Conveyancing Process Explained

Horizon Law has produced a guide to the Conveyancing Process, which we hope you find useful.

Please click here to view the Conveyancing Process Explained.

Our Guide to Conveyancing

At Horizon Law, we understand that you may not be so familiar with some of the jargon mentioned throughout the conveyancing process, therefore we have produced a Conveyancing Jargon-Buster document which we hope will explain the jargon you may encounter.

Please click here to view our Conveyancing Jargon Buster

Client Feedback

Please click the link below to complete our Client Feedback form.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CCWW8SF

Our Complaints Policy

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 are unhappy about any aspect of the service you receive or our fees, please contact: Guy Wheatcroft, Horizon Law, Highstone House, 165 High Street, Barnet, Herts EN5 5SU.

• Tel: 020 8441 9999
• Email: guy.wheatcroft@horizonlaw.co.uk

For further details on our complaints procedure, please refer to section 20 of our Terms of Business.

Terms of Business

1. Regulated Services

Horizon Law Limited is authorised and regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. We Work, 131 Finsbury Pavement, London EC2A 1NT (the CLC). This means that we are governed by a Code of Conduct and other professional rules, which you can access on the CLC’s website http://www.conveyancer.org.uk/ or by calling 020 7250 8465 or emailing clc@clc-uk.org.

2. Business Hours

We are normally open between 8.30 am and 6.30 pm from Monday to Friday, excluding bank and public holidays, and between 9.00 am and 1.00 pm on Saturdays. We can arrange appointments outside these hours.

3. Our Responsibilities

We will:

• treat you fairly and with respect
• communicate with you in plain language
• review your matter regularly
• advise you of any changes in the law that affect your matter
• advise you of any reasonably foreseeable circumstances and risks that could affect the outcome of your matter

4. Your Responsibilities

You will:

• provide us with clear, timely and accurate instructions
• provide all documentation and information that we reasonably request in a timely manner
• safeguard any documents that may be needed for your matter, including documents that you may have to disclose to another party

5. Service  Levels and Frequency of Communication

• We will regularly update you by telephone or in writing with progress on your matter.
• We will explain to you by telephone or in writing the legal work required as your matter progresses.
• We will update you on the likely timescales for each stage of this matter and any important changes in those estimates. Whenever there is a material change in circumstances associated with your matter, we will update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the likely costs and risks.
• We will update you on the cost of your matter at the intervals set out in our letter confirming your
  instructions. If appropriate, we will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your matter can be funded.

6. Introducers

Your matter may have been introduced to us by a firm or individual with whom we have a business relationship (an Introducer). We are required by the CLC Code of Conduct to notify you that we will pay that firm or individual an agreed sum on completion of your transaction from our own funds. This cost is a standard authorised charge that a law firm may pay to attract business. Any advice that we give will be independent and you are free to raise questions on all aspects of the transaction. Information regarding your transaction will not be disclosed to the Introducer unless you consent to this. If a matter arises where we are acting for the Introducer as well, and a conflict of interest arises, we might be obliged to cease acting. You have the right to instruct another law firm if you would like to. Please contact us if you would like further information about this.

Please confirm (if appropriate by signing the appropriate statement at the foot of our Client Care Letter) whether or not you were cold-called by the Introducer. Examples of cold-calling would be being approached in the street whilst shopping or being contacted by knocking on your door at home.

7. Limit of Liability

We have professional indemnity insurance giving cover for claims against the firm. Details of this insurance, including contact details of our insurer and the territorial coverage of the policy, can be inspected at our office or made available on request.

We will not be liable for any consequential, special, indirect or exemplary damages, costs or losses, or any damages, costs or losses attributable to lost profit or opportunity.

Horizon Law Limited is a limited company. This means that the firm’s members and directors are not personally liable for any acts or omissions by the firm, unless the law requires otherwise. This does not limit or exclude liability of the firm for the acts or omissions of its members and directors.
We can only limit our liability to the extent the law allows. In particular, we cannot limit liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence.
Please ask if you would like us to explain any of the terms above.

8. Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

The Money Laundering Regulations require solicitors to obtain satisfactory evidence of identity of their clients and where a beneficial owner who is not the client, the identity of the beneficial owner. This is because solicitors who deal with money and property on behalf of their client can be targeted by criminals attempting to launder money.

