1. These terms and conditions are provided to comply with certain standards recommended by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (www.sra.org.uk), and also to indicate to clients as clearly as possible the standard of service you can expect from us and the amounts, and how, we will charge for the work we do.
2. These terms and conditions do not affect statutory and common-law rules which govern solicitors' business, but if there is a conflict between them and these terms and conditions, the terms and conditions will prevail as far it is possible to do so.
3. When 'we' and 'us' are used in these terms and conditions they mean Chris Sayer Solicitors LLP. Chris Sayer Solicitors LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in England with number OC378487 and is authorised and regulated by The Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 596276.

Responsibility for work carried out on your behalf

Chris Sayer shall carry out most of the work in this matter personally, working with Sandra Sayer who is and will be familiar with the file. Chris is a law graduate from Oxford University, after which he qualified as a solicitor and practised commercial law in London for 10 years. Following that Chris was a UK partner for a leading Dublin based law firm, dealing with major property and business transactions over a period of 5 years. Sandra is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. Sandra spent 10 years in residential conveyancing in London following which she joined a niche commercial practice specializing in Landlord and Tenant work, portfolio acquisitions and sale and leaseback transactions for large family concerns. For the past 15 years Chris and Sandra have run their own practice in York specialising in residential property transactions

Charges and expenses

It is our policy to always provide our clients with a fixed fee quote for this firm’s fees in connection with a transaction at the outset of any transaction. Please note that we specialize in York and its surrounding areas. Should you be interested in our services then please contact us with details of the property involved and we will let you know if we can assist and if so provide a quote.

The quote will be based on the transaction not having any unusual aspects to it entailing work which would not usually have to be carried out in a typical transaction. For example, unusual aspects could involve the need to negotiate and obtain a specific Deed for Access or Services in the event that a property lacked sufficient rights in its title documents, or if an application had to be made to the land registry for registration of land through adverse possession, if no title documents were available. If the transaction did develop any unusual aspects of this sort, then we would advise you as soon as possible after they come to light and agree with you a further figure to be paid, based on the time required to be spent on the additional work. Our hourly rates are Chris Sayer £200 plus VAT at 20% (£40) and Sandra Sayer £150 plus VAT at 20% (£30)

In the event that the transaction does not go through to completion due to your own decision to withdraw then our fees will be payable by you. The amount of such fees will depend on the amount of work we have carried out for you and may be a small amount or the whole amount.

We are always happy to provide individual quotations of our charges for particular transactions – please contact us and we will send you a written quote with fees and disbursements breakdown, tailored to your own requirements.

As an example our typical charges for average transactions which do not present unusual difficulties at a value of £300,000 are as follows:

• Sale of a freehold property - £655 + VAT £131
• Sale of a leasehold property - £1,034 + VAT £206.80
• Purchase of a freehold property - £655 + VAT £131
• Purchase of a leasehold property - £1,034 + VAT £206.80
• Purchase of a new build freehold property - £1,305 + VAT £261
• Purchase of a new build leasehold property - £1684 + VAT £336.80
• Remortgage of a freehold property - £655 + VAT £131
• Remortgage of a leasehold property - £1,034 + VAT £206.80

Where funds are paid out by Clearing House Automated Payment System (CHAPS) (which is usually the case on a purchase or remortgage), there is an additional charge of £30 + VAT £6 for each CHAPS payment made and where funds are received by us by CHAPS payment there is a charge of £5 plus £1 VAT for each incoming payment received.

Where there is a mortgage to register on a purchase, or to redeem on a sale, we make an additional charge of £160 plus VAT £32

Where there is a Help to Buy or lifetime ISA we make an additional charge of £50 plus VAT £10 per ISA.

Disbursements

Disbursements are expenses which we have to pay to others to enable your transaction to proceed. The actual disbursements payable will depend upon the property. Typical disbursements on a purchase or remortgage at a value of £300,000 may include:

• Local Authority Search fee - £60 - £340 + VAT (the price of an official local authority search is determined by the relevant local authority)
• Environmental Search fee - £80 + VAT £16
• Chancel Liability insurance - £15.79
• Drainage Search fee - £54 + VAT £10.80
• Land Registry Search fee - £3
• Land Charges Bankruptcy Search fee - £2 per name
• Land Registry fee - £150
• Mining Search - £51.41 + VAT £10.28
• Freeholder's Notice fee - £50 - 550 + VAT, payable when you purchase a leasehold property
• Stamp Duty Land Tax – this depends on the purchase price of your property and your particular circumstances but HMRC have a useful calculator (https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax/#!/intro). Should you instruct us we will provide an estimate based on your personal circumstances.

