Terms Of Business

Terms Of Business 2018-08-27T14:37:55+00:00

Terms Of Business

1. Scope of application
These terms of business apply to all services provided to you, the client, by Nigel Pugh (I, me), Southgate Chambers, 37 Southgate Street, Winchester SO23 9EH.

2. Regulator
Our notarial practice is regulated by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose address is
The Faculty Office
1, The Sanctuary
Westminster
London
SW1P 3JT
Telephone: 020 7222 5381
Email: faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com
Website: www.facultyoffice.org.uk

3. Responsibility for work and duties
3.1 I, Nigel Pugh, am solely responsible for the conduct of this business.
3.2 I will
– keep you informed of progress made in carrying out your instructions
– advise you of any delays and, where possible, explain why such a delay is occurring,
– advise you where it becomes necessary to change the basis on which our fees are payable or calculated.
3.3 You shall
– provide clear instructions
– provide full and accurate information sufficient to enable me to carry out your instructions

4. Notarisation & identification
4.1 A primary duty of a notary is to identify the client. In the case of individuals, this includes proof of residential address. I will, therefore, require personal documentation from clients and signatories which may include one or more of the following
– a passport
– national identity card
– photocard driving licence
– marriage certificate or divorce judgment and/or
– a recent utility bill, bank or credit card statement or council tax bill (for proof of address)
4.2 Where the client is a company or body I will need to satisfy myself of the existence of that company or body and the authority of persons signing on its behalf. In the case of companies or bodies established in the United Kingdom, I will generally conduct my own checks. In some cases (particularly companies or bodies established overseas) I may ask you to produce certain documents. These might include a certificate of incorporation, good standing certificate or other similar evidence of corporate existence. In order for me to certify a signatory’s authority to represent a company or body, additional documentation will be required, for example
– constitutional documents (e.g. memorandum and articles of association)
– a power of attorney in some cases, duly notarised and apostilled
– board resolutions
– bank authorised signatory book
– extract from a commercial register
Documents in a language with which I am not familiar may require translation.
4.3 Notaries are subject to UK legislation intended to prevent the use of the financial system for the purposes of money-laundering and the funding of terrorism. One of the requirements of the legislation is for notaries and other lawyers to report suspicious transactions to law enforcement agencies. A notary who knows or suspects, or has “reasonable grounds” for suspecting, that a person has committed any one of a range of offences relating to money laundering or the funding of terrorism must make a disclosure as soon as is practicable to the appropriate law enforcement agency. For this reason, I may have to make checks of clients which go beyond the identification standards which notaries have traditionally applied. Being asked for additional identification or to provide explanations does not mean you are under suspicion. Where I have any doubts as to the facts presented to me or the legality of a transaction I will refuse to act.

5. Legalisation and apostilles
5.1 Where a document is notarised in the United Kingdom, further formalities may be required before it can be accepted or acted upon overseas. This may involve the presentation of the document to the embassy or consulate in the UK of the country where the document is to be used for certification of the notary’s signature; this formality is known as “legalisation” or “consularisation”.
5.2 Many countries are parties to an international convention abolishing the requirement for consular legalisation. In these cases, legalisation is replaced by a certificate known as an apostille. Apostilles are issued in the United Kingdom by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
5.3 I will make reasonable efforts to carry out your instructions, however I cannot accept liability for the acts or omissions of external offices and bodies such as loss, delay or refusal to act

6. Fees and payments
6.1 Fees are calculated using my own scale of charges which may change from time to time. I will quote a fixed price for carrying out certain instructions. However, I reserve the right to apply additional charges if I am required to carry out extra work or if the matter proves to be unusually difficult or complex.  Miscellaneous costs such as consular fees, apostilles and agents charges and postage costs will be past on to you. Bank charges and major photocopying or printing costs may also be passed on to you.
6.2 Fees and costs are subject to VAT at the relevant current rate.
6.3 If my work is terminated before completion, I will charge you a fair and proportionate amount for any work actually carried out.
6.4 I will only  ask you to provide fees or funds in advance in order to cover matters such as consular disbursements,  when these amounts are likely to be significant.
6.5 My invoices are payable where possible 30 days following receipt although with commercial clients I am happy to comply with their normal payment time lines.

7. Termination of instructions

7.1 You may at any time terminate our engagement either by phone or email or in writing.
7.2 I may rarely decline to offer my services or discontinue the same with good reason. For example instructions are given  which conflict with my rules of professional conduct. I will notify you in such event.

