Conveyancing services

1. Any estimate of costs is stored on a Durable Medium and states
a. the name of the Client and the nature of the Transaction.
b. the basis on which fees for abortive work will be payable.
c. the proposed fees and other expenses (such as bank transfer fees) payable to Alfred Ledger & Sons (such fees and other expenses are deemed to be inclusive of VAT unless VAT is separately itemised.
d. a description of ,and costs ,of any disbursement likely to be incurred on the basis of the instructions received disbursements are deemed to be inclusive of VAT unless VAT is separately itemised. Where applicable Land Tax should be separately itemised.
e. in respect of paragraph c and d above UNLESS otherwise stated
e.i fees will be deemed to be inclusive of the costs of post, telephone calls, facsimile, communications and emails.
eii. Unless separately specified, the estimates of proposed fees payable to Alfred Ledger & Sons will be deemed to include fees for –
– representation of the Lender
– service of notice on a landlord or management company.
eiii. The client will be advised-where it is not possible to provide an estimate of fees and disbursements because the relevant information is not available.
2. If it becomes apparent that the total sum payable is likely to be exceeded or that the relevant information has become available, as soon as practicable, Alfred Ledger & Sons will
a. advise the client
b. provide the client with a written explanation on a Durable Medium.
3. any fees,expenses ,disbursements and VAT to be charged in respect of an abortive transaction are notified to the client on a Durable Medium as soon as these matters can reasonably be calculated whether or not an invoice is delivered at this time.

At the outset of each matter we will let you know in writing who will be dealing with your file.   Any subsequent changes of personnel will be notified to you.   We are committed to providing all our clients with a service of the highest quality.   To ensure an effective service we have a Complaints Procedure to attempt to resolve any difficulties which may arise.    Details of whom to contact in the first place should you encounter problems are set out in the Client Care Letter.    The partners of our firm are always pleased to discuss any suggestions you may have for improvement of our services.   If ultimately you feel that your complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily you may write to the Legal Ombudsman at P.O.Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ.  If you make a valid claim against us for a loss arising out of work for which we are legally responsible, and we are unable to meet our liability in full, you may be entitled to claim from the Compensation Fund administered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (from whom details can be obtained).

Monies held on behalf of client will be held in our client account. Interest that accrues, or ought to accrue thereon will be retained by us.

In many cases we shall be requesting funds from our clients to pass on to a third party. For example, we may be completing the purchase of a house or settling a debt. We shall only accept cheques from clients unless we have made prior written arrangements to accept cash (£250. maximum on any one transaction). Please note that our Bank will need at least 10 working days to clear a cheque regardless of whether or not it is a personal cheque, bank draft or Building Society cheque.
Please note cheques should be made payable to “Alfred Ledger & Sons”. We require cleared funds from you a minimum of two working days prior to the completion date. We do not accept monies payable by third parties unless we are told in advance who those parties are and have the opportunity of confirming the payment with such third party – our charges in respect thereof for each payment will be £50. plus VAT.
Under no circumstances should you pay monies into Alfred Ledger & Sons client account without prior authorisation from the practice.

We require a period of ten working days between exchange of contracts and completion as this is the shortest amount of time required without making special arrangements to deal with all pre-completion searches and formalities. Otherwise we reserve the right to make an additional charge for trying to comply with a possibly unrealistic completion date. Similarly further charges may also be made for additional work following last minute cancellation of completion e.g. rearranging completion; returning mortgage funds; obtaining further redemption statements. This will be a minimum of £100. plus VAT at current rates per property. Provided we have used reasonable skill in attempting to complete on your requested date we will not be liable for any loss arising from a delay in completion.

We request that mortgagees (e.g. Banks, Building Societies, lending institutions) supply us with cleared funds one or two working days prior to completion to ensure funds are in place. Please be aware that interest due from you will probably be calculated from the date funds are released to us.

If you require a mortgage, we will explain to you your liability to your lender. However, it is your responsibility to comply with the terms and conditions of the mortgage lender’s offer. By signing the mortgage deed, it is assumed that you have understood and accepted the mortgage offer and all conditions therein.

If your mortgage lender chooses a different firm to deal with its legal work the lender will require that you pay that firm for work carried out by them. These charges will be in addition to our charges. We reserve the right to charge you a reasonable fee for additional work associated with dealing with a separate firm appointed to act on behalf of your mortgage lender. If you have or are taking a mortgage with an endowment policy we may be required to arrange a mortgage of the policy or re-assignment of an old policy and/or prepare and issue relevant notices – we reserve the right to charge you a reasonable fee for doing so.

