Terms and Conditions

Important information please read.

In order to protect you from fraud we will NEVER change our bank details by email or phone. If you receive any communication that you are suspicious of please contact the fee earner dealing with the matter immediately.

Any change of our bank details will be communicated in a letter on our letterhead. However, if you receive such a letter and have any suspicions please confirm the change with the fee earner as well, using contact details provided on a previous letter.

To ensure that any monies due to you are paid into the correct bank account we ask you complete details on the last page and provide a bank statement (containing the sort code and account number) of the account you would wish monies to be paid into. We ask for a statement to ensure there are no errors in copying the details.

If you wish to change your bank details we ask you again provide the Account number and Sort Code and a statement of the account you wish it paid into. Sometimes we know it will not be possible due to time constraints to provide all the documents and we will use our best endeavours to check the information with you (we may refuse transfer if we think someone has impersonated you and request further information).

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. These terms and conditions set out the basis on which Symes Bains Broomer Limited (referred to in these terms and conditions as “we” “us’ or “Symes Bains Broomer”) will carry out work for you. This document should be read together with and is subject to, our client care letter.
1.2. If there are any inconsistencies between these terms and conditions and our client care letter, the client care letter will take precedence.
1.3. These terms will apply to any future instructions unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing.
1.4. Your continuing instructions will amount to your acceptance of these terms and conditions, but please sign and date the copy of these terms and conditions and our client care letter and return it to us immediately as work may not be able to commence until one copy has been returned to us.
1.5. If you have any further questions, please contact the fee earner or partner with ultimate responsibility for this work named in our client care letter.
1.6. Our offices are open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). Please be aware that Mondays and Fridays are the busiest days - as is the last working day of the month.
1.7. You authorise us, unless agreed otherwise, to take such action as we think necessary to obtain the required result. We may not refer to you for specific instructions every time we take a step. If, therefore, there is a limit to what we are required to do, or a limit to expenditure, we must be notified of this in advance.
1.8. If we are acting for more than one person we have an obligation to obtain instructions from each of them. This may be inconvenient for you and so to enable us to accept instructions from either of you on behalf of both, you are asked to sign the authority at the end of the terms and conditions. We will then accept instructions from either of you on behalf of both.
1.9. The funding of any matter is very important you should check all insurances to ensure that you do not have any pre-existing policy that might cover the costs of the matter. If you believe you might qualify for Public funding you should discuss it with the fee earner. If you have any questions on costs or funding you must discuss them with us.

2. THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR WORK

2.1. Symes Bains Broomer Limited is a limited company. The directors of the company are Howard Stephen Field LL.B, Solicitor, Jonathan Colin Stones LL.B, Solicitor. Within our organisation, these are referred to as being a "Partner / Director", as well as just a "Partner". Within Symes Bains Broomer Limited, we use "Partner" to designate a senior lawyer, being either a senior solicitor or senior chartered legal executive.
2.2. The work you have instructed us to carry out on your behalf is described in our client care letter. Where possible, we will confirm any change in your instructions in writing.
2.3. The fee earners who will carry out most of the work in this matter and the director(s) of this firm with ultimate responsibility for this work and for you as a client are set out in our client care letter. Other partners and staff may carry out work for you. Their use is cost-effective where they perform tasks such as research, administration, and preparing first drafts of documents and letters. You may ask for details of all those working for you at any time.
2.4. If for any reason any of the fee earners assisting you in this matter are unavailable, please ask for another member of their team who will try to assist or take any message for you.
2.5. If there is a change in the fee earner responsible for the work, we will inform you promptly who will be handling the matter.
2.6. Some of the people working on your matter may not be solicitors, although they work under the supervision of solicitors.
2.7. We may sub-contract aspects of your work to appropriate specialists. If we do so, we will inform you, and we accept responsibility for their work unless we agree otherwise with you.
2.8. For the purposes of ensuring the continuing quality of our work, your file may be reviewed periodically by other fee earners, external auditors, Legal Aid Agency, and the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. By accepting these terms of business, you consent to us releasing your file for an audit.
2.9. Everyone working for you from time to time will be working for and on behalf of Symes Bains Broomer Limited and not in a personal capacity.
2.10. Copyright in any document created by us is and remains vested in us and will not be transferred to you. We may object to any misuse of such document.

3. OUR CHARGES EXPENSES AND VAT

3.1. Our charges are set out in our client care letter. Unless otherwise expressly agreed, time spent will be the basis of charging and is set out in more detail below.
3.2. We may be able to agree an alternative charging arrangement such as a fixed fee. Any such arrangement will be set out in our client care letter.
3.3. In our client care letter we give an estimate, if possible, about the likely overall costs. The detail and accuracy of the estimate will depend on the nature of your instructions. The estimate will:
1. 3.3.1. give an estimate of charges and expenses; or
2. 3.3.2. give a forecast within a possible range of charges and expenses; or
3. 3.3.3. Explain to you the reasons why it is not possible to fix, or give an estimate and give instead the best information possible about the cost of the next stage of the matter.
3.4. Unless we expressly agree otherwise, all estimates, quotations or other indications of cost are intended as a guide and are subject to change.
3.5. Unless it is self-evident, we will inform you if any unforeseen extra work becomes necessary. We will also inform you in writing as soon as it appears that a costs estimate or agreed upper limit may or will be exceeded. If we are subsequently asked to provide any additional services then these services will be subject to a separate charge outside any costs that we have agreed.
3.6. We keep a detailed record of the time spent by each person working on your matters. Each Fee earner has an hourly charging rate and records time in units of six minutes. Our charges are calculated mainly by reference to the time spent on advising on the matter, including advising, meetings, drafting and preparing documents, negotiating, dictating and drafting letters and file notes, research, correspondence, considering correspondence in, making and receiving telephone calls, travelling, waiting time and time spent in supervising the matter. We may also take into consideration issues such as urgent, varied or delayed instructions, the importance, value, complexity, uniqueness and urgency of the work and the outcomes delivered.
3.7. Our rates are reviewed in January in each calendar year. We may also review our rates at any other time. Please also note that the qualification levels of solicitors may increase during the course of the matter. Should rates change before the matter is concluded, we will inform you of the new rates.
3.8. If there is any doubt over the charging rate of a particular fee earner the Guideline Hourly rate for the Grimsby Court area will be used. Please see http://www.supremecourt.uk/procedures/practice-direction-13.html#20
3.9. If we do not complete the work, we will charge you for the work done and expenses incurred in accordance with these terms and conditions. It should be noted that property transactions which fail to complete often involve as much work as those which reach completion.
3.10. In addition to our charges, we will require you to pay all disbursements and expenses incurred by us during the conduct of your matter in advance. These may include but are not limited to telegraphic transfer fees, court fees, counsel’s fees, agent’s and expert’s fees, search fees, taxes, registration fees, costs draftsman’s fees, company searches, telephone conference calls, and travel.
3.11. We will charge VAT on our charges at the applicable rate at the time our bill is issued to you. If we have agreed a fixed fee with you we will add VAT to our charge at the rate that applies when the work is done. VAT will also be payable on certain expenses and disbursements.
3.12. We have no obligation to pay disbursements unless you have provided us with funds for that purpose.
3.13. We may ask you to make payments in advance known as payments on account. These are to cover our expected charges and expenses and help to avoid delaying progress in the matter. We reserve the right to cease acting for you in the event that such payments are not made when requested.
3.14. We will try to give advance warning of the likely payments you may have to make to third parties, such as to barristers and registration fees, and at what stages they are likely to be required.
3.15. Where other professionals are engaged to act on your behalf, for example accountants, we may require you to contract with them and to pay their charges directly. Where we engage other professionals on your behalf, we do so as your agent. We will take care in engaging them but we will not be liable for any act or omission of those professionals.
3.16. Unless we agree otherwise, we may send out interim bills for our charges and expenses, which will be estimates of the work or expenses done. In order to save time and costs no detailed assessment of the work done will be undertaken. We reserve the right to increase or decrease the amount charged in an interim bill at the time of completing the final bill or on detailed assessment of our costs.
3.17. We will send a final account after completion of the work on a particular matter.
3.18. Accounts should be settled within 14 days. We may charge interest on bills which are not paid in full within that time period at the rate of 4% a year above the base lending rate of the Bank of England from time to time. If the whole of the bill has not been paid we are entitled to charge interest on the outstanding amount in accordance with the regulation that may be in force at the time.
3.19. If it is necessary for us to seek judgement against you for payment of our bill the judgement will accrue interest at the judgment rate of interest, which is set by the Courts, from the date of the judgement.
3.20. This interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the unpaid amount. You must pay us interest together with the overdue amount.
3.21. If we have issued you with a final bill and we are or become liable to a third party for fees or expenses incurred on your behalf, we may send you a further bill or bills to cover any such disbursements to the extent that these have not been included in the final bill.
3.22. If you request us to issue a bill marked as being payable by a third party and we agree to the request, you will remain liable for any VAT due on it. You will also be liable to pay the bill or any part of it if such third party does not pay it by the due date.
3.23. We may keep all papers and documents belonging to you while money is owing to us. This is also known as a lien.
3.24. If you have paid to us any money on account of our anticipated charges and/or expenses, or if we recover or receive any monies from any third party on your behalf we may use such money to pay all or part of any unpaid bills at any time (subject to any restrictions imposed by a third party or court).
3.25. If you have any query or concern about your account, you should contact the fee earner straight away. You can also complain to the firm’s complaints handling partner as set out below.
3.26. If you remain unhappy about your account (which we hope will not be the case) you also have a right to object to the bill by making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and/or by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. An application to the Court must be made within one month of the delivery of the bill.
3.27. If your bill is not paid within 14 days you agree to pay the following towards cost/expense we incur in recovery of the debt:
1. 3.27.1. £24.12 (£20.10 plus VAT of £4.02) per letter/ email/ correspondence
2. 3.27.2. £24.12 (£20.10 plus VAT of £4.02) per six (6) minute intervals spent on telephone calls.
3. 3.27.3. All reasonable disbursements incurred in pursuing the debt.
4. 3.27.4. £70 towards the costs of instructing an enquiry agent to locate you if you have moved or are not responding to letters.

4. PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS

4.1. Please be aware that any payment which we receive from you should be made in the following forms:
1. 4.1.1. Bankers Draft
2. 4.1.2. Building Society cheque
3. 4.1.3. Personal cheque (which must be received in sufficient time for clearance to meet any deadline in connection with the transaction)
4. 4.1.4. Electronic Transfer to our own bank provided that BEFORE you instruct your bank to make the payment you advise us in advance AND you supply the full name, address, sort code and account number of your bank, and the amount being sent.
4.2. Please note that we also accept the following methods of payment
- CASH : MAXIMUM £550.00
- CHEQUE : NO LIMIT
- DEBIT CARD : MAXIMUM £3,000
- CREDIT CARD i.e. Visa/Mastercard : MAXIMUM £3,000
4.3. We are not obliged to accept cash payments, but we will accept cash to the maximum of £550 per transaction (for this purpose a sale and purchase constitute one transaction as does the purchase or sale of a portfolio of properties).
4.4. We DO NOT accept business debit / credit cards
4.5. We reserve the right to charge additional fees in respect of any additional costs or time expended for counting, checking and banking cash.
4.6. Payments must NOT be made direct into our account without our prior agreement.
4.7. We will not accept payments by third parties except in exceptional circumstances and only with prior notice and agreement, and will require acceptable evidence of identity and address before the payment is made.
4.8. We reserve the right to cease acting for you if any payments are made by you or on your behalf in breach of the above requirements. We will not accept responsibility for any loss or additional expenses incurred by you as a result of such termination, or any delay in the transaction caused while we verify the source of the funds. Any additional charges incurred as a result of such delay will be your responsibility and must be paid before we continue to act for you.
4.9. In relation to sale or re mortgage transactions, by accepting our terms and condition you will be giving to us express authority to discharge all mortgages, charges and other encumbrances that are registered against your property including undertakings given to third parties (such as banks or other financial institutions) to discharge monies due to them out of the proceeds of sale. This authority must be considered as irrevocable.
4.10. In the case of property sales / purchases:
1. 4.10.1 We will deliver a bill following exchange of contracts and payment is required:
4.11. If a bill is delivered in concessionary figure (“but say”) and remains unpaid after one month we reserve the right to credit the account with the amount of the “But say” bill and render a full account for the work done on the basis of a detailed costs analysis.
4.12. Any money received on behalf of you will be held in our client account.
4.13. When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a limited company, we may require a director and/or controlling shareholder to sign a form of personal guarantee in respect of the charges and expenses of this practice. If such a request is refused, we will be entitled to stop acting and to require immediate payment of our charges on an hourly basis and expenses as set out earlier.

