2014年8月19日 星期二

遞交訂購書以後,第一次英國律師的來信內容

附件1. LIST OF FEES & EXPENSES

 
The first four items expenses which are “compulsory” and without which your

purchase cannot be completed. The noting of the Sale Agreement at the Land

Registry is not compulsory, but is recommended.

Our Fee (£645+ VAT) 774.00

Land Registry Fee 40.00

Bank Transfer Fee 42.00

Seller’s Solicitors Document Fee

Optional Land Registry Fee to register

note of Sale Agreement against Seller’s title



Signed ________________________________



Print Name ________________________________

Dated ________________________________

附件2. 


Thank you for instructing Blunts Solicitors to act on your behalf in connection with your purchase of

the above property. I sincerely hope the transaction will prove successful and rewarding.

It is a professional requirement that we provide you with certain information about our service at

the beginning of the case. Please forgive therefore the length and formality of this letter. Please

be assured that we will always try to be here and available for your call or email and please do not

hesitate to contact us whenever you need to.

This “Client Care” letter sets out the basis upon which we will carry out all the necessary work for

you. I also enclose our standard Terms of Business.

1. Responsibility for the Work

I am the solicitor specialising in property law and residential conveyancing who will be overseeing

the work on your transaction.

I will be your initial point of contact.

Our aim is to give you an efficient and helpful service with which you will be satisfied.

The advice we give you is completely independent so feel free to raise any issues on any aspect of

the transaction.

1. Raising Questions and Concerns

As solicitors we are subject to the Solicitors Code of Conduct 2007. The Code of Conduct can be

viewed by following this link http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-of-conduct.page.
                                            [我們是英格蘭和威爾士法律協會的獨立監管機構] 

I am confident that I will be able to provide a high standard of service to you. However, if you have

any questions or concerns about our work for you or our fees please take them up with me first. All

firms of Solicitors are obliged to attempt to resolve any problems a client may have internally prior

to proceeding to the Legal Ombudsman. I will try to resolve any problem you have quickly and

operate an internal complaints handling system to help us to resolve the problem between ourselves.

If for any reason we are unable to resolve your problem then the Legal Ombudsman provide

complaints and redress mechanisms. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the independent

regulatory body of the Law Society. You may obtain further information by following this link

http://www.legalcomplaints.org.uk/home.page.


http://www.bartonsolicitors.co.uk/ 
[巴頓律師法律諮詢]

3. Charges and Expenses

The fees which this firm will charge for the work will be as follows:-

Our Conveyancing Fee 645.00

VAT 129.00

TOTAL 774.00

In addition there will be various expenses, per purchase, which are listed on the attached List of

Expenses.

4 Payment of Fees and Expenses

Please would you note that it is a condition of our retainer that all invoiced costs have to be paid in

cleared funds before completion to cover the Purchase Price and Land Registry fees. Please note

that our clearance time for personal cheques is six working days. We do accept payment by Credit

Card/Debit Card (but a surcharge is payable on Credit Card payments).

Finally on fees, I am obliged by my rulebook to tell you that you have the right to object to our 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 and that if all or part of a bill remains unpaid we may

be entitled to charge interest.

5 Conveyancing Retainer only – Not Financial /Tax Advisors

Please note that our work is limited to normal conveyancing work and we do not offer any opinion

or advice on the tax implications or merit of buying or selling property. We recommend that you

take advice from an independent financial advisor or tax specialist if you have any concerns in this

respect.

We also regret that we cannot offer you advice on the commercial merit or benefits of your property

transaction, as our role is strictly limited to the conveyancing aspects of your purchase. We cannot

£

advise you on the commercial return of your investment in the property and whether the investment

is likely to prove successful in the short or long term.

6. Storage of Papers and Deeds

After completing our work we are entitled to keep all papers and documents while money is owing to

us. We will keep your file of papers, except for any of your papers which you ask to be returned to

you, for no more than six years and on the understanding that we have your authority to destroy your

file six years after sending you our final bill. We do not normally make a charge for retrieving stored

papers or Deeds in response to your continuing or new instructions. However, we reserve the right

to make a charge based on the time we spend on reading the papers, writing letters or other work

necessary to comply with your instructions.

7. Termination

You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time. For example, you may be unable

to give us clear or proper instructions on how to proceed. We are entitled to keep all papers and

documents whilst money is owing to us for work carried out up to the date of termination.

