TERMS OF BUSINESS

Contract
These Terms and Conditions, together with the letter accompanying them, will form our agreement with you to carry out all work instructed by you. Please note that these are general terms of business and further terms may be applicable in certain cases. If this is the case, these will be provided to you in writing alongside these.
Quality Service
We, Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd, are a Firm of Solicitors authorised to practice as such by the Law Society of Scotland. We are bound to comply with the strict professional standards laid down by the Law Society of Scotland and by Act of Parliament. Over and above that, we are committed to providing a high-quality service to our clients. We try to work quickly and efficiently, and we hope you find us friendly and approachable.
Contacting Us
Except for public holidays, when we are closed, our offices are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday. If the member of staff concerned is unable to take your call, you can leave a message with reception or via voicemail. It may not always be possible to speak to the person you are calling every time you telephone, but he or she will always try to call you back when they are available. We can also be contacted by email using the address on the Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd letters and business cards.
Meetings Outwith Office Hours
We are available to meet you in our offices outwith normal hours by prior appointment, in which case our rates of charge will be increased. Consultations at your home or other venues can also be arranged; however, our time will be charged from the time the solicitor or paralegal leaves the office until they return. There will also be charges for travel.
Instructions
Instructions may be given to us in writing (either by letter or email) or verbally. In addition, we may ask you to confirm in writing the terms of important verbal instructions which you can give us. If there is any change of your instructions or indeed your personal circumstances, you must notify us immediately. If you wish to nominate someone else to give us instructions or to deal with your monies on your behalf, you must tell us in writing beforehand.

In the event of you varying your instructions, you must notify us immediately. If you alter your instructions, it might lead to an increase in time spent or costs. A separate email will be sent to you provides an estimate of fees based on the initial scope of work. If we need to revise the estimate due to changed instructions, we will inform you in writing.

It is important we have your clear instruction to act on your behalf. We can only act on information and instructions given to us. Please do not assume that we have knowledge of any factual matters or that we know all about your personal circumstances. We would rather receive excessive information than insufficient.

A director will supervise all matters handled by the firm. Certain matters may require the expertise of a qualified solicitor or paralegal, which might involve different team members. A director you're familiar with will always be available to discuss new issues as they arise, regardless of their department. We'll keep you updated about the individual in charge of your case in writing.

Where you are a Company, it will be assumed that authority to instruct can be given by any Director or other Authorised person; where you are a Partnership by any Partner of the Firm; where you are a husband/wife by either husband or wife, where you instruct this firm as joint parties to a transaction it will be assumed that the authority to instruct is given by either of the joint parties.

If you authorise a third party to act on your behalf, please provide a letter of authorisation between you and the third party. The letter should include details of your relationship with the third party, the scope of the authority granted, and confirmation that the third party accepts joint and several liability as set out in Section 8. Your prompt cooperation in this matter will help us ensure that your affairs are duly protected and managed with utmost care and accordance with your wishes.
Communication
We shall keep you informed about the progress of each piece of business we are dealing with on your behalf. Similarly, you must provide us with any information which is relevant to the dealing and keep us informed of any significant developments or material changes to your instructions or to your personal circumstances. Failure to do so may prevent us from protecting your interests properly. You should also advise as soon as possible of any change of address or contact details. If you do not, we will continue to write to your last known address and any such correspondence will be deemed to have been received by you.
Conflicts of Interest
Although we normally cannot act for two or more parties whose interests conflict, the Law Society does permit us to act in certain specific circumstances where this is only a potential conflict between clients and where no dispute is reasonably expected to arise. Nevertheless, please advise us if you are aware of any potential conflicts that are likely to arise. When a conflict of interest is identified we shall advise you and the other party or parties immediately and will discuss with you and them who, if anyone, we can continue to represent. We will be happy to suggest other firms of solicitors who may be willing to act for the party we can no longer represent. In certain circumstances we may not be able to continue working for either party; if this occurs, then both parties will have to move to other firms. Clients for whom we can no longer act will remain liable for fees and expenses incurred with us up to the point at which we cease to act for them.
Authority and Liability for Costs
If you tell us that you act on behalf of anyone else, such as an individual, a board of directors, a private limited company, a partnership, a trust, your spouse, or for a group of people, we shall assume that you have authority from those you claim to represent to give us instructions on their behalf. We reserve the right to request the names and addresses of any such persons and/or to any corporate bodies for confirmation that you have such authority. In addition, in the ordinary course of dealing we will expect to deal only with you when obtaining instructions unless we are informed otherwise. You, together with those you represent, and any corporate bodies for which you act in this dealing, shall be jointly and severally liable for any fees and expenses incurred by us on your behalf and, furthermore, they shall be liable with you and shall be obliged under the same contractual obligations as you in any matter which we contract or undertake on your behalf.
Confidentiality
Except insofar as we deem it necessary for the matter at hand, information passed to us by you, or information of which we become aware during the course of your business, will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties unless required by law. We will however be required to disclose that we act for you. In cases where we act for you and your lender, we are under a duty to disclose to the lender any relevant information which we hold about you and your affairs. In these circumstances, as well as acting for you, we also act for the lender, we will have to tell them of your instructions and it is very likely that this will give rise to a conflict of interest as mentioned earlier.
Money Laundering Regulations
In terms of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, as part of our customer due diligence, we are required to verify the identity of our client and to that end, unless you have already done so, please provide us with the originals of—
1. Some photographic identification, such as a passport, driving licence, service ID card, or the like; and
2. Some piece of correspondence such as a letter from a local authority or government department, a utility bill, credit card or bank statement addressed to you at your home address.
We will copy this return them to you as soon as possible but we must see them as originals, rather than photocopies, before we carry out any substantive work on your behalf. However, any information collected in order to comply with our requirements will be stored for at least 5 years from the end of the business transaction.