On a sale of a property, the only disbursements are usually:

Land Registry fee - £6
Freeholder Agent’s fee – £150 - £500 + VAT, payable only on the sale of a leasehold property

Funds on Account

We will normally ask you to pay certain sums in advance of us carrying out work and incurring expenses on your behalf. From time to time we will ask for further sums in advance during the course of the matter. We will offset such payments made in advance against the invoices we will send to you from time-to-time and the final invoice. However, you should be aware that the total charges and expenses are likely to exceed the advance payments you have made to us.

We reserve the right to clear any cheques or other forms of payment you provide to us before carrying out any work on any aspect of your case

Invoices

1. We will send an invoice to you prior to completion and the invoice is payable at completion of your transaction or matter. If your matter does not proceed and our costs are payable we will send an invoice as soon as is practicably possible and the same is payable within the time stated on the invoice
2. You should pay our invoices on receipt. We will charge you interest at 8% per year from 28 days from the date of the invoice. Interest is charged on a daily basis.
3. If you have any queries about any invoice you receive please contact us immediately.

Disputed invoices and taxation

1. If you are not satisfied with the amount of our fee you have the right to complain to Chris Sayer on 01904 424 291 or by email to chris@chrissayer.co.uk. We have a written complaints procedure which is available on request
2. Referral to The Legal Ombudsman and timescales
3. If we have been unable to settle your complaint you have a right to complain to the Legal Ombudman. The time limits for referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will be not later than:
   1. one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
   2. one year from the date when the complainant should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
   The Legal Ombudsman will retain the ability to exercise discretion to extend the one-year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it was fair and reasonable to do so. You must also refer your complaint to the Ombudsman within six months of our final response. The Legal Ombudsman will accept complaints from individuals and certain other entities. Please see their website (below) for further details. Further information (including an explanation of the time limits) may be obtained by you from the Legal Ombudsman at any time. The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at:- PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ Telephone: 0300 555 0333 Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk (Please note that only copies of documents should be sent to the Legal Ombudsman’s office to avoid any original documentation being lost or destroyed.) The Scheme rules which the Legal Ombudsman applies when dealing with complaints can be accessed here.
4. You have also an additional right to apply to the High Court. This court will review the amount charged in an invoice. The process is called 'taxation' and is subject to certain limitations. For details on your rights concerning this, please consult the Solicitors Act 1972 Sections 70 to 72.

Electronic mail

Data protection

Proof of identity

1. The law now requires solicitors, as well as banks, building societies, and others, to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of their clients. We should be grateful, therefore, if you would complete our Client Information Sheet and would provide us with documents to verify your identity and ad-dress. Normally until we have received satisfactory evidence of identity we will not be able to act for you, or receive funds or pay any funds to you or on your behalf.
2. Please could you provide your current valid passport together with a second form of identity (such as a utility bill, bank statement) which shows your current address and which is not dated more than 3 months prior to the date we ask for evidence of your identity. If you are unable to fulfill these requirements please let us know and we can discuss alternative ways for you to provide alternative means of identity.
3. If you are an organisation, these requirements will apply to each individual who deals with us on behalf of the organisation (such as directors, managers and employees).

Confidentiality, money laundering and proceeds of crime

1. Solicitors are under a professional and legal obligation to keep the affairs of clients confidential. This obligation, however, is subject to a statutory exception: recent legislation on money laundering and terrorist financing has placed solicitors under a legal duty in certain circumstances to disclose information to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Where a solicitor knows or suspects that a transaction on behalf of a client involves money laundering, the solicitor may be required to make a money laundering disclosure. If this happens, 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.

Insurance and liability

1. You acknowledge and agree that if you wish to make a claim relating to or in connection with the services provided by us, the claim can only be brought against Chris Sayer Solicitors LLP and not against the individual members, officers or employees. We believe this is reasonable as it corre-sponds to modern business practice and that Chris Sayer Solicitors LLP has in place indemnity in-surance in excess of the minimum cover required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
2. 'Claim' means any claim whether arising out of this agreement or otherwise, and whether such claim is in contract, tort, breach of trust or on any other basis
3. Our maximum liability for loss or damage for breach of contract, breach of trust, negligence or oth-erwise (other than fraud) is £3 million for any one transaction/matter or series of connected trans-actions/matters.

