Terms Of Engagement

Your Agreement With Us
SAIL WILLS: STANDARD TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

In these conditions, the words 'we' and 'us' means Sail Wills (ProbateTech Ltd), and 'you' means you as our client/s who have read and understood these Terms of Engagement and have signed our documentation to confirm you wish us to act on your behalf.
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These Terms of Engagement should be read in conjunction with our Letter of Engagement. If you are happy to proceed, you will be asked to agree to these terms.
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YOUR INSTRUCTIONS
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To ensure we have a smooth process and manage expectations, we must agree on how to work effectively together to achieve the same goal. We also need to ensure you know how we will progress your case and what we need from you.
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OUR SERVICE
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We will always act honestly and professionally.
We will be open and transparent about our service and fees.
We will ensure the advice you receive is relevant to your transaction.
We will acknowledge your communication within 24 hours and provide you with a detailed response within three working days.
We will provide you with a quotation at the beginning of your transaction based on the information available to us at the time. However, suppose your case becomes more complex or further legal work is required (including additional disbursements). In that case, we will advise you before any extra cost is incurred and seek your approval to proceed.
We will always treat your matter with the highest level of client confidentiality.
We will do our best to work to any agreed deadlines; you must advise us of this as soon as possible. If we cannot meet your expectations, we will let you know to enable you to instruct elsewhere.
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WHAT OUR SERVICE DOES NOT INVOLVE

We are not tax experts and will not advise you on any inheritance tax, tax relief or specific calculations relating to SDLT/LTT.
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We are not experts in tax liabilities such as Capital Gains Tax and will not advise you concerning this. We urge you to consult an accountant for all tax advice.
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We cannot provide financial advice.
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We will not make any payments to any third party who is not our client or not part of the transaction, even if these are your instructions.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

Please complete our documentation setting out your personal details and details of the transaction as soon as possible.
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If your circumstances change or the transaction significantly changes, please advise us immediately, in writing.

We will require you to respond to requests for information as soon as possible; failure may result in your case being delayed.

We will need you to comply with our electronic identification and source of funds/wealth requirements as soon as possible.

COMMUNICATION

We will communicate via letter, email, SMS text or video call. If you require a specific method of communication, please let us know. We always insist on a face-to-face video call at the beginning of every transaction with you. If this cannot be achieved, we will require a face-to-face meeting at our offices to verify your identity. Alternatively, you will be required to attend a local law firm with your identification. Please note the local law firm may charge you a fee to undertake part of the identity check, which you will be responsible for; this does not form part of our fees. For further information on this process, please see the below heading Identification.
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IDENTIFICATION

We are under an obligation to prove your identity before we can progress with any matter. The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019 sets out the requirements. In summary, we are required to:
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- Verify your identity based on documents, data or information from a reliable and independent source.
- Identify any person classified by the regulations as a beneficial owner taking reasonable measures to understand such individuals' ownership and control structure.
- Continue to monitor the transaction and keep the information up to date
- Report to the relevant authority if we know or suspect that an offence has or may be committed.

By instructing us to act, you give us irrevocable authority to disclose to the National Crime Agency if we consider it appropriate. We will not be able to advise you if we have made a report.
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To comply with the statute and supporting regulations, we commission the services of Jumio to undertake electronic identification checks. Jumio uses facial recognition biometrics and links to photographic evidence such as your passport or driving licence. If we are not satisfied with the results of the identification checks, we reserve the right to request further information. Our complete requirements and process is set out in our Letter of Engagement.
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OUR FEES

Our Letter of Engagement sets out your transaction and provides a quote. Our quote breaks down our fees, VAT and disbursements due to be incurred. This quote is based on what we know at the time of instruction. If further work is required, we will provide you with an updated quote setting out the additional fees/disbursements and why they are necessary.
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Disbursements are fees out of our control. There may be unexpected costs which will unveil as the matter proceeds. If this is the case, we will inform you and seek your consent to proceed.
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WHEN TO SEND MONEY
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We may ask you to send money on account of disbursements at the beginning or end of your case. We will also ask you to send any shortfall or deposit to us when the case has progressed, and we are near to completing your documents. Please refer to the paragraph Cybercrime, which provides further information about payments.
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ABORTIVE TRANSACTIONS

If your matter does not proceed for any reason, we will send you an invoice for the work completed to date.

