TERMS & CONDITIONS – 14th Edition March 2026

1. OUR AIM

Personal Data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data.  Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the Data Controller’s possession, or likely to come into the Data Controller’s possession. The processing (which we consider includes the collection, processing and retention) of Personal Data is governed by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”).

2. OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU AND WHAT WE EXPECT YOU TO DO

You may expect that:

• We will update you with progress on your matter regularly. We will communicate with you in plain language.
• We will explain to you the legal work required as your matter progresses.
• We will update you regularly on the cost of your matter
• We will update you on whether the likely outcomes still justify the likely costs and risks associated with your matter whenever there is a material change in circumstances.
• We will update you on the likely timescales for each stage of this matter and any important changes in those estimates.
• We will continue to review whether there are alternative methods by which your matter can be funded.

We expect that:

• You will provide us with clear, timely and accurate instructions.
• You will provide all documents required to complete the transaction in a timely manner.
• You will safeguard any documents which are likely to be required during the course of the Court Case that we may be handling for you.

3. OUR HOURS OF BUSINESS

The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.00am and 5.30pm on weekdays.

4. PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR WORK

The person responsible for dealing with your work is shown on the Estimate as is their status.  Their secretary may also be able to deal with your queries and will be pleased to take any message for you.  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 change and why it may be necessary.  Any such change will not have an adverse effect on the amount which we charge you.  If we can delegate the work to a more junior lawyer, we will do so.

5. VERIFICATION OF YOUR IDENTITY

In order to comply with regulations imposed on us by mortgage lenders and by our own professional body, we are obliged at the outset of each transaction to verify the identity of those persons instructing us. We may carry out an electronic identity search and/or credit check to confirm your identity.  This also acts as a safeguard for you in your property transactions reducing the risk of fraud. You will need to call at the office in person with the required form of identification. The fee earner responsible for your work will explain what documents we need to see. Our receptionist, or the secretary whose name appears on the Estimate, will photocopy the documents while you wait and return the originals to you immediately. We will be unable to start work for you until we have received the required evidence of identity.

We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential.  However, solicitors may be required by statute to make disclosure to the National Crime Agency where they 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 period of time and may not be able to tell you why.

We require this information and evidence which includes “personal data” because of the contract between us, and because of legal requirements we are required by the Government to comply with. We, in turn, have to retain this “personal data” for statutory periods which, in most cases, is at least six years, but we generally retain it for longer, where storage permits, as part of our service to clients, so that future reference can be made to the files, which include this personal data. The period of retention depends on the matter but at present is twenty five years. Please see 20. Data Protection and your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 as amended by the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR).

6. CHARGES AND EXPENSES

In certain transactions we will give you a fixed price quotation for the work you have asked us to do but in other cases this will not be possible and we will be working on the basis of an estimate.  Our fees estimate which will be given to you separately makes the basis of our charges clear.

Our charges will be calculated mainly by reference to the time actually spent by the person responsible for your work and other 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, telephone calls (including calls which you make to us), drafting documents, preparation of any detailed costs calculations and time spent travelling away from the office when this is necessary.

Routine letters and emails (both sent and received) are recorded as 6 minute units and we record the time spent on making and taking telephone calls in 6 minute units.

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 particularly specialist expertise the case 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.  It is not always possible to indicate how these aspects may arise but on present information we would expect them to be sufficiently taken into account in the rates which we have quoted.  Where a charge reflecting any value element is to be added we will explain this to you.

Solicitors have to pay out various other expenses on behalf of clients for example Land or Probate Registry fees, court fees, expert’s fees and so on.  We have no obligation to incur such expenses unless you have provided us with the funds for that purpose.  We refer to such payments generally as ‘disbursements’.  A forecast of the disbursements which you are likely to incur in this matter is given on the Estimate.

If for any reason the matter does not proceed to completion, we will be entitled to charge you for work done and expenses incurred.

7. ESTIMATE

The attached estimate of fees explains whether we are working for you on the basis of an estimate of charges or a fixed price for dealing with your work.  Where it is impossible to estimate fees, an idea of the level at which we will review our charges or request further payment on account of our fees has been given.