We must by law obtain satisfactory evidence of your identity and address. Please help us to do so by giving us the information and documentation we ask for. We are unable to proceed with your transaction and will not be able to exchange contracts until this has been provided.

As lawyers, we are under a general professional and legal obligation to keep your affairs private. However, we are required, by current legislation, to make a report to the National Crime Agency (the NCA) where we know or suspect that a transaction involves Money Laundering or Terrorist Financing. By instructing us to act on your behalf in accordance with these Terms of Business you give us irrevocable authority to make a disclosure to the NCA if we consider it appropriate.

You agree that this authority overrides any confidentiality or entitlement to legal professional privilege. We shall be unable to tell you if we have made a report.

9. Data Protection

We use the information you provide primarily for the provision of legal services to you and for related purposes including:

• updating and enhancing client records
• analysis to help us manage our practice
• statutory returns
• legal and regulatory compliance

Our use of that information is subject to your instructions, the GDPR and our duty of confidentiality. Please note that our work for you may require us to give information to third parties such as expert witnesses and other professional advisers. Under data protection legislation you have a right of access to the personal data that we hold about you.

We may from time to time send you information that we think might be of interest to you. If you do not wish to receive that information please notify our office, preferably in writing.

10. Outsourcing

Sometimes we ask other companies or people to carry out administrative tasks on our files to ensure this is done promptly and in the most cost– effective manner. We will always seek a confidentiality agreement with these outsourced providers. If you do not want your file to be outsourced, please tell us as soon as possible.

11. External Auditing

External firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice, for example our regulator the CLC, our accountants or assessment bodies for quality accreditations. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files. Please contact the person responsible for your files at Horizon Law if you do not wish your files to be disclosed to external auditors.

12. Confidentiality

The information and documentation you provide us is confidential and subject to legal professional privilege unless stated otherwise in this document or our letter confirming your instructions, such as in relation to prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing or we advise you otherwise during the course of your matter

We cannot absolutely guarantee the security of information communicated by email or mobile phone. Unless we hear from you to the contrary, we will assume that you consent for us to use these methods of communication.

13. Our Invoices

You are liable to pay legal costs as set out in our Client Care Letter. We will also usually discuss this at our initial meeting with you.

Invoices relating to a specific transaction should be paid on completion of that transaction. Other invoices (such as interim invoices or invoices relating to abortive work) should be paid upon receipt. We may charge interest on overdue payments at 4 percentage points above our bank’s base rate.
We may cease acting for you if an invoice remains unpaid after 10 working days or if our reasonable request of a payment on account of costs is not met. You have the right to challenge or complain about our invoice. Please see the Complaints section above for details of how to complain about our invoice. We can keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.

14. Interim Invoicing

We have a policy of requiring payment on account and/or rendering interim invoices for disbursements (that is payments made by us on your behalf and on which we make no profit) before they are incurred.

We have a policy of rendering regular interim invoices for fees for work done which helps you to judge the level of expenditure being incurred.
The conditions for payment of invoices for disbursements and interim invoices are the same as for payment of the final invoice.

15. Payments on Account

You may be asked either at the outset of your matter or during the course of it to make a payment on account. This may be in addition to or in substitution for an interim invoice.

Any sums so paid will be held by us for your account and will be taken in payment or in part payment for any invoice under which payment is or becomes due.
In the event of non-payment after 10 days of a request for a payment on account we reserve the right to cease work for you and to render an invoice for any un-invoiced work done to that time.

16. Payment of Interest to you

We are required to account to you for interest earned on our current clients’ account pursuant to the CLC’s Accounts Code, although we are permitted to contract out of that part of the Accounts Code, and we give you notice that we have done so. Our intention is to be fair to you the client at all times, however, and so the payment of interest will be at our discretion. If we decide to pay interest, the amount of interest payable will depend on the parameters contained in the Accounts Code and the length of time and amount of those funds held.

We should make it clear that if we set up one or more designated deposit clients’ accounts for you, we are obliged to account to you for interest earned, and we will do so, using the parameters referred to earlier in this section.