5. INTEREST PAYMENT

Please see our Interest Policy page
5.1. The client account we maintain is an instant access account to facilitate transactions. As a consequence the interest earned will usually be less than would be earned if the money were held in a deposit account. Interest will be calculated and paid to you at the rate of 3% below Barclays Bank PLC’s Base Rate. https://www.barclayscorporate.com/interest-rates/barclays-base-rates/
5.2. The period for which interest will be paid will normally run from the date(s) on which funds are received by us until date(s) of electronic payment or issue of any cheque(s) from our client account.
5.3. We may retain the first £50 of each amount of interest as due under our interest policy, and when calculated to help us cover administrative expenses of arranging these calculations and payments.
5.4. Where you obtain borrowing from a lender in a property transaction, we will ask the lender to arrange that the loan cheque/bank transfer is received by us a minimum of four (4) working days prior to the completion date. If the money can be sent by CHAPS, we will request that we receive it the day before completion. This is to enable us to ensure that the necessary funds are available for completion. Such clients need to be aware that the lender may charge interest from the date of the issue of their loan cheque/bank transfer or the transfer of payment.
5.5. In the event that we act in relation to a probate matter in which funds are collected and held in a Symes Bains Broomer Limited client account, the interest rate payable will be by separate agreement at the discretion of us.
5.6. All payments due to you in interest under our interest policy need to be declared to the HMRC as they will be paid as a gross amount with no income tax deducted.

6. RECOVERY OF COSTS IN LITIGATION MATTERS

6.1. If you have a legal expenses insurance policy, you should check with your insurers the level and extent of such cover before instructing us to undertake any work on your behalf as cover can rarely be obtained under the policy retrospectively. If you have such a policy it may be a stand-alone policy or it could be attached to a household insurance or motor insurance policy or to a credit card. If you have any queries regarding the policy please contact the fee earner responsible for your case for further information.
6.2. In litigation the usual rule is for the losing party to pay the successful party their reasonable charges and expenses. These would be assessed by the Court in the event that they were unable to be agreed between the parties. Ultimately, the Court may order the other party to pay only some of your legal charges and expenses and not all of them. Please be aware that personal Injury claims have their own costs rules known as Qualified One-way Costs Shifting (QOCS) that apply.
6.3. We will try to recover the maximum amount of legal charges and expenses from the other party if you are successful. You will, however, remain responsible for paying the whole of your legal charges and expenses.
6.4. In some circumstances (usually if you lose all or part of your case or in the circumstances set out below) the Court may order you to pay the legal charges and expenses of the other party. These will be payable in addition to your own legal charges and expenses. It is sometimes possible to insure against this risk and we will provide you with advice where appropriate.
6.5. If you are unsuccessful at a Court hearing during your case, the Court may order you to pay certain legal charges and expenses immediately or within a certain specified time.
6.6. Different rules apply to:
1. 6.6.1. The recovery of legal charges and expenses in lower value cases (usually £10,000 or less) which fall within the Small Claims Court procedure. As a general rule in such cases, each party will be responsible for their own legal charges and expenses.
2. 6.6.2. Matrimonial proceedings where the Civil Procedure Rules (‘CPR”) do not apply; we will advise you about costs in matrimonial proceedings in our client care letter and as the matter progresses.
6.7 The Court has a wide discretion in deciding how the costs of a case should be paid. Whilst we will provide advice where it is possible that an adverse costs order may be made against you, some common scenarios of where adverse costs are likely to be awarded even where you do not lose all or part of your case, are listed below:-
1. 6.7.1. Withdrawal or discontinuing the Court Proceedings; this will usually occur where you decide that you no longer want to continue the matter. Where you choose to withdraw or discontinue the Court Proceedings once commenced, the opposing party is entitled to apply to the Court to recover the costs that they have incurred in dealing with the Court Proceedings to the date of the withdrawal or discontinuance, unless you agree other arrangements with them;
2. 6.7.2. Refusal of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”); ADR is the term used for any method of dispute resolution that does not involve formal proceedings such as mediation. Parties are encouraged at all stages of Court proceedings to use ADR to try and settle disputes, where appropriate. We will advise where ADR is appropriate, as where ADR is unreasonably refused by a party the Court may penalise that party in relation to the recovery of their legal costs, even if they win their case;
3. 6.7.3. As a consequence of Part 36 offers; Part 36 enables any party to a dispute that is governed by the CPR to set out formal offers to settle the matter either before or after Court proceedings have been issued. If such offers are not accepted by the other party or parties, within prescribed time periods, this may have an adverse impact on the recovery of costs at the conclusion of the case if the Court considers that the offers should have been accepted;
4. 6.7.4. Failure to accept a reasonable Without Prejudice Offer; a without prejudice offer of settlement can be made at any time during a dispute. Similar to Part 36 offers, such offers can be brought to the attention of the Court when it is considering costs at the conclusion of the case. Where a reasonable offer of settlement has been refused, the Court may use its discretion to penalise a party in relation to their recovery of legal costs. We will provide detailed advice to you as your matter proceeds to enable you to assess the risks/benefits of continuing with your case as against either making or accepting an offer to settle under CPR Part 36 or as a without prejudice offer;
5. 6.7.5. Where an Order is made against you; by a Court, Adjudicator or Arbitrator, and you fail to comply with the terms of that Order within any prescribed time limits, you may face increased costs of any action taken by the opposing party to enforce the terms of the Order. The levels of costs will depend on the action taken to enforce an Order. Please be aware that interest may also accrue on monetary awards contained in an Order.