Where we have given estimate it is not intended to be fixed and represents the best information about costs which we can give you at present.

We will inform you if any unforeseen additional work becomes necessary (for example, due to unexpected difficulties or if your requirements or the circumstances significantly change during the course of the matter).  We will also inform you in writing of the estimated cost of the additional work before any extra charges and expenses are incurred (unless the additional work has to be carried out urgently in your interests, in which case we will take all reasonable steps to notify you by some alternative means).

These Terms and Conditions will apply to all future matters, though we will of course provide you with an estimate of costs for each matter in which you instruct us.

8. TIMESCALE

It is often not possible to estimate how long the legal process will take because we are dependent upon a number of matters which are outside our control.  If you have a particular requirement, please let us know at the earliest opportunity so that we can advise any connected parties of those requirements.

9. FINANCIAL SERVICES

This firm is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

If you require specific investment advice, Gracechurch Financial Services Limited of 27 Friars Street, Sudbury, are authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to advise on life assurance, pensions and collective investments such as unit trusts and insurance bonds.  Gracechurch Financial Services Limited is partly owned by the shareholders of Bates Wells & Braithwaite Limited.  Their shareholding will not entitle you to the statutory protection afforded to clients of a solicitors’ practice.

10. LEGAL AID and INSURANCE IN LITIGATION MATTERS and ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS FOR PAYMENT OF FEES

If we have not already done so we will discuss the possibility of you applying for Legal Aid if we think you might qualify but we may have to refer you to another firm.

It is important that you consider whether anyone else may agree to accept responsibility for your legal fees. Please check whether you have legal expenses insurance. Other types of insurance covering your liability for your opponent’s fees are also available but these options must be fully explored from the outset because the insurance company will not give cover retrospectively. You should also be aware that in some types of work we may consider acting for you on a conditional fee basis (“no win, no fee”).  Finally, you should consider whether, for example, your employer or a trade union may have a scheme available to you

11. PAYMENT OF OUR COSTS BY ANOTHER PARTY AND OTHER PARTY’S CHARGES AND EXPENSES

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.  If the other party is in receipt of legal aid no costs are likely to be recovered.

If you are successful and a court orders another party to pay some or all of your charges and expenses, interest can normally be claimed from the other party from the date of the court order. We will account to you for such interest to the extent that you have paid our charges or expenses on account, but we are entitled to the rest of that interest.

You will also be responsible for paying our charges and expenses of seeking to recover any costs that the court orders the other party to pay to you.

A client who is unsuccessful in a court case will normally be ordered to pay the other party’s legal charges and expenses: that money would be payable in addition to our charges and expenses.  Arrangements can be made to take out insurance to cover liability for such legal expenses.  Please discuss this with us if you are interested in this possibility.

If your case involves proceedings before an Employment Tribunal, Rule 76 Schedule 1 of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2013 provides:

“A Tribunal may make a costs order or a preparation time order, and shall consider whether to do so, where it considers that a party (or that party’s representative) has acted vexatiously, abusively, disruptively or otherwise unreasonably in either the bringing of the proceedings (or part) or the way that the proceedings (or part) have been conducted or any claim or response had no reasonable prospect of success.”

Rule 78 goes on to state that such Order may if the Tribunal thinks fit, be for a sum not exceeding £20,000.00 or such sum as is agreed or in any other case the whole or a specified part of the costs incurred by the receiving party as assessed by way of detailed assessment (if not otherwise agreed).

12. INTEREST PAYMENT

Any money received on your behalf or from you (on account of fees or expenses for example) will be held in our Client Account.

We are required by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Accounts Rules to account to you or third parties for a fair sum of interest on any client money held on your behalf and/or by written agreement come to a different arrangement providing you do so with sufficient information to give informed consent. This policy is intended to provide you with that information.

Our general Client Account will hold a pool of clients’ funds but is held as an instant access account to facilitate transactions, as required by the SRA’s Accounts Rules. Therefore, the interest rate paid to us on this account and the interest rate we will pay you, less administration costs, is unlikely to be as much as the interest you could achieve investing yourself.