We are also required to satisfy ourselves as to the source of any funds which you provide and this may require us to ask your bank for a letter confirming this information. Failure to provide us with such information on request may result in a delay, or may mean that we have to withdraw from acting on your behalf. Under Section 330 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, if we have reasonable cause to suspect that money laundering activity is taking place in any transaction, we have a duty to report it to the National Crime Agency (NCA) without informing the client that we are doing so.

Please note that certain countries are designated as high-risk, meaning that we will need to perform enhanced dual diligence checks. This process may entail thorough scrutiny of additional documents to ensure compliance and security.

Regulation 33(3)(a) of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 sets out the countries which have been identified as high-risk.

The FATF publishes the most recent update to its lists of jurisdictions identified as having strategic deficiencies in their AML/counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regimes, of 'Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring' and 'High-Risk Jurisdictions subject to a Call for Action'. This information can be found here: FATF High Risk Jurisdictions.

Details on financial sanctions targets by regime can be found on GOV.UK. Please note that China is considered high risk country.

If all or part of your funds originate from a third party, we are required to conduct due diligence on the third party's source of funds (SoF) in the same way as we would for you as the client. Where the level of risk is higher, more in-depth enquiries will be required. The type of documents to be provided and the extent of the checks will depend on our risk assessment of both you and the matter. The matters we are required to review include, but are not limited to: the nature of your relationship with the third party, the source of the gifted funds, and the reason for the gift. Additional charges may apply for drafting gift letter or loan agreement.

Your relationship with the third party can be evidenced by documents such as a birth certificate, household registration book (Hukou), or a confirmation letter issued by the police. The third party will also be required to undergo our identity verification procedures.

As part of our identity checks we may make searches about you with a credit reference or Fraud Prevention Agency; this will include information from the Electoral Roll. This is not a credit check and will not affect your credit rating. The agencies will record the details of the search whether or not this transaction proceeds. Any documents provided to us will be recorded and copied for audit purposes as part of our Anti Money Laundering requirements.

As part of our due diligence process, we are required to conduct ID verification checks for each client. This service is outsourced to a third-party company, Credas and First AML from June 2024.

The fee for this service is £20 plus VAT per client for administrative charges and electronic ID verification expenses from third party provider will be added on separately. These fees will be borne by the client and will be included in the final fee note.

We are not allowed to do any work until we have verified your Identity and Address. Anyone who does any work for you before these checks have been carried out would be committing an offence under the Money Laundering Regulations. As you will appreciate this is not a risk we want to expose any of our staff to, but at the same time we want to be able to start working for you as soon the Regulations permit.

The best solution is for you to get the documents mentioned above to us as soon as possible to allow us to progress your matter without undue delay.

