Terms and Conditions

1. About us and our role

Millennium Legal is a trading style of Millennium Legal Conveyancing Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16483640). In these terms, “The Company”, “we” and “us” mean Millennium Legal.

We are not a firm of solicitors and we do not give legal advice. We introduce you to an independent conveyancing firm from our panel, and that firm (“the Conveyancer”) carries out the legal work on your transaction. Your contract for the legal work is with the Conveyancer, and the Conveyancer’s own terms of business apply to that work.

Our part is to prepare your quote, open your file, arrange the ID and anti-money laundering checks and order your searches. The conveyancing firms on our panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

A few words used in these terms:

• “Initial Payment” means the payment you make to us when you instruct. Section 5 sets out what it covers.
• “Disbursements” means costs paid to third parties on your behalf, such as search fees, Land Registry fees and Stamp Duty Land Tax.

2. Quotations

Our quotations:

• apply to properties in England and Wales;
• are put together in good faith, as accurately as we can;
• depend on the information you give us being correct and complete;
• can be accepted for 30 days from the date we first issue them;
• cannot allow for changes to disbursements between the quote and completion, for example a rise in Land Registry fees or Stamp Duty Land Tax;
• must be reviewed and accepted by the Conveyancer assigned to your transaction.

3. Our fixed fee policy

The legal fee on your quotation is fixed once you instruct, provided the information you gave us was correct and complete.

Third-party costs (disbursements), such as searches, Land Registry fees and Stamp Duty Land Tax, are shown on your quotation as accurately as we can at the time of quoting. They are charged as they are required.

We quote from the information you give us at the time. If your property turns out to need more complex work, there may be additional costs.

If fees or disbursements need to change

If new information comes to the Conveyancer’s attention that means the quoted fees or disbursements must change, the Conveyancer or The Company will tell you the extra cost and the reason for it.

You may then cancel your instruction by writing to us within 14 days of that notice, subject to the cancellation terms in section 6. If you do not cancel within those 14 days, the revised costs are treated as accepted.

In short: Your legal fee stays the same once you instruct, as long as what you told us was right. Third-party costs are charged as they come up. If anything has to change, you are told what and why, and you have 14 days to decide whether to cancel.

4. Searches

Your quotation includes the Local Authority search.

Depending on the property and your lender, further searches may be required, for example environmental, drainage and water, coal mining or chancel searches. Further searches are not included in the quotation.

We confirm any further searches with you, together with what they cost, before they are ordered.

Searches are paid when they are ordered, not at completion. Once ordered they are non-refundable, because they are specific to the property.

In short: The Local Authority search is in your quote. If your property or lender needs more, we tell you which searches and what they cost first. You pay for searches when they are ordered, and that money cannot be refunded once they are.

5. Payments

When you instruct us, you make an Initial Payment to The Company. It covers:

• a non-refundable File Opening Fee of £180 including VAT;
• biometric ID and anti-money laundering (AML) checks on all parties;
• charges for any other related work and support your transaction needs, based on its type and the instructions we receive.

Although your quotation includes the Local Authority search, search charges are only taken once your search requirements are known and the searches are ordered.

The rest of the fees and disbursements on your quotation are paid to the Conveyancer:

• the Conveyancer may ask for a small payment upfront;
• the final payment is due before completion.

There are typically up to five payments:

1. the Initial Payment, for costs that come up early in the process;
2. a payment for searches;
3. a payment for a survey, if you need one;
4. an upfront payment to the Conveyancer, if one is needed;
5. the final settlement to the Conveyancer.

6. Cancellations and refunds

• If a client cancels a conveyancing instruction within 14 days, the client is entitled to a refund of the Initial Payment (excluding the non-refundable File Opening Fee of £180 and ID and AML check costs, if initiated or completed).
• If a client cancels after 14 days, no refund is available, but the client may retain the balance of the Initial Payment as credit for 3 years toward a future transaction.
• If a conveyancing transaction is cancelled before exchange or completion, legal fees payable to the Conveyancer are covered by The Company’s “no move no legal fee” undertaking. However, all disbursements and survey costs are payable in full.

The Company may terminate an instruction if a client abuses or threatens staff or any other discretionary reason. Refund determination, if any, will be made by The Company.

Monies paid for searches are non-refundable as they are specific to the property.

Any refund paid by The Company to clients will be in full and final settlement of all claims.

If you cancel within 14 days, you’ll receive a refund minus £180 and ID check costs. Beyond 14 days, no refund is available, but a credit for the initial payment on future transactions can be retained.

7. Additional fees and our liability

The Company is not liable for additional fees or charges that you incur. Our liability to you will not exceed the Initial Payment you paid us.

We work hard to get every quote right, but mistakes can happen. If our error leads to additional costs, you may cancel your instruction. We are not able to pay those costs on your behalf.

8. Your information

We use your personal information to provide our services, which includes sharing it with the Conveyancer and with the providers who carry out your ID checks and searches.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and protect your information, and the choices you have.

9. Complaints

If you are unhappy with our service, please tell us what went wrong by emailing support@millenniumlegal.co.uk or calling 01704 773288, and we will look into it.

Complaints about the legal work should go to the Conveyancer, which has its own complaints procedure. If you are not satisfied with the Conveyancer’s response, you may be able to take the matter to the Legal Ombudsman.

10. Law and changes to these terms

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction over any dispute about them.

We may update these terms from time to time. The version that applies to you is the one in place when you accepted your quote.