We, like most firms have a minimum interest payment level and an interest payable differential to prevent unnecessary administration costs and to cover those of operating a Client Account in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules. We do not pay interest unless it exceeds £50 and if it does the interest payable is calculated at 0.5% below the rate Barclays Bank plc pay us on our Client Account. The interest we earn varies according to Barclays Bank plc’s interest rates from time to time and the amount we hold in Client account from time to time.

Where your money is held in our general client account any interest paid to you is paid without any deduction of income tax (unless you are informed otherwise). It is your responsibility to inform HMRC of the amount of interest received from us and meet any tax due, which will depend on your own circumstances.

Where a client obtains borrowing from a Lender in a property or company commercial transaction, we will generally ask the Lender to arrange for the funds to be electronically transferred the day before completion. This enables us to ensure the necessary funds are available in time for completion.  The Lender is likely to charge interest from the date of issue of the funds. We will not pay interest on these funds even if we hold them over a weekend.

As well as the minimum amount and the interest differential to cover reasonable administrative costs you agree that we do not have to pay interest for monies held on account of our fees and expenses, for disbursements, or in a property or company commercial transaction where the funds are held for less than 14 days.

In appropriate circumstances we may reach a different written agreement with you for payment of interest if the minimum level of payment is or is likely to be exceeded.

We reserve the right to set off and deduct from any interest due under these agreed arrangements, or specific agreed arrangements, outstanding bills and expenses and interest due and payable on outstanding bills and expenses.

13. YOUR MONEY WITH US

If we are holding significant funds for you for a significant period of time, we will account to you for interest on those monies as set out in paragraph 12.

14. PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS

It is normal practice to ask clients to pay sums of money from time to time on account of the charges and expenses which are expected in the following weeks and months.  This helps you budgeting for costs as well as keeping you informed of the legal expenses which are being incurred.  Please note that the total cost at the conclusion of the matter may be higher than the total which you have paid on account.

If such requests are not met with prompt payment, this may result in delay in the progress of your work.  In the event of any bill or request for payment not being met, we reserve the right to stop acting for you further. In addition, we reserve the right to send you interim bills which comply with the requirements of the Solicitors Act 1974.

Payment is due to us within 30 days of our sending you a bill, whether it is an interim bill or a final bill.  Interest will be charged on a daily basis at the rate payable on judgment debts from the date of the bill in cases where payment is not made within 30 days.  Business clients will be charged interest in accordance with the Late Payments of Commercial Debts Regulations 2013.  We reserve the right to cease acting for you if a bill remains unpaid for 30 days.

The law entitles us to retain any money, papers or other property belonging to you which properly come into our possession pending payment of our costs, whether or not the property is acquired in connection with the matter for which the costs were incurred. This is known as a “general lien”. We are not entitled to sell property held under a lien but we are entitled to hold property, other than money, even if the value of it greatly exceeds the amount due to us in respect of costs.

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.

Accepted Payment Methods

Please note that we cannot accept any payments in cash.

The Firm does not accept cryptocurrency or any other form of digital or virtual currency in payment of fees, disbursements, or any other sums due under this retainer. This prohibition applies to all payments, including but not limited to deposits and any balance of purchase monies in respect of a transaction.

All payments must be made in sterling and remitted from an account held with a UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated bank or building society, unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing in advance.

Under no circumstances will the Firm agree to accept cryptocurrency or any form of digital or virtual currency.

Any attempt to tender payment in cryptocurrency or other digital or virtual currency shall be invalid and shall not discharge or reduce the Client’s obligations to the Firm.

15. 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 6 years.  After that, storage is on the clear understanding that we have the right to destroy the file after such period as we consider reasonable. In relation to your “Personal Data” you have various rights, as to which please see 20. Data Protection.

We will not of course destroy any documents such as Wills, Deeds and other securities, which you ask us to hold in safe custody.

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 storage or retrieval.  However, we will make a charge for storage and retrieval in other circumstances.  Our current charge is £40 plus VAT which we review annually.