7. COMMUNICATIONS, E-MAILS AND STORAGE OF PAPERS AND DEEDS

7.1. We may use e-mail facilities when acting for you.
7.2. We do not accept service of documents by e-mail or fax.
7.3. Please be aware that all incoming e-mails are scanned for viruses, offensive material and dangerous attachments. If your e-mail contains offensive material, a virus or has an attachment that is not accepted by our system (e.g. zip file) your e-mail will not be received by the fee earner. We accept no liability if an e-mail is not received by the fee earner.
7.4. Following completion of the matter, we will keep our file of papers (except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to you) for a minimum of 6 years after sending you our final bill. We may destroy our file after that time unless we indicate otherwise.
7.5. We may disclose information if at anytime any legal duty requires us to disclose documentation or give information orally or in writing relating to you or to the matter. If any such document is subject to legal privilege, we shall notify you and ask you whether you want to waive privilege. If you do not waive privilege, we may charge you for any time spent and expenses incurred by us in preserving privilege on your behalf at such hourly rates applicable at that time.
7.6. We will not destroy any documents such as wills, deeds and other securities, which we have been asked to hold in safe custody. No charge will be made for such storage unless prior notice in writing is given of a charge to be made from a future date which may be specified in that notice.
7.7. We aim to communicate with you by such method as you may request.
7.8. Unless instructed otherwise, we will communicate with others when appropriate by e-mail or fax but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent by such media.
7.9. The Data Protection Act 1998 requires us to advise clients that their particulars are held on our database. We may, from time to time, use these details to send information which we think might be of interest to you. We do not make such information available to any other provider of products or services.
7.10. If we are acting for you in a property transaction we may also be acting for your lender. This means we have a duty to make full disclosure to the mortgagee of all relevant facts relating to you, your purchase and the mortgage. That will include disclosure of any discrepancies between the mortgage application and information provided to us during the transaction and any cashback payments or discounts schemes which a seller is providing you. If a conflict arises, we must cease to act for you in this matter.
7.11. If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we will normally make a charge based on time spent producing stored papers or documents to the client or to another party at the client’s request.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY

We will respect the confidentiality of information we receive from you and others on your behalf while acting for you. Save as necessary to give effect to your instructions we will not disclose such information to others without your prior consent unless we are required to do so for legal or regulatory reasons.
If you are giving joint instructions to us sensitive and confidential matters may be discussed. Your acceptance of these terms and conditions is taken as authority to us to discuss these matters with both parties to the instructions unless this authority is subsequently withdrawn and at which point we will need to consider whether we can continue to act for any of the parties
You will appreciate that we owe the same duties of confidentiality to all our clients and cannot therefore disclose to you confidential information held for them without their consent.
All advice given to you is entirely confidential, but:
1. Money laundering regulations may require disclosure of confidential information by law. Please note that we accept no responsibility for any loss arising from compliance with money laundering provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and any amending legislation howsoever caused.
2. The Solicitors regulation Authority and other supervisory bodies may call for a file which is the subject of a complaint.
3. A Court Order can compel disclosure of confidential material in certain circumstances.
As part of our continuing commitment to providing a high quality of service to all our clients, Symes Bains Broomer Solicitors maintains accreditation with a number of schemes and services including (but not limited to) the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. The audit procedure laid down by the schemes or services may require examination of confidential files from time to time under strictly controlled circumstances and only to duly appointed and qualified individuals. Acceptance of these terms and conditions by you is deemed to include consent to such disclosure, which may be withdrawn by you in writing at any time.

9. ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING

9.1. The law now requires solicitors as well as banks, building societies and others to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of their clients. This is because solicitors who deal with money and property on behalf of their clients can be used by criminals to launder money. In order to comply with the law on money laundering we will need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as practicable.
9.2. We are subject to UK requirements to identify clients for the purposes of anti-money laundering legislation. We will therefore ask you to provide us with appropriate evidence of identity and address or other information, which we will retain.
9.3. If satisfactory evidence or information is not provided within a reasonable time of our request we may have to stop working for you. In that event you will be charged for the work done up to the time we stop acting.
9.4. Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation, however, is subject to 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 Serious Organised Crime Agency. Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering, the solicitor may be required to make a money laundering disclosure. If, while we are acting for you, it becomes necessary to make a money laundering disclosure, we may not be able to inform you that a disclosure has been made or of the reasons for it because the law prohibits this.
9.5. We may use personal data provided by you in order to conduct appropriate anti-fraud checks. Personal data that you provide may be disclosed to a credit reference or fraud prevention agency, which may keep a record of that information.

10. LIABILITY YOUR ATTENTION IS PARTICULARLY DRAWN TO THIS TERM

10.1. We will use our reasonable skill and care in providing the services set out in our client care letter or any written variation or addition to them (“the services”).
10.2. If we are liable to you for any loss or damage you may suffer in accordance with the laws of England and Wales subject to the following provisions:
1. 10.2.1. Our liability to you will be limited to that proportion of your loss and damage which is just and equitable having regard to the extent of your own responsibility for the loss and damage and that of any other party who may also be liable to you in respect of it. For the avoidance of doubt, in considering whether other parties may be liable to you, no account is to be taken of any inability on your part to enforce remedies against another party by reason of causes of action against that party becoming timed-barred, or the party’s lack of means or the party’s reliance on exclusions or limitations of liability;
2. 10.2.2. Our maximum liability shall not exceed the aggregate limit of two million pounds inclusive of interest and costs or, if different, the figure set out in our client care letter;
3. 10.2.3. Our liability in respect of damages for losses of money we place with a bank or building society arising from banking failure shall not exceed the minimum level of cover required for the time being in relation to us by the Solicitors’ Indemnity Insurance Rules for a policy of qualifying insurance (at the date of publication of these terms and conditions of business, three million pounds inclusive of interest and your costs);
4. 10.2.4. Our liability in respect of the acts or omissions of third parties shall be limited in accordance with this clause; and we will not be liable for any loss, damage, cost or expense arising in any way from your (to include your members, employees or agents):
  1. 10.2.4.1. fraudulent acts, misrepresentations or wilful default;
  2. 10.2.4.2. failure to properly advise us or give us the correct information;
  3. 10.2.4.3. delay in instructing us or providing us with information that we request.
  4. 10.2.4.4. If we receive instruction from a professional (Estate agent, Surveyor etc) on your behalf we accept no liability for limitation period or statutory deadlines that are not notified to us by the professional if those deadline expire within 2 month of us receiving the instructions

11. OUR COMPLAINTS POLICY

At Symes Bains Broomer Limited we aim to provide the highest standards of service to our clients and to operate our business to the professional standards which others affected by our conduct have the right to expect.

