction will be settled 7 days prior to the completion of the transaction. If the transaction is a property sale and there will be surplus funds, we will deduct all such fees and expenses from the proceeds of the sale before remitting the free proceeds to you.  For on going matters or transactions that are likely to last for more than 3 months we will render interim fees on a quarterly basis. We reserve the right to withdraw from acting for clients where the terms of this agreement are not adhered to.

Arbitration

If any dispute arises between the parties in relation to the level of fee charged, the same shall be referred to the amicable decision of a suitably qualified Scottish Law Accountant, acting as an Arbiter, to be appointed by the parties, or failing agreement to be appointed by the Chairman for the time being of the Remuneration Committee or its successor within the Law Society of Scotland on the application of either party, the decision of such Arbiter to be final and binding on the parties notwithstanding the terms of the Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1972.

The Arbiter can fix a fee higher or lower than the fee charged.  If it is lower, then we will pay the expenses of the Arbitration and reduce our fee accordingly.  If the Arbiter fixes a higher fee or confirms the fee as charged, then you will be responsible for any increase in the fee and the expenses of the Arbitration.

Cleared funds

The Law Society of Scotland, who are our governing body, have issued guidelines to all solicitors on the vexed question of cleared funds.  At the heart of the problem is that any cheque is not actually money, it is only a promise that the Bank will pay money in exchange for the cheque.  The way that the bank clearing system works means that it can take up to 5 banking days for the promised money to be deposited in our bank account.  If the firm were to send out a cheque on the strength of an uncleared cheque and, for whatever reason, the uncleared cheque does not clear, this could lead to the firm being closed down by the Law Society.

In light of this guideline, we have had to implement stringent standard procedures for all transactions that cannot be departed from.  These are:-

·      If we receive funds by cheque, whether from you or from the mortgage lender, we will need that cheque no later than 7 banking days prior to the completion date.

·      Before we send out any free proceeds of sale, the cheque received from the purchaser’s solicitors must have cleared in our account.  This can take up to 5 banking days.

·      As soon as funds are cleared in our account, clients can request that the free proceeds be electronically transferred via the banking CHAPS system to their nominated account under deduction of our standard administration fee, currently £25 VAT.

The implication if you are a house buyer is that your new mortgage will start 5 banking days before you get the keys.  For house sellers, you will not receive any free proceeds and your mortgage will not be redeemed until 5 banking days after you have parted with the keys.

Interest on cleared funds

It is the firm's policy that all cleared funds held by the firm for clients should earn interest for clients at the best rate that can reasonably be achieved taking into account the amount of the funds involved and the length of time the firm is expected to hold the funds.

The Law Society Accounts rules require interest to be earned for clients where that is reasonable and as a guide to what is reasonable suggests; (a) that sums in excess of £500 are put on an interest earning account and the (b) we account to you for all interest, irrespective of the amounts.  We can charge our standard administration fee, currently £25 VAT for this service. However we have an arrangement to invest our client’s monies in these circumstances in the Royal Bank of Scotland in a Special deposit account in the client’s own name. Unless you wish us to make other arrangements for a deposit we would not make the administrative charge .

Confidentiality

Neither the firm nor any of its employees will disclose to any person any information relating to the business you have entrusted us with, except, of course, as required in the proper conduct of that business.

Money Laundering

CB is obliged by law, along with all other solicitors, to comply with all civil and criminal legislation currently in force. This includes the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. These require us to undertake identity checks on all clients and, notwithstanding any confidentiality issues (subject to “privileged” circumstances), to report to the authorities any transaction or activities we regard as “suspicious”.

In terms of the Money Laundering Regulations we need to verify your identity, your date of birth and your address by checking official documents. Even though we may know you personally we still have to comply with these regulations.

As part of our identity checks we may make searches about you with a credit reference or Fraud Prevention Agency; this will include information from the Electoral Roll.  This is not a credit check and will not affect your credit rating. The agencies will record the details of the search whether or not this transaction proceeds.  Any documents provided to us will be recorded and copied for audit purposes as part of our Anti Money Laundering requirements. There is a charge of £25 per person for these searches and we will add this to your bill.

We are not allowed to do any work until we have verified your Identity and Address

Anyone who does any work for you before these checks have been carried out would be committing an offence under the Money Laundering Regulations. As you will appreciate this is not a risk we want to expose any of our staff to, but at the same time we want to be able to start working for you as soon the Regulations permit.

The best solution is for you to get the documents mentioned above to us as soon as possible, but if you need us to start work before you can get the documents to us then we can do a Referencing Agency check. The Referencing Agency report will allow us to make a start but we will still need to see your passport or some form of Photo ID from you within 7 days.

The 7 day Rule

To protect our staff from putting themselves in breach of the Regulations we have adopted a 7 days rule. The effect of this is that if we do not have the necessary documents within 7 days, all work on your transaction will stop until the documents are produced.

We cannot accept or make payments in cash of more than £1,500

We are unable to accept or make payments in cash of more than £500. If we do receive a cash payment of more than £500 from you or should you ask that we make payments totalling more than £500 in cash, you should be aware that it may take a minimum of 8 working days and a maximum of 40 days for us to obtain the necessary clearance from the authorities before we can use any cash you give us or make the payment in cash you requested.

The only exceptions to the £500 rule are: (a) where we collect rent on behalf of a Landlord and the tenant proffers the deposit and 1^st month’s rent in cash and (b) where we collect a debt on your behalf and the payment is proffered in cash. In either of the above cases the limit is £2,000 in cash.

We can only accept funds from or make payment to a Bank account in your name with a UK Bank

By signing this agreement you agree that any cheque/CHAPS/BACS payment you make to us will be from a UK bank account in your name. Also you agree that we will only make a payment to a UK bank account in your own name and to no other account.

If the funds come from any other source or are to go to any other destination it may take a minimum of 8 working days and a maximum of 40 days for us to obtain the necessary clearance from the authorities before we can use that money. This will result in additional cost to you and it might result for example in you not getting the keys to your new house on the day you had expected.

The best solution is for you to avoid this possible complication by gathering the funds in an account in your name and then writing a cheque or arranging a CHAPS transfer to us from your own account. (Your Bank will charge you up to £30 for a CHAPS transfer.  Please do NOT be persuaded by your Bank in accepting a Bank’s Draft instead of a CHAPS. A Banker’s draft is not cleared funds and will trigger additional Money Laundering checks which will delay things).

Termination of appointment

Either of us may terminate our professional relationship at any time by giving written notice to the other.  We hope that this will not happen but if it does, you will pay us all fees and outlays and expenses incurred prior to such termination and due to us in accordance with these Terms of Engagement, together with any further fees and outlays and expenses reasonably incurred by us in connection with the transfer of our files to another solicitor instructed by you. Where CB markets your property for sale we are entitled to be paid the Estate Agency fee if the eventual purchaser’s interest in your property originated prior to our agency being terminated. Upon payment, we will deliver the originals or copies of all deeds and documents belonging to you.

Acceptance of terms of engagement

It would be helpful if you would indicate that you accept the terms and conditions by signing and returning the accompanying duplicate of these Terms of Engagement.  However, it is not essential that you do so, your continuing to instruct us will be deemed to be acceptance of these terms.  These foregoing standard terms, as amended by any separate agreement, will govern the current transaction and any subsequent transaction that commences within the next 6 months.

Distance Selling Regulations

You should be aware that, if your transaction is one which is deemed to fall within the Distance Selling regulations, you may have a right to withdraw your instructions should you decide not to proceed, without any charge, by writing or emailing your instructions to us within seven working days from the date you receive this. However, unless you instruct us to wait for the seven day period to elapse before we start working for you, this will not apply and you will be taken to have consented to our starting to work for you immediately.

Complaints & feedback re levels of service

If you have any reservation or complaint about the service delivered to you please contact Mrs Elspeth Black whom the Firm has appointed as Complaints Officer to adjudicate on any such matters.

If the matter cannot be resolved then you are always entitled to refer it to the Law Society of Scotland, 26 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh EH3 7YR.

Ownership of the intellectual property rights in work produced while we act on your behalf

It is very rare that a complete transaction is unique and original. Usually large parts of the letters, contracts, other documents and advice are produced from documentation or knowledge we have accumulated over many years. We will copy all and any documents to you but all intellectual property rights in the documentation remains the sole property of CB.

Shredding of your paper file on the completion of the transaction

We now archive all files electronically. All archived files are stored and retrieved via computer. This helps us respond to your queries quickly.

All paper files are therefore surplus and will be safely disposed of once electronically stored at archiving stage (after the completion of the transaction). However we need your authority to do this for the current transaction and any future or closed files we hold for you.

In all cases we will retain an electronic version of your paper file for future reference.

I/We the undersigned hereby confirm our instruction that CB are to act on my/our behalf in connection with {matters.TITLE} and agree that the terms of engagement detailed above will govern this and any subsequent transaction that commences within the next 6 months.

I/We confirm having ticked one of the above boxes in the section relating to shredding and re-cycling our paper files.