16. TERMINATION

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 wish us to continue doing work and/or incurring charges and expenses on your behalf, you must tell us this clearly in writing.

We are entitled to stop acting for you for good reason, e.g. if you do not pay an interim bill, or there is a conflict of interest or a situation arises whereby it would be professionally improper for us to continue to act for you.  We must give you reasonable notice that we will stop acting for you.

If you or we decide that we should stop acting for you, you will be expected to pay our charges up until that point. These will be calculated on an hourly basis plus expenses or by a proportion of the agreed fee as set out in the fees estimate

16a. THE CONSUMER CONTRACTS (INFORMATION, CANCELLATION AND ADDITIONAL CHARGES) REGULATIONS 2013 (THE “REGULATIONS”)

The Regulations apply if your matter does not relate to your business activities.  The Regulations require us to tell you that if your instructions have not been given to us at a face to face meeting, for example if your instructions have been given by telephone, fax, or email, you have a right to cancel those instructions, within 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into without giving a reason.  You can cancel the agreement by making a clear statement (e.g. a letter sent by post, fax or email) setting out your decision to cancel. A cancellation form is available on request.  To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired.  You may not, however, cancel the agreement without charge if you have requested early supply of service, which means that we commence work on your matter within the 14 day cancellation period, but you will be required to pay for the service in proportion to what has been performed.  By agreeing to these Terms and Conditions, you are agreeing that we may start work on your behalf before the expiry of the 14 day cancellation period and you have accordingly made an express request for early supply of service in accordance with Regulation 36(1) of the Regulations.

17. LIMITED COMPANIES

When accepting instructions to act on behalf of a limited company, it is this firm’s practice to require a Director and/or controlling shareholder to sign a form of personal guarantee in respect of our charges and expenses.  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.

18. TAX ADVICE AND ANTI-TAX EVASION POLICY

We will advise you on tax matters only if specifically requested to do so.  Any work that we do for you may involve tax implications or necessitate the consideration of tax planning strategies.  We may not be 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 us immediately.  If we can undertake the research necessary to resolve the issue, we will do so and advise you accordingly.  If we cannot, we will be able to identify a source of assistance for you.

Bates Wells & Braithwaite is a professionally owned and managed solicitors firm. You expect and require us to act with integrity and we will, and we likewise expect and require you to do the same. The Government had made it clear that amongst our policies and procedures we must have an Anti-Tax Evasion Policy. All staff and employees of this firm and all those who have or seek a business relationship or association with us and you as our client must adhere to our commitment not to undertake or facilitate any transaction or work which would cause the commission of a tax evasion offence under UK Law or the Law of any foreign country.

19. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN US – COMPLAINTS

We are committed to high quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about our bill please contact Mark Heselden by any of the following methods:

• Mark Heselden, Designated Complaints Director
• Bates Wells & Braithwaite Limited, Solicitors, 27 Friars Street, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2AD  Email: markheselden@bwblegal.com
• Tel: 01787 880440
• Or you can simply attend at the office and make an appointment to see him when he is next available to do so.

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH or www.legalombudsman.org.uk to consider the complaint.  The time for bringing complaints will be one year from the date of the act, or from when you realised there was an issue.

We aim to communicate with you by such a method as you may request.  We may need to virus check discs or e-mails.  Unless you withdraw consent, we will communicate with others when appropriate by e-mail or fax but we cannot be responsible for the security of correspondence and documents sent by these methods.

We accept no responsibility or liability for malicious or fraudulent emails purportedly coming from the firm, and that it is your responsibility to ensure that any emails coming from the firm are genuine before relying on anything contained within them.

20. EMAILS

We confirm that we accept no responsibility or liability for malicious or fraudulent emails purportedly coming from this firm, and that it is our client’s responsibility to ensure that any emails coming from the firm are genuine before relying on anything contained within them.