Dealing effectively

We are committed to providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint about our service or a bill that we have rendered on or both please contact us with the details.

The person to contact is:

Mr Jonathan Colin Stones
Symes Bains Broomer Limited
2 Park Square
Laneham Street
Scunthorpe
DN15 6JH
Tel: 01724 281616
Email: jonathan.stones@sbblaw.com

What will happen next?

We will send you a letter/email acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 14 days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure. It may be necessary for us to ask you to explain, clarify or provide further necessary information in respect of your complaint.
We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve reviewing your file and speaking to the member of staff who acted for you.
Within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter we will either:
- - provide a full detailed response in writing, including our suggestions for resolving the matter;
- - (where appropriate) invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.
If a meeting is held, we will write to you within 14 days after the meeting to confirm the outcome.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again with any further comments or information you wish to supply and we shall review the decision.
We will then write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our further or final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

If still unresolved at this stage, you may take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. Normally, you will have to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint and 6 years from the date of the act or omission giving rise to the complaint or alternatively 3 years from the date you should reasonably have known there are grounds for complaint (if the act/omission took place before 6 October 2010 or was more than 6 years ago).

However, please note that from 1 April 2023, these time limits are changing. From the 1 April 2023 the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising that there was a concern. The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final responses to you remains the same.

The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Tel: 0300 555 0333 or 0121 245 3050 (calling from overseas)
www.legalombudsman.org.uk
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

12. TERMINATION

12.1. You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time.
12.2. We may terminate our contract by giving you reasonable notice. We may only decide to stop acting for you with good reason such as, for example, if we are unable to secure clear or proper instructions from you, the relationship of trust and confidence between us breaks down, or you fail to pay our charges and expenses in accordance with these terms. This will be regardless of the stage that we have reached in proceedings. You will be responsible for our charges and any expenses incurred on your behalf up to the point where the contract between us ends.
12.3. If you or we decide that we will stop acting for you, we will charge you for the work done and expenses incurred plus any charges and expenses for work necessary in connection with the transfer of the matter to another adviser of your choice and/or removing ourselves from the court record (if applicable).
12.4. Once we have completed a matter and closed our file we are not responsible and accept no liability for dates and deadlines that may arise as a result of that matter.
12.5. If a conflict of interest arises, we must cease to act for you in the matter where the conflict arises.
12.6. After completing any work, we are entitled to keep all papers and documents whilst there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses.

13. LIMITATIONS ON OUR ADVICE

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and therefore are not able to provide finance advice in relation to tax, financial products or investments.
Where financial services are involved we recommend that you involve an independent specialist adviser who has appropriate regulatory authorisation.
We will not provide any advice on the direct and/or indirect tax issues arising in connection with a matter unless we agree to do so in writing. If in the course of a matter, tax information becomes available to us, we may pass this on to you, but this will not mean that we have taken on the role of providing tax advice, unless we have expressly agreed to do so in writing.
Any work that we do for you may involve planning or development implications or necessitate the consideration of planning or development strategies. We may not be qualified to advise you on the planning or development implications of a transaction that you instruct us to carry out, or the likelihood of them arising. If you have any concerns in this respect, please raise them with us in writing immediately. If we can undertake the research necessary to resolve the issue, we will do so and advise you accordingly. If we cannot, we may be able to identify a source of assistance for you.
In property transactions we will not carry out a physical inspection of the property. We will not advise on valuations of the property nor the suitability of your mortgage nor any other financial arrangements. We will not advise on environmental liabilities where we shall assume, unless you tell us in writing to the contrary, that you are making your own arrangements for any appropriate environmental survey or investigations. We may, however, need to obtain on behalf of your lender at your expense an environmental search.

14. PUBLIC FUNDING

If you are eligible for Public funding (also known as legal aid) there are additional requirements regarding the provision of proof of eligibility.
You are required to provide all documents requested by Legal Aid Agency (or its successor) within 14 days of the request. If you fail to comply your funding may cease.
You are required to consider any offer made and we may be required to inform the Legal Aid Agency of the offer. If the offer is unreasonably rejected your funding may cease.
If you fail to make required payments to the Legal Aid Agency your funding may cease.
The Legal Aid Agency may place restrictions on the work that can be done and the costs that can be incurred. We cannot exceed these limitations unless you agree to alternative funding.
If your Public Funding ceases;
1. We will no longer be able to act unless alternative funding arrangements are agreed.
2. You may become liable for the legal costs incurred.
3. If Court proceedings have been issued we may be removed from the Court record as acting for you.

15. RELEVANT LAWS AND REGULATIONS

The provisions of these terms and conditions and our client care letter are between you and Symes Bains Broomer Solicitors and do not confer any benefit or right to enforce any of their terms on a person who is not a party to this Agreement.
Advice that we give you must not be passed on to others without our prior written consent. The advice which we give is confidential and for the exclusive use of you as our client.
Under the Consumer Protection (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, for some non-business instructions, you may have the right to withdraw, without charge, within 14 working days of the date on which you asked us to act for you. However, if we start work with your consent within that period, you lose that right to withdraw. Your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business will amount to such consent.
If you seek to withdraw instructions, you should give notice by telephone, email or letter to the person named in the client care letter as being responsible for your work.
In accordance with the Regulations we inform you that the work involved is likely to take more than 30 days. Your acceptance of these terms and conditions of business will amount to your acknowledgment of the notice and that we do not need to complete the work within 30 days.
These terms and conditions and our client care letter will be governed by English law and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Each provision of these terms and conditions and the client care letter is severable and distinct from every other provision. If any such provision is or becomes illegal, void or unenforceable the remaining provisions will continue in force as though that provision had not been included. The headings do not form part of the contract and are for convenience only.

Please now check/complete the information on the last page and below it to us

__________________________________________________________________________________

Title	Mr / Mrs / Miss / Ms / Dr Other:
Full Name (including all middle names)	................................................................................................
Date of Birth	................................................................................................
National Insurance number	................................................................................................
Bank account number	................................................................................................
Sort code	................................................................................................
(please supply copy statement)	................................................................................................
Home Phone	................................................................................................
Mobile phone	................................................................................................
Email address	................................................................................................
Postal address	................................................................................................

We require that you sign and return one copy of these terms and conditions to us before we can start work.

I/We confirm that I/We have read and understood, and I/We accept, these terms and conditions.

You may accept instructions from any of us on behalf of us all of us in connections with all matters relating to our joint instructions.

I/We agree to my/our details being retained on a computer database.

I/We have read the above.

I /We give you authorities requested and to instruct you to act for me/us on the terms set out.

Signed_______________________________
Dated ________________________________

Due to regulation we are required to wait 14 days before commencing work on your matter. If you wish us to commence work immediately confirm the same below.

Please commence work immediately: signed___________________________

COMPUTER REF: 045201/0002

RIGHT TO CANCEL

If you have instructed us to act either off premises (i.e. not at our offices) or by some other distance means you may have the right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts regulations 2013.

If you have requested that work be done immediately you may lose your right to cancel.

Right to cancel

You have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from the day of the conclusion of the contract.

To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us :Symes Bains Broomer Solicitors of 2 Park Square, Laneham Street, Scunthorpe DN15 6JH [T : 01724 281616] 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.

To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.

Effects of cancellation

If you cancel this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).

We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than –

(a) 14 days after the day we receive back from you any goods supplied, or
(b) (if earlier) 14 days after the day you provide evidence that you have returned the goods, or
(c) if there were no goods supplied, 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to cancel this contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement.

Cancellation form

To : Symes Bains Broomer Solicitors of 2 Park Square, Laneham Street, Scunthorpe DN15 6JH [T : 01724 281616]

I/We [ ] herby give notice that I/We [*] cancel my/our for the supply of the following service; (please describe if appropriate)

Ordered on [*]/ received on [*],

Name of consumer(s) :

Address of consumer(s) :

Signature of consumer(s) :

Date :

[*] Delete as appropriate.