PAYMENT OF OUR FEES

We do not accept cash payments. We will only accept a clear BACS or telegraphic transfer from your bank account.

INTEREST ON FEES
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If our invoice remains outstanding for 30 days or more, we will charge interest at 2% per month or part month from the date the statement was due to the date we receive outstanding/cleared funds.
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CYBERCRIME & FRAUD
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Please be aware we will never send our bank details to you via email. We do not have any intention of changing our banking details. We will provide our bank details to you once we are in a position to proceed with your transaction.

Once we are in a position to complete the documents, we will advise how this money is to be sent to us.
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We can only accept funds from the bank account of you, the client, and not from any third party (e.g. a giftor). If you send funds from a different account, this may cause delays.
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If you receive any emails purporting to be from Sail Wills advising you to send money, please contact Jamie Cole, immediately on 0808 1967 007. Do not send any funds until we have had a call with you to understand the circumstances.
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FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY

Sail Wills is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong are subject to the jurisdiction of the Legal Ombudsman (www.legal ombudsman.org.uk). The register can be accessed via the Financial Conduct Authority website at register.fca.org.uk.
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COMMISSIONS

If we pay or receive a commission or other benefit from any third party in respect of an introduction or other service, we will inform you of the commission amount. By signing these Terms, you give us the authority to pay or retain the benefit/commission.

IF THINGS GO WRONG
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We pride ourselves in our service, but you may feel we did not get it right. Nevertheless, we aim to listen to and resolve any difficulties or complaints as quickly as possible. We have a Complaints Procedure setting out how we will manage any issues and report to you. If you would like a copy of our Procedure, please do not hesitate to let us know.
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The Complaints Procedure describes how we will listen to you, investigate and report to you on the matter. If you are unhappy with our findings after the report, you have a right to report the case to The Legal Ombudsman.
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Please be aware you must report the matter to The Legal Ombudsman within six years from the date of the act you are unsatisfied with or from three years you should reasonably know there were grounds to complain. You may also report to the Legal Ombudsman within eight weeks of raising the matter with us if we have failed to respond to you.
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The address of The Legal Ombudsman is:
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www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Tel: 0300 555 0333
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
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DATA PROTECTION ISSUES
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We hold and process your personal data while providing conveyancing services to you. To perform our contractual obligations to you, we will disclose your information and instructions to any mortgage lender for whom we also act in connection with your transaction and to other parties to whom it is necessary to disclose your information and instructions.
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The lawful basis for disclosure is Contract, Legal Obligation and Legitimate Interest and is contained in our Privacy Notice.
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The data we will disclose will be relevant and proportionate to the task.
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As lawyers, we are under a professional and legal obligation to keep your affairs private and confidential. However, we are required, by current legislation, to make a report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) when we know or suspect that a transaction involves money laundering or terrorist financing. By completing the onboarding, you are providing us with your irrevocable authority to disclose to the above bodies if we consider it appropriate. You accept this duty overrides any duty of confidentiality that we have to you. Please note that we cannot inform you if we have to make such a report.
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DEFAULT BY BANKS

Sail Wills disclaims any liability for the loss of client money due to default by a bank.
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STORAGE OF PAPERS & RETENTION OF DATA
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We shall retain a copy of your file for a minimum of six years on a sale transaction and fifteen years on any other type of transaction from the date on which our file is archived. At the end of this period, we will destroy the papers.
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AMENDMENT TO OUR TERMS AND ENGAGEMENT

Please note these terms may not be altered unless agreed in writing by a Director of Sail Wills. If you do not understand any part of this document, please do not hesitate to contact us; we will be happy to discuss any queries you may have. However, you are entering into a contract with us by instructing us to proceed.
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CONSUMER CONTRACTS (INFORMATION, CANCELLATION AND ADDITIONAL CHARGES) REGULATIONS 2013
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You have a right to cancel your instructions within 14 days without providing us with any reason. If you wish to cancel, you must provide us with clear instructions in writing. If you cancel, we will return any money paid to the account.

Please agree to the terms by providing clear instructions if you would like us to work on your case before the 14-day cancellation period. Then, we will commence work on your behalf. Should you subsequently cancel, we will return any funds we hold minus costs/disbursements incurred.
By completing onboarding and paying money on account, you authorise Sail Wills to work on our case and waive the 14-day cancellation period.