21. DATA PROTECTION

The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) require us to advise you that your Personal Data, for example your full name, date of birth, identification evidence, current residential address are held on our database and within our files and paper records. We use this information, which you provide, primarily for the provision of Legal Services to you in accordance with the contract between us and the legal authority relating to that contract, and also 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 Data Protection Act 2018; the UK GDPR and our duty of confidentiality to you. Please note that our work and contract with you may require us to transfer some of this information to third parties, such as expert witness, other professional advisors, HM Land Registry, HMRC and the Courts. You have a right of access under the DPA 2018 and the UK GDRP to see the personal data that we hold about you, which is known as a “Subject Access Request” (SAR), and to notify us if it you consider it is inaccurate and needs correction, amongst other rights.

We may in the future wish to send you information which we think might be of interest to you as part of our marketing of the firm and its services, but before placing your Personal Data on any marketing list for that purpose, we will obtain your explicit consent and permission to do so. We do not share that information for research or analysis and nor do we sell or transfer this information to anyone else except where required by our contract with you and in providing a services to you, or where we are required to as part of that service by Government and Statutory requirements.

Your rights under the UK GDPR

Though we are considered a small firm for the purposes of the UK GDPR and so do not collect retain or process Personal Data in such a way or on a scale that would require us to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO), we feel that as Data Protection is important to you, and us, we should have a responsible person in the firm and you should have a single point for initial contact and so we have appointed an Information Management and Security Officer who is also our Designated Data Protection Officer (DPO), Robert Sainsbury. Where you wish to exercise any rights under the DPA 2018 or the UK GDPR, for example, to make a Subject Access Request; seek rectification of any errors in the information we hold; seek a copy of your Personal Data or if we deal with it by automated means wish to request that it be passed on: wish us to restrict its processing or further processing under your rights in that respect or, finally, for the deletion of your data (“right to be forgotten”), all of these requests should be directed to our Designated DPO, Robert Sainsbury. If we are not acting for you at the time of any request, please note that we will have to verify your identity to protect your own position and, of course, ours, to make sure that we do not release any confidential information to the wrong person. The DPO will respond within the required time limits to any request.

Robert Sainsbury’s contact details are:

• Robert Sainsbury, Designated DPO;
• Bates Wells & Braithwaite Limited, Solicitors, 27 Friars Street, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2AD;  Email: robertsainsbury@bwblegal.com
• Tel: 01787 880440
• Or you can simply attend at the office and make an appointment to see him when he is next available to do so.

22. SCOPE OF ADVICE

Please note that we cannot provide you with advice as to the commercial wisdom of a transaction and that the legal advice which we give is provided solely for your use and not for the benefit of third parties.

23. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all of our dealings with clients, third parties and employees. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.

24. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES TO YOUR LENDER

In a conveyancing transaction we are likely to act for your lender as well as you. We have a duty to fully reveal to your lender all relevant facts about the purchase and mortgage. This includes:

• any differences between your mortgage application and information we receive during the transaction
• any cash back payments or discount schemes that a seller is giving you

25. APPLICABLE LAW

The law applicable to our contract with you is the Law of England and Wales.

26. YOUR ACCEPTANCE

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, these Terms and Conditions of Business will apply to any future instructions given by you to this firm.  Please sign and return the Estimate to confirm your acceptance.

Although your continuing instructions in this matter amount to an acceptance of these Terms and Conditions of Business, it may not be possible for us to start work on your behalf until we have specific confirmation from you.

27. LEGAL STATUS

Bates Wells & Braithwaite Limited trading as Bates Wells & Braithwaite, Solicitors.  Company registration number 08321040.  Registered in England and Wales.  Registered address: 27 Friars Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2AD. Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority No. SRA591524. 

28. USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS

The Client acknowledges and agrees that the Firm may, from time to time, utilise reputable artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies to support the delivery of legal services, including but not limited to document drafting, legal research, data analysis and workflow efficiency. The Firm will exercise professional judgment at all times and will review, verify and remain responsible for all work product generated with the assistance of AI tools. The Firm will not disclose confidential or privileged information to any AI system unless appropriate safeguards, contractual protections or secure, privacy‑preserving methods are in place. The use of AI will not diminish the Firm’s duty of confidentiality, competence or professional responsibility, and no AI-generated output will be relied upon without appropriate human oversight.