Terms

of Business

1. We will quote upon enquiry

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Lancashire Notary is not VAT registered.

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In addition to our charges, payments may have to be made to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), foreign consulates, Companies House and postal or courier companies.

 

If your document is in another language, we need to be satisfied as to its meaning and this may incur an additional cost to translate the document, it does not prevent us from authenticating the execution or signature of a document in any language.

 

2. Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

 

The Money Laundering Regulations require us to obtain satisfactory evidence of the identity of our clients and, where there is a beneficial owner who is not a client, the beneficial owner before we undertake any work.

 

To comply with the law, we need to obtain evidence of your identity as soon as possible. In most of cases we will also ask you to provide us with documents, such as a passport or driving licence, to verify your identity and address, if appropriate these requests are set out in the accompanying letter.

 

Please be aware we cannot start work for you unless and until you have provided such evidence to us. We reserve the right to refuse to act for you if we are not satisfied as to your identity. A copy of the policy is available on request.

 

3. Data Protection, Privacy and Confidentiality

 

We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, we may be required by statute to make a disclosure to the National Crime Agency where

they or we know or suspect that a transaction may involve money laundering or terrorist financing. If we make a disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working on your matter for a short period and may not be able to tell you why.

 

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is US legislation designed to ensure that US citizens disclose their worldwide income to the US tax authority. The FATCA regime requires certain financial institutions to identify and report (to HMRC) payments made to a specified US person, or a non-US entity with one or more persons with control who are specified US persons. In certain limited circumstances in order to comply with the law we may have to share some of your information, including your FATCA status and, if applicable, your Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN) with financial institutions. It may also ne necessary in limited circumstances for us to report payments to HMRC which we will explain, should the need arise.

 

 

Full details are contained in our data protection and privacy policy. A copy of both documents is also available on request.

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4. Distance Selling

 

If we have not met with you, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 may apply. This means that you have the right to cancel your instructions to us within fourteen working days of receiving this letter. You can cancel your instructions by contacting us by post, fax or email to this office.   Once we have instructed us to start work on your file, you may be charged if you then cancel your instructions. If you would like us to commence work on your file, please sign, the attached engagement letter, and return it to this office by post, fax or email. If we have not met with you, we cannot commence work on your file until we have your signed Matter Engagement letter.

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5. Fraud and Cyber Crime

 

We will usually communicate with you by telephone or email. Our e-mail is unencrypted. Whilst we take all reasonable security measures, there is a risk of interception. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss arising from a third-party gaining access to e- mail between us.   We will assume that you consent to the use of e-mail unless you tell us in writing that you do not.

 

Due to the risk of cyber crime we will never notify you of a change of bank details by email.

 

It remains your responsibility to ensure the security of any documentation you send to us by post. Unless we receive such documentation in our offices, we accept no responsibility for its loss or destruction. You may wish, when sending us confidential documents or ones which provide personal data, to send them via registered post or courier, at you expense.

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6. Storage of papers and deeds

 

After completing the work, we will keep all your papers and documents whilst money is owing to us. A Notary will keep your file of papers or a copy for:

 

1. a minimum of twelve years (private documents) from the date of the final bill, when we will destroy them securely or

2. in perpetuity (public documents).

 

The retention periods are set by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Faculty also stipulates that a Notary, not Backhouse Jones must hold your papers and documents securely. This means, if our Notary leaves our firm or ceases work as a Notary your papers will be passed to another authorised Notary.

 

We will not destroy documents you ask us to deposit in safe custody such as deeds or wills.

 

We do not make a charge for retrieving stored papers or deeds in response to continuing or new instructions to act for you. However, we may charge you for copying papers that are requested, reading correspondence or other work necessary to comply with your instructions.

 

7. Termination and Abortive Transactions

 

You may terminate your instructions to us in writing at any time. For example, you may decide you cannot give us clear or proper instructions on how to proceed, or if you were to lose confidence in our work.

 

We are entitled to keep all your papers and documents while money is owing to us.

 

8. Liability

 

We will provide notarial services to you with reasonable skill and care and we acknowledge that (subject to other exclusions and limitations in this agreement) we will be liable to you for losses, damages, costs or expenses (“Losses”) caused by our negligence or wilful default. Our responsibility shall only extend to the notarial services we provide on matters which you have instructed us on.

 

We will be reliant upon you for the accuracy of the information or documentation you provide. We will not be liable for any losses caused wholly or in part by the provision by you of false, misleading or incomplete information or documentation due to the acts or omissions of any person(s) other than Backhouse Jones. Where you have concerns it is your responsibility to advise us.

 

Our liability to you for a breach of your instructions is limited to £1,000,000 including interest, legal costs and expenses unless we expressly state a higher amount in the letter accompanying these terms of business. 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 profits or opportunities. Neither will we be held liable for any costs or losses attributable to fraud perpetrated by any person, whether a party to this transaction or not.

 

Where we post documents, we are not responsible for their loss, or other direct or indirect losses, that you may incur as a result of them going missing or becoming delayed or damaged whilst in transit.

 

We can only limit our liability to the extent the law allows. We cannot limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

 

Please ask if you would like us to explain any of the terms above.

 

The firm holds indemnity insurance

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9. Client’s with additional needs

 

If you are unable to attend at our office due to a personal disability, we can arrange to see you at your home or other place where we can conveniently meet.

 

10. Additional Information

 

We are authorised and regulated by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury based at:

 

The Faculty Office, 1 The Sanctuary,

Westminster, London. SW1P 3JT. Tel: 020 7222 5381

Email: faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com

 

We are also regulated by the Legal Ombudsman.

 

11. Agreement

 

The Engagement Letter sets out the basis upon which you accept our terms, and unless otherwise agreed, shall apply to any future instructions given to you by this firm.We will decide to stop acting for you only with good reason (for example if a conflict of interest should arise, or if you do not pay an interim bill or comply with a request for payment on account) and on giving you reasonable notice.

 

If the matter does not proceed (whether we are working on a fixed fee or not) we will submit a bill for the work done up to that point in your matter. The bill will be such sum as is reasonable having regard to the amount of work done and will include other expenses we have paid or agreed to pay on your behalf, plus VAT where applicable.

 

12. Queries, concerns or complaints

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My notarial practice is regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury: 

 

The Faculty Office

1, The Sanctuary

Westminster

London  SW1P 3JT

Telephone 020 7222 5381               

Email Faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com    

Website www.facultyoffice.org.uk 

 

If you are dissatisfied about the service you have received please do not hesitate to contact me. 

 

If we are unable to resolve the matter you may then complain to the Notaries Society of which I am a member, who have a Complaints Procedure which is approved by the Faculty Office.  This procedure is free to use and is designed to provide a quick resolution to any dispute. 

 

In that case please write (but do not enclose any original documents) with full details of your complaint to :- 

 

The Secretary of The Notaries Society

P O Box 1023

Ipswich IP1 9XB

Email secretary@thenotariessociety.org.uk

 

If you have any difficulty in making a complaint in writing please do not hesitate to contact the Notaries Society/the Faculty Office for assistance. 

 

Finally, even if you have your complaint considered under the Notaries Society Approved Complaints Procedure, you may at the end of that procedure, or after a period of 8 weeks from the date you first notified me that you were dissatisfied, make your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, if you are not happy with the result :  

 

Legal Ombudsman

P O Box 6806

Wolverhampton   WV1 9WJ 

Tel : 0300 555 0333          

Email :  enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk               

Website :  www.legalombudsman.org.uk 

 

If you decide to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you must refer your matter to the Legal Ombudsman within one year from the act/omission or within one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.