When we act for more than one person e.g. business partners, or a couple jointly buying a house, we will assume that just one of them instructing us to take a particular step has the authority to do so.

We are only able to act for the Buyer and the Seller of the same Property whilst there is no conflict of interest. Therefore if a conflict of interest arises between the Buyer and the Seller we are obliged to cease acting for both parties. That is, we will no longer be able to represent either party.

In many cases we will be requested to pay funds to our client e.g. property sale proceeds. As we do not keep cash on the premises money due to you will paid by bank transfer or in the form of a cheque only. Please note cheques will only be issued (on production of satisfactory evidence of identification) to our client and not to third parties. Cheques will be issued as soon as practicable – normally not earlier than the next working day following completion). We will be unable to pay to you sale monies unless we hold up to date loan/mortgage repayments figures.

Once the matter is completed the file will be stored for the period required by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. We cannot accept telephone instructions to send documents to a third party. We charge a fee of £50. plus, VAT per annum or part thereof for the storage of Pre-registration deeds not required by lenders.
We do not normally make a charge for retrieving stored papers which relate to current matters although we reserve the right to charge you for any time spent in retrieving papers relating to completed matters and for any time spent in reading the file, writing letters or doing any other work at your request.
If you require the file it will be necessary for us to retain a copy of the entire file. Our charges for copying the file, payable by you, are £0.25 per copy per page.
File Retention including storage and destruction of the original files and documents. 1. Under the Transaction Files Code, CLC practice Alfred Ledge & Sons retain the contents of files relating to all matters for a minimum of six years, except those relating to: • other conveyancing matters (other than the sale of property) for a minimum of fifteen years 2.Consideration will be given on a case-by-case basis as to the appropriate date of destructions for the contents of files relating to: • deeds of gift • gifts of land • transfers at an undervalue • right to buy where funds came from someone other than the purchasing tenant(s) 3. Files will be destroyed promptly at the end of their retention period and not needlessly retained.
Confidentiality and Identity Proof of Identity 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. Confidentiality 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 (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 engagement you give us irrevocable authority to make a disclosure to 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.

Our normal contactable hours when we are open to the public are from 10.00am to 12.45pm and from 2.00pm to 3.30pm Monday to Friday (excluding Public Holidays).

We close between Christmas and New Year.

It is a term of business that you will be responsible for all our costs in respect of your matter even if a third party may ultimately be paying part or all of them. We will therefore look to you for payment of our account in accordance with these terms of business if the third party has not discharged his obligation to pay or contribute.

If we are acting for a Company it is a condition of our accepting instructions that the Directors of the Company are jointly liable for our costs. We reserve the right to ask the Directors to sign a form of agreement to cover this obligation. Please note that we require identification and proof of address of all those who own 25% or more of the structure and of those who exercise effective management and control of the Company.

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 ‘www.FCA.org.uk/register’. Our charges for arranging each title insurance policy are £50 plus VAT.

To help your transaction progress smoothly and to keep down costs payable by you, you understand and agree to inform us of any specific requirements you have or of any significant change;

1.  to provide evidence of your identity; national insurance number and proof of your address when requested;

2. not to contact us to request progress reports more frequently than is reasonable (we consider weekly reports are sufficient);

3. reply in writing when requested to do so;

4. to us communicating with you or third parties by the method (including e-mail)  we consider most appropriate;

5. to receive money due to you in the form of a single cheque and to pay our reasonable charges in respect of meeting your alternative requirements.

6. that you are aware of our duties to comply with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017; Suspicious Activity Reporting and MLRO is closures of money laundering or terrorist financing suspicions are mandatory within the regulated sector under POCA 2022 and TACT 2000. Disclosures must be made where the individual “knows” or “suspects” that money laundering or terrorist financing is taking place.
I Nancy Patricia Ledger have not had to make any SAR however I refuse to act on any clients that I have any suspicion on or if they are based abroad or using funds from abroad.

7. that proceeds of sale or re-mortgage are paid to clients no sooner that the next working day following completion.

8. to pay our administration fee of £50. plus VAT in respect of each letter it is necessary to mail by Recorded Delivery or Special Delivery plus the fee charged by Royal Mail.

The national average timescale from offer acceptance to completion is between two and three months.