17. Receiving and Paying Funds

Our policy is to only accept cash up to £250. If you try to avoid this policy by depositing cash directly with our bank, we may decide to charge you for any additional checks we decide are necessary to prove the source of the funds. Where we have to pay money to you, it will be paid by cheque or bank transfer. It will not be paid in cash or to a third party.

18. Insurance Mediation Activity

This firm is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. However, we are included in the register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority so that we can carry on Insurance Mediation Activities, which is broadly advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong is regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. The register can be accessed via the Financial Conduct Authority website at http://www.fca.org.uk/register. The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints against lawyers. If you are unhappy with any insurance advice you receive from us, you should raise your concerns with the CLC or the Legal Ombudsman.

19. Financial Services Compensation Scheme

When acting for you, we may hold money on your behalf. You should be aware that it is unlikely that we would be held liable for any loss resulting from the failure of the bank where we hold this money. We will hold any money in one of our accounts with HSBC Bank plc or Saffron Building Society.
In the event that a bank fails, under the current Financial Services Compensation Scheme, you would be entitled to 100% of the first £85,000 held in that bank.

Please note that this compensation is limited to £85,000 per individual, not per account. If you already have money deposited with that bank in your own account, this will be included in the £85,000 maximum compensation.

Please also bear in mind that many banks and other deposit taking institutions have several brands; i.e. where that institution is trading under different names. You should check with your bank, the Financial Conduct Authority or a financial adviser for more information.

By instructing Horizon Law, you consent to us disclosing your personal details to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the event of a bank failure.

20. Complaints

We are committed to providing high quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you receive or our fees, you can contact us in writing (by letter or email) or by telephone. In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter, who will be named in the client care letter we sent you at the beginning of your matter. You may also contact Guy Wheatcroft, Director, who has overall responsibility for complaints and whose contact details are guy.wheatcroft@horizonlaw.co.uk.

To help us understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us:

• your full name and contact details;
• details of your complaint;
• how you would like your complaint to be resolved; and
• your file reference number (if you have it).

We will write to you within five working days acknowledging your complaint, enclosing a copy of this policy. We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:

• reviewing your complaint;
• reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents; and
• liaising with the person who dealt with your matter.

We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time. We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times. We may also if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish to or if you are unable to. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you by telephone or video conference. We will write to you at the end of our investigation to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we will aim to do this within fifteen working days of the date of our letter of acknowledgement. We then have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time, you may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. This applies if you are an individual, a business with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding a certain threshold, a charity or trust with a net income of less than £1,000,000.00, or if you fall within certain other categories (you can find out more from the Legal Ombudsman—www.legalombudsman.org.uk). The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your matter. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint;
• no more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• no more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them:

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 10.00 to 16.00

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk 

Address: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We have, however, chosen not to adopt an ADR process. If, therefore, you wish to complain further, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) 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. Please visit the CLC website to see how you can raise your concerns: https://www.clc-uk.org/ and what it will cost. We will not charge you for handling your complaint. Please note that if we have issued a bill for work done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding. This is explained in section 13 of our Terms of Business. The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.

21. Equality and Diversity

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.

22. Storage and Retrieval of Files

After completing the work, we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is still money owed to us for fees and expenses.
We will keep our file of your papers for up to 15 years, except those papers that you ask to be returned to you. We keep files on the understanding that we can destroy them a number of years after the date of the final bill, that period to be decided according to the relevant Code of the CLC from time to time. We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody.

If we take papers or documents out of storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act for you, we will not normally charge for the retrieval. However, we may charge you for time spent producing stored papers that are requested, and reading, correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions in relation to the retrieved papers.

23. Terminating your Instructions

You may end your instructions at any time, by giving us notice in writing. We can keep all your papers and documents while our charges or disbursements are outstanding.

We can only decide to stop acting for you with good reason and we must give you reasonable notice.

If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you are liable to pay our charges up until that point. These are calculated on the basis set out in our letter confirming your instructions.

24. Future Instructions

Unless otherwise agreed, these Terms of Business will apply to all future instructions you give us on this or any other matter.

25. Applicable Law

Any dispute or legal issue arising from our Terms of Business will be determined by the law of England and Wales and considered exclusively by the English and Welsh courts.