Storage of papers and documents

1. We are entitled to keep all the papers and documents generated by us or received from you or oth-er persons (including original documents) if some any sums owing by you to us have not been paid at the end of our work on the matter or after the termination of the retainer.
2. We normally keep papers for no more than 6 years (except for those you ask us to return to you). We keep the papers on your acceptance that at the end of 6 years after the date of the final invoice we sent to you we have your express authority to destroy the papers. However, we will not destroy papers you have expressly asked us to deposit in safe custody..
3. We do not usually charge to retrieve papers or documents held in storage where you providing con-tinuing or new instructions. We may charge (based on the time we spend in producing stored pa-pers or documents) for producing them to you or to another person at your request.

Termination

1. You can terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time. But if you have not paid all the sums owing to us, we are entitled to keep your papers and documents until you do so.
2. During the course of the matter you may come to believe that we should stop acting for you, for example if you cannot give us clear or proper instructions on how we should proceed, or it is clear that you have lost confidence in the way in which we are carrying out work on your behalf.
3. We will only stop acting for you when we have a good reason to do so; for example:
   1. if you do not pay one or more of our invoices, or
   2. if you do not make an advance payment promptly when we required to do so, or
   3. if you provide instructions which are unreasonable or would require us to breach a professional rule or a duty to the court or involve the commission of a criminal offence.
4. If we decide to stop acting for you we will give you reasonable notice that we are to stop acting. The precise length of the notice will depend on the circumstances.
5. If you decide that you no longer wish us to act for you, you will pay us for the time we spend based on hourly charges plus any expenses incurred up to the date of our ceasing to act for you.

Our service and complaints

1. Our aim is to provide a service with which you will be satisfied. However, we do realise that on some occasions your expectations may not be met or that you may have a query or concern or simply be dissatisfied. If any of these occur, initially please raise them with the person(s) named in our engagement letter sent to you at the beginning of your transaction. If you cannot resolve them to your satisfaction or would not wish to speak to the person named, then please contact the person named who has overall responsibility for your matter ? Chris Sayer.
2. We have a written complaints procedure. If you would like to receive a copy of it please contact Chris Sayer on 01904 424 291 or by email to chris@chrissayer.co.uk
3. If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman (Tel 0300 555 0333, email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk, or by post to PO Box 6806 Wolverhamp-ton WV1 9WJ) to consider the complaint. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint

4. What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour:

   The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

   Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority - www.sra.org.uk

Further instructions concerning non-contentious matters

If you provide us with further instructions concerning other non-contentious matters, these general terms and conditions will apply, unless we agree otherwise.

Law and jurisdiction

This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales and each party agrees to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Payments in lieu of interest on client funds

Chris Sayer Solicitors LLP (the firm) have a policy of paying an amount in lieu of interest ("interest") to clients where the firm holds money in a general client account on their behalf in the course of providing legal services.

1. Rate and calculation of interest paid

   The rate of interest the firm pays on such funds fluctuates depending upon the rate of interest that the firm can secure from its principal bankers from time to time.

   The firm does not pay the full rate of interest which it earns on general client funds to clients be-cause this is an enhanced rate that the firm can secure from holding large levels of client funds in aggregate.

   The calculation of interest due to a client on a matter accrues three days after client funds have been received into the general client bank account of the firm and is calculated on a daily com-pounded basis.

   In the event that the calculated total interest accruing to a client for the duration of a matter is less than £40 then no interest will be paid to the client on the basis that it is a de-minimis amount. The firm takes the view that any amount below £40 is reasonably retained by the firm to cover the administrative cost dealing with client funds.

2. Protection of client money

   The firm has an active policy of considering the potential exposure of client funds to commercial risks and regularly reviews the choice of banking institutions where the firm holds client funds.

   The firm is not in this capacity acting as financial advisers and whilst the firm will take reasonable steps to protect client funds such actions will only ever be based on information available in the public domain.

   Clients should note that the protections from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme do not provide individual clients with any significant degree of protection in the same way that might ex-ist if the client held the funds personally.

3. Alternative arrangements

   Clients have the right to seek alternative arrangements to hold their funds privately during the course of a transaction.

   Clients may also request that their client funds are held by the firm in a separate designated client deposit account.

   Where a client organises such special arrangements the firm reserves a right to charge, at usual fee earner rates, for any reasonable additional time costs or third party costs that it incurs in im-plementing a client?s request in respect of their funds.

4. Interest rates

   Client Account

   Min Bal	0-2000	2001-25000	25001-100000	100000+
   %	0.05	0.10	0.15	0.20