We will only stop acting for you with good reason and will try to give you as much notice as we can.

If you or we decide that we will stop acting for you, you will be charged a reasonable sum for the

work conducted to that day.

8 We need your ID & Source of Funds Verification

The law now requires solicitors, as well as banks, building societies and others, to obtain satisfactory

evidence of the identity of their clients and the source of funds. This is because solicitors who deal

with money and property on behalf of their clients can be used by criminals wishing to launder

money. In order to comply with the law on money laundering, we need to obtain evidence of your

identity.

We are also required to obtain information relating to your source of funds for purchasing the

property. Could you please complete, sign and return the attached “Source of Funds Questionnaire”.

9 And finally

With this letter we have enclosed all the documents which we need you to sign and return to

us. Please return it to us as soon as possible. Your continuing instructions will then amount to

your acceptance of these terms of business.

Please note that the sellers of the development should provide a Local Authority, environmental

and drainage searches as part of the process and we will send copies of these to you. However,

the Local Authority search will only provide information relating to the property itself and will

not cover the surrounding area. This is particularly relevant where a property is located close to

open land. If you are concerned about possible future developments in the area, you should make

enquiries direct of the Planning Department at the Council Offices or ask us to undertake a Planning

Application Search.

I will keep you advised of progress and if you have any queries at any stage please do not hesitate to

get in touch. Please also note for our mutual convenience that where we are acting for two clients on

a joint transaction you give us authority to receive instructions and to give advice to one or other of

you without requiring us to confirm those instructions or that advice with the other. This is of course

in practice convenient and time and cost saving for both you and us.

We trust all will go well to a successful outcome.

Yours sincerely

David Walton

Blunts Solicitors

What we need you to do now

1. Please sign, date and return a copy of this letter as confirmation of your instructions for us to act on

your behalf.

2. Complete, sign and return a copy of the enclosed List of Expenses.

3. Complete, sign and return the “Source of Funds Questionnaire”.

4. Enclose your proof of identity documents

Signed ............................................. Dated .........................................

附件3

SOURCE OF FUNDS QUESTIONNAIRE

VERY IMPORTANT: WE WILL ONLY ACCEPT FUNDS FROM THE BANK

ACCOUNT OF THE PERSON NAMED AS THE “BUYER”. MONEY FROM OTHER

ACCOUNTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AND WILL BE RETURNED AT THE

SENDER’S EXPENSE

Please state how the source of wealth for this investment has been raised if other than annual income.

• A gift or inheritance from a third party? Yes __ No __

If yes, please give details:­

___________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

• Gained by the disposal of a business or other asset? Yes __ No __

If yes, please give details:­

___________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

If you answered no to both of the above, please give details and specify the original source of

wealth for the investment: for example – income generated over a number of years / savings

How was wealth generated? _________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

When was wealth generated? ________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

I declare that all the information above is true, correct and complete

.............................................. Signature

............................................... Name (in BLOCK CAPITALS)

.............................................. Date




附件4 Terms of Business

1. Provisions of Services

1.1 Our offices are located at 2 King Edward Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 1AB. 

 Our office hours are 9.00 am to 5.00 pm.

1.2 We shall provide services (“the Services”) in accordance with your instructions and as set 

out in the scope of work identified in the attached letter, unless varied by agreement 

between us. Any changes or additions to the service as specified should where appropriate 

and reasonable be agreed in writing between us.

1.3 We shall provide services to clients with reasonable skill and care and, as far as is 

reasonably practicable, in accordance with the instructions and scope of work referred to in 

our engagement letter. Where ancillary goods or services are supplied by any third party, 

we do not give any warranty, guarantee or other representation as to their quality.

1.4 We shall have no liability to you for any loss, damage, costs, expenses or other claims for 

compensation arising as a result of information or instructions supplied by you which are 

incomplete, incorrect, in accurate or ineligible or arising from their late arrival or non-
arrival or any act/omission of yours. You agree that any advice given by us or any 

communication from us to you is provided solely in connection with advising you and for 

your use and benefit. Such advice may not be used or relied on or disclosed to any other 

person (other than your other professional advisor) without our prior written consent.