8. Exclusions and limitations of liability

8.1 The contract you make is with me, Nigel Pugh.
8.2 You agree that my liability towards you for claims in connection with my services, howsoever arising, shall be limited to £1 million in total per engagement or, if greater, the amount recoverable under my professional indemnity insurance. If for any reason the £1 million limit is not sufficient then please let me know as it might be possible to get a one off extension of cover
8.3 The expression ‘howsoever arising’ covers all causes giving rise to liability, whether arising by reason of non performance, delay, negligence, misrepresentation, other tort, breach of contract, breach of statutory duty or otherwise.
8.4 I shall not be liable to you to the extent that I am unable to perform my services as a result of any cause beyond my reasonable control including without limitation industrial action, act of God, war, civil commotion, terrorism, theft, malicious damage, accident, failure or breakdown of computers, machinery, systems, extreme weather conditions, power failure or failure of telecommunications (‘Force Majeure’). In the event of any Force Majeure affecting me, I shall notify you as soon as reasonably practicable.
8.5 Rights as a consumer as defined in the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 shall not be adversely affected by these terms to the extent prohibited by those Regulations.
8.6 In view of the exclusions and limitations of our liability in these terms, I recommend that you consider taking out your own insurance in respect of those risks for which we exclude or limit liability.
8.7 Nothing herein affects my liability for fraud or otherwise to the extent prohibited by law.

9. Confidentiality
9.1 I owe a duty of confidentiality to our clients. You agree, however, that I may, when required by my auditors, insurers or advisers, provide details to them of any engagement, and that I may also disclose confidential information if required to do so by law or regulation.
9.2 Sometimes I ask sub-contractors or other third parties to undertake translating, typing, photocopying or other support services. I require them to keep matters entrusted to them confidential but, if you do not want me to use third party providers, please inform me in advance.
9.3 In accordance with our professional rules, a copy of a notarial act or of the record of a notarial act retained by me may, upon payment of a reasonable fee, be issued upon the application of any person or authority having a proper interest in the act.

10. Documents, copyright and communications
10.1 I will store your file (including personal and other data provided to me in accordance with clause 4) electronically or otherwise for such period of time as I judge reasonable taking into account applicable laws and regulations (in particular the record-keeping duties to which notaries are subject under the Notaries Practice Rules 2014 as amended from time to time), after which time I may destroy it.
10.2 Unless I agree otherwise, the copyright in the original materials which I create for you belongs to me. Subject to payment of my fees for that material, you are permitted to make use of those materials only for the purposes for which they are created.
10.3 I may communicate with you by email, unless you instruct me not to do so. I will not encrypt our outgoing email unless you tell me to do so and I am able to agree with you and implement a mutually acceptable encryption method.
10.4 Any reference in these terms to ‘writing’ shall include fax and email.

11. Data Protection and Compliance with the Notaries Practice Rules
11.1 I shall comply with any obligations I may have under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Notaries Practice Rules 2014 (as amended from time) in respect of personal and other data provided to us pursuant to clause 4.

12. Third Party Rights
12.1 No third party shall have any right to enforce or rely on any provision of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. The notification or consent of any third parties shall not be required in order to rescind or vary the terms of our contract with you.

13. Assignment
13.1 The performance and benefit of my contract with you may be assigned by me to any person (which expression shall include a body of persons corporate or unincorporate) who acquires or continues all or part of my business

13.2 Except as provided by clause 13.1, neither you nor I have the right to assign the performance and benefit of my contract with you without the written consent of the other.

14. Associates
In relation to any engagement, unless I agree otherwise, you accept the provisions of the contract on your own behalf and where relevant as agent for each of your group undertakings (as defined by Section 1161(5) of the Companies Act 2006) which is a recipient of our services (‘Associate’). You warrant that you have or will have necessary authority on behalf of each Associate. You will procure that each Associate will act on the basis that they are bound by the contract. References to ‘you’ apply to you and all Associates together.

15. Severance of terms
If any provision shall be declared to be invalid or unenforceable in any respect, the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall not be impaired.

16. These Terms and variations
These terms supersede any earlier terms of business I may have agreed with you and, in the absence of express agreement to the contrary, will apply to the current services and all subsequent services I provide to you. Amongst these things, your continuing to instruct me to act for you will amount to acceptance of these terms. From time to time it may be necessary to amend or supersede these terms by new terms. When this is the case, I will notify you of the changes and, unless I hear from you to the contrary no later than 14 days after such notification, the amendments or new terms will apply from the end of that period.

18. Applicable law and jurisdiction
The contractual relationship that arises when you instruct me shall be governed by the law of Engand and Wales. In the event of a dispute, the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction.