• We aim to offer our clients quality advice with a personal service at a fair cost. As a start, we hope it is helpful to you to set out in this statement the basis on which we will provide our professional services.
  
  

• REPRESENT your interests and keep your business confidential
• ADVISE you upon your tax situation and the effect of any transactions we propose you undertake and the reasons why they will benefit you
• EXPLAIN to you the legal work which may be required and the prospects of a successful outcome
• MAKE SURE that you fully understand the likely degree of financial risk which you will be taking on
• KEEP YOU regularly informed of progress or, if there is none, when you are likely to hear from us
• TRY to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you
• DEAL with enquiries promptly, for example, we will always try to return your telephone calls within 48 hours.
  
  

• The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.00am and 5.30pm on weekdays. Appointments can be arranged at other times when this is essential
  
  

• The Company is run as a team however you will be notified when we accept your instructions of your main point of contact in your CLIENT INSTRUCTION LETTER. From time to time other members of the team may work on your file and all members of the Company will endeavour to assist you. All work carried out on your matter will be carried out by suitably qualified members of the Company. We will try to avoid changing the people who handle your work but if this cannot be avoided we will tell you promptly of any changes and why it may be necessary. You can access details about the qualifications and experience of our staff by clicking on the “Meet the Team” page of our website www.winchamiht.com
  
  The Director with overall final responsibility for any work done by this Company is Malcolm Roach.
  
  

We will usually agree in advance a set fee for a transaction and you will receive confirmation of this in your CLIENT INSTRUCTION LETTER, alternatively:-

• Our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to time actually spent by the staff in respect of any work which they do on your behalf. This will include meetings with you and perhaps others, reading and working on papers, correspondence, preparation of any detailed costs calculations and time spent travelling away from the office when this is necessary.
• Routine letters are charged at £14.50 per letter as are telephone calls that we make to you or that you make to us. We charge £14.50 per item for considering incoming letters or photocopies. The current hourly rates are set out below. We will add VAT to these at the rate that applies when the work is done if applicable.

We review our charges every year in January and shall notify you in writing of any change to the rates or the discounted rates.

In addition to the time spent, we may take into account a number of factors including any need to carry out work outside our normal office hours, the complexity of the issues, the speed at which action has to be taken and any particular specialist expertise which the matter may demand. In particular, in property transactions, in the administration of estates and in matters involving a substantial financial value or benefit to a client, a charge reflecting, for example, the price of the property, the size of the estate or the value of the financial benefit may be considered.

• If may be necessary to pay out various other expenses during the transaction on behalf of our clients. We have no obligation to make such payments unless you have provided us with funds for the purpose. We refer to such expenses as disbursements. If for any reason this matter does not proceed to completion we will be entitled to charge you for work and expenses incurred.
  
  

• It is normal practice to ask clients to pay regular sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and expenses expected in the following weeks or months. Normally these sums will be paid by a monthly standing order from your bank account. The monthly amount which you should pay on account will be stated in your CLIENT INSTRUCTION LETTER. We may need to increase this amount depending on the costs of your matter as we require all our fees to be paid in full before the end of the matter. We find that this helps clients in budgeting for costs as well as keeping them informed of the expenses which are being incurred. Your costs will be spread out over the length of the matter unless otherwise stated in your CLIENT INSTRUCTION LETTER.
• Any monies paid to us on account of costs on a monthly basis will remain in our Client Account until a bill is raised in respect of work done. You will always receive copies of any bills so raised.
• In addition we will require you to pay any disbursements as and when they become due. If such requests for disbursements and monthly payments are not met and paid promptly a delay in the progress of your matter may result together with potential fines and or interest due. We will endeavour to inform you where we believe there is potentially a penalty, fine or interest payable for non-compliance or late payment. However, we will not be held responsible for the payment of any penalties, fines or interest as a result of payment for disbursements not being received by the date stated within our request. In the unlikely event of any request for payment not being met, the Company must reserve the right to stop acting for you.
• Payment is due to us within 14 days of the date of an invoice. Interest will be charged on a daily basis at 4% over Barclays Bank Plc’s base rate in force from time to time thereafter.
  
  

• In some cases and transactions a client may be entitled to payment of costs by some other person. It is important that you understand that in such circumstances, the other person may not be required to pay all the charges and expenses which you incur with us. You have to pay our charges and expenses in the first place and any amounts which can be recovered will be a contribution towards them.
• You will also be responsible for paying our charges and expenses of seeking to recover any costs from a third party.
  
  

• 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 will 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 any documents such as Wills, Deeds and other securities which you ask us to hold in safe custody. No charge will be made to you for such storage unless prior notice in writing is given to you of a charge to be made from a future date which may be specified in that notice.
• If we retrieve papers or documents from storage in relation to continuing or new instructions to act in connection with your affairs, we will not normally charge for such retrieval. However, we may make a charge based on time spent for producing stored papers or documents to you or another person at your request.
  
  

• You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time but we will be entitled to keep all your papers and documents while there is money owing to us for our charges and expenses. If at any stage you do not want us to continue doing work and/or incurring charges and expenses on your behalf, you must tell us this clearly in writing.
• If we decide to stop acting for you, for example if you do not pay an invoice or comply with a request for a payment on account, we will tell you the reason and give you notice in writing.
  
  

• 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 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.
  
  

• Our aim is to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service at all times. We are proud to have been nominated for an international award for our Customer Service and our clients and our staff are of utmost importance to us. We hope that you will be pleased with the work that we do for you. However, should there be any aspect of our services with which you are unhappy please raise your concern in the first place with your nominated contact as stated within your CLIENT INSTRUCTION LETTER. If you still have queries or concerns please contact Malcolm Roach.
  
  

• We shall not be able to start work on your behalf until you have confirmed your acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Business and paid any money that we have requested on account of costs. These Terms and Conditions of Business shall apply to any future instructions given by you to this Company or any of its subsidiaries subject to any review of our hourly rates.