1.5 Save as expressly stated otherwise in the attached letter, we shall accept liability to you 

for breach of the terms or our engagement or for our negligence for an amount of damages 

up to, but not exceeding, £2,000,000. On this basis we maintain professional indemnity 

insurance to a total level of £2,000,000 for each individual claim. Notwithstanding this, we 

shall not be liable to you or be deemed to be in breach of contract by reason of any delay in 

performing, or failure to perform, any of our obligations in relation to the services offered to 

you if that delay or failure was due to any cause beyond our reasonable control.

Our Firms Professional Indemnity Insurance is covered by XL Insurance Co Ltd of: -

XL House,

70 Gracechurch St

London EC3V 0EL

1.6 We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all our dealings with clients, 

third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and 

diversity policy.

1.7 Sometimes conveyancing/Probate work involves investments. We are not authorised by 

the Financial Services Authority and so may refer you to some one who is authorised to 

provide any necessary advice. However, we can provide certain limited services in relation 

to investments, provided they are closely linked with the legal services we are proving you, 

as we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

1.8 If you have any problem with the service we have provided for you then please let us 

know. We will try to resolve any problem quickly and operate internal complaints handling 

system to help us to resolve the problem between ourselves. If fir any reason we are unable 

to resolve the problem between us then the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal 

Ombudsman service provide complaints and redress mechanisms.

The Law Society is a designated professional body for the purposes of the Financial

Services and Markets Act 2000 but responsibility for regulation and complaints handing

has been separated from the Law Society’s representative functions. The solicitors

Regulation Authority is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society and the Legal 

Ombudsman is the independent complaints handling body of the Law Society


2. Fees

2.1 The fees which you will incur, will, unless otherwise agreed between us, be as set out in the 

letter of engagement. In the event that we are required to make payments in respect of any 

disbursements, please note that we have no obligation to effect such payments unless funds 

have been provided by you for that purpose. VAT is payable on certain disbursements. 

Our VAT number is 748 8544 79. We reserve the right to charge our fees whether or not 

a particular matter is successfully concluded or completed (unless otherwise agreed in 

writing). In the event that a fixed fee has been agreed and the transaction does not proceed 

to completion for any reason, then, unless otherwise expressly agreed, we shall be entitled to 

charge for work done on the basis of the time we have expended on your behalf.

By way of example in a conveyancing matter: -

(i) if the matter aborts in the initial stages before we examine the Contract pack we will 

(ii) if the matter aborts after we have examined the Contract pack and done our “Final 

charge no more that 25% of the fixed fee agreed. 

Report” to but the matter has not yet exchanged Contracts then we will charge no 

more that 50% of the fixed fee agreed. 

(iii) if the matter aborts following exchange of Contracts then we will charge no more 

2.2 Where fees are being raised on the basis of an hourly rate, we shall be entitled to invoice 

you periodically. This helps you in budgeting for our fees as well as keeping you informed 

of the legal fees being incurred. Where such invoices are not discharged when due for 

payment, delay in the progress of the case may result and we reserve the right to cease work 

on the matter.

2.3 In the event of our charges being based on a fixed fee in transactional matters, all charges, 

any additional sums payable and any and all other sums due to us shall be paid by you in 

cleared funds no later than the date of completion of the transaction, or in the event of the 

transaction aborting, within 30 days of the date of our invoice.

2.4 If payment of any invoice is not made on the due date, we shall be entitled (without limiting 

any other rights we may have) to charge interest on the outstanding amount at the rate of 4% 

above the base rate from time to time of National Westminster Bank plc, from the due date 

until the outstanding amount is paid in full.

2.5 We shall be entitled to charge an administration fee for dealing with

(i) any additional searches carried out on your behalf in the event of delayed completions or 

registrations

(ii) the re-issue of cheques in the event that you do not cash any cheques issued by us when first 

delivered. 

Our fee for such work will be no more than £25+vat and we may waive or reduce such fee at

our absolute discretion.

3. Interest Payments

If we hold money on your behalf in general client account, we will, in accordance with the 

Solicitors Accounts Rules 1998 (“the Rules”), pay to you a sum in lieu of interest. There 

are exceptions to this requirement e.g. where the sums held are small and/or the period is 

short.

4. Disclosure of Other Interests

You agree that we do not have a duty to disclose to you, or to make use for your benefit 

of, any information (even if it relates to you or any activity in which you may be engaged 

or interested) which comes to our notice or which belongs to or is confidential to another 

client.

than 75% of the fixed fee agreed. 

5. Notices and Other Communications

5.1 Our normal method of communicating is by original letter sent by normal postal or, where 

appropriate, courier services. We will communicate by fax to any number given to us by 

you. We cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent by 

fax.

5.2 During the engagement we may wish to communicate electronically with each other. 

The electronic transmission of information cannot be guaranteed to be secure or virus or 

error free. We each agree to use commercially reasonable procedures to check for the 

then most commonly known viruses before sending information electronically. We will 

each be responsible for protecting our own systems and interests in relation to electronic 

communications and neither you nor us ( in each case including our respective directors, 

employees, sub-contractors or agents) will have any liability to each other on any basis 

in respect of any error, damage, loss or omission arising from or in connection with the 

electronic communication of information.

6. Termination

6.1 This engagement may be terminated by either party by written notice to the other, however, 

any arrangement as to the payment of fees and expenses shall survive termination. 

Termination of our engagement will not affect any legal rights or obligations that may 

already have accrued or been incurred by either of us.

6.2 Under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, for some non-business 

instructions, you may have the right to withdraw, without charge, within seven 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 

of Business will amount to such a consent. If you seek to withdraw instructions, you should 

give notice by telephone, e-mail or letter to the person named in these Terms of Business as 

being responsible for your work. The Regulations require us to inform you that the work 

involved is likely to take more than 30 days.

7. Rights in Relation to Material

You remain the owner of any property, copyright or other intellectual property rights, and 

any material provided by you for the purpose of our instructions and belonging to you. You 

agree that we may reproduce and copy your materials for all purposes reasonably connected 

with the provision of the Services. We have the right to retain any such material until 

payment of all monies due to us have been made. In relation to material supplied, prepared 

or created by us, we shall retain all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein 

subject only to your right to use such material for the immediate purpose for which it was 

prepared.

8. Money Laundering

In common with other well-managed and reputable practices we maintain and operate 

procedures and controls which are intended to forestall and prevent money laundering and 

actions taken by any person with a view to preserving, using, investing or disposing of the 

proceeds of crime. In this respect, we will act at all times in accordance with and as required 

by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2007. In 

agreeing to engage this firm you expressly acknowledge our obligations in this respect and 

agree that this firm shall have no liability to you by reason of any act or omission undertaken 

in good faith in order to comply with these laws (howsoever arising).

9. Storage of Papers and Documents

After completing the work, we are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while 

there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. In addition, we will keep your 

file of papers for you in storage for not less than one year. After that, storage is on the 

clear understanding that we have the right to destroy it after such period as we consider 

reasonable or to make a charge for storage if we ask you to collect your papers and you 

fail to do so. We will not of course destroy documents such as Wills, Deeds and other 

securities, which you ask us to hold in safe custody.

10. Limited Companies

When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a limited company, we may require a 

director(s) and/or controlling shareholder(s) to sign a form of personal guarantee in respect 

of the charges and expenses of this firm. 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.

11. Tax Advice

Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration 

of tax planning strategies. We are not qualified to advise you on the tax 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 a qualified tax advisor immediately. We 

are not mortgage advisors, nor will be aware of your detailed personal circumstances, we are 

therefore not qualified to advise you on the implications.

12. Data Protection

We observe the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Data Protection 

Principles in relation to personal data. By agreeing to these Terms of Business you are 

agreeing to the processing of personal data to enable us to carry out work on your behalf. 

In addition, we occasionally like to contact our clients with our marketing material and 

information on changes in the law etc that we consider would be of benefit to you. If you 

do not wish to be contacted with such material or information, please inform us in writing as 

soon as possible.

13. General

13.1 When read with the attached letter constitute the entire agreement between us and supersede 

any previous understanding and may not be varied except in writing between us. All 

other terms and conditions, express or implied, by statute or otherwise, are excluded to 

the fullest extent permitted by law. If any provision of these Terms of Business is held by 

any competent authority to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of 

the other provisions of these terms and conditions and the remainder of the provisions in 

question shall not be affected. These Terms of Business shall be governed by the laws of 

England and both ourselves and yourself agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the 

English courts.

13.2 Unless otherwise agreed, and subject to the application of the current hourly rates, these 

Terms of Business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to us.

13.3 Although your continuing instructions in this matter will amount to an acceptance of these 

terms and conditions of engagement, it may not be possible for us to start work on your 

behalf until a signed copy of these Terms of Business attached letter has been returned to us 

for us to keep on our file.

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