In certain circumstances, we will require to carry out more detailed investigations in pursuance of the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations. These are not always straightforward and sometimes take longer than expected. We do not accept liability for losses incurred by you in the course of other transactions due to the passage of time when the time elapsed is attributable to us carrying out the said investigations. We do not provide any advice in relation to your or any associated third party's personal travel or related arrangements, and we accept no responsibility for any costs or losses incurred as a result. It is therefore your responsibility to consider whether it is appropriate to enter into agreements and/or accept obligations that rely upon your matter with us concluding within a certain time period, especially if your particular situation warrants more detailed consideration, for example if your transaction involves funds from a high-risk country, cash, or if you are a Politically Exposed Person. We refer you to clause 12 paragraph 3 for more information on costs.

When paying fees by bank draft, building society/bank counter cheque or telegraphic transfer of funds we shall require a letter from the issuing bank confirming the name of the account from which the monies have been withdrawn. Additionally, we may ask for bank statements and further financial information relative to the source of the sums being paid to us.

If paying funds to us electronically, please telephone our office to ensure the correct bank details are obtained by yourself. Please ensure that when making a payment, you include reference to your transaction e.g. "purchase of XXX" so that we can quickly identify from whom the payment originates.

Any change in your circumstances during a transaction, e.g. marriage, may result in us needing to ask you for fresh proof of identity. We reserve the right to stop acting for you if you fail to provide us with the information requested of you in connection with these regulations.

Overseas Entities - ROE

In line with the money laundering regulations, any overseas entity wishing to buy, sell or transfer property or land in the UK must now register with Companies House. This requirement applies to overseas entities who own real property in the UK and have done so since in Scotland, on or since 8 December 2014. We will require evidence of this before we proceed with the transaction.
Copyright and Third Parties
The copyright in all the documents which we produce is reserved to Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd. Any advice given to you and any document prepared for you are intended only for your use and may not be copied to or used by any third party without our express written consent. Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd shall have no liability to you or to any third party for any loss, injury, or damage which you or any third party may suffer as a result of you passing on any documents or advice which we give to you and on which any third party then acts or relies to whatever extent.
Costs
Unless negotiated and agreed in advance, fees are charged on the basis of time spent on the work, (our current charge rate is £220.00 (exclusive of VAT) per hour) together with an element for responsibility which can vary according to a number of matters, such as urgency, importance of the work to you, amount or value of money or property involved, complexity, difficulty or novelty of the matters, or the length, number or importance of documents or papers. consultation fee is charged at £220.00 (exclusive of VAT) per hour.

Unless expressly stated otherwise in writing, all initial consultations, regardless of whether or not you subsequently instruct us, will be charged on an hourly basis, with our hourly rate being £220 plus VAT.

For enhanced Due Diligence check, we will charge £200 plus VAT per hour, this is for High Risk Funds, such as funds gifted from high risk jurisdictions e.g. China, and any other high risk circumstances which we will discuss with you when instruction is accepted or thereafter when it is realised that there is a high risk factor involved in your funding.

We will either work on a fixed fee basis or on a time and line basis. Our fixed fees will take into account:
- The importance of the matter to you;
- The amount of value of any money or property involved;
- The complexity of the matter and difficulty or novelty of the legal point in question;
- The skills, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility involved on our part;
- The time expended; and
- The length, number, and importance of any documents or other papers prepared or perused and the degree of expedition required.
Value Added Tax is chargeable on all of our legal fees. Should you request it, we will advise you of the fees accrued to date. You are able to make payment towards the accrued fees at any time. You may also request a breakdown of how we have calculated the fee or for the provision of such breakdown information. However, if having been given such information you require a fully itemised account, the cost of preparing that will be charged to you at our normal hourly rate.

In most cases, we will charge a fixed fee, which you will be made aware of at the outset. Should any work be required that is unforeseeable at the time when the initial fixed fee is quoted, then we may require to charge a further fee. In such cases, we will advise you of same before we commence the work. We may also charge a fee based on a success agreement; in which case we will advise you of the details separately in writing.

In non-property transactions all sums recovered on your behalf will be utilised in settlement of our professional fees and disbursements before sending the balance to you

If any bill rendered to you is not paid, we may exercise our right of lien over your papers until all sums due have been paid. We may also exercise our right to pursue any overdue fees via civil proceedings.

You are entitled to instruct us to stop acting for you at any time but you will be responsible for all fees and outlays due to us up until the time of change. We are entitled to hold title deeds, Wills, files, and other papers belonging to you until all sums due to us have been paid. Where legal fees and/or legal outlays remain outstanding we shall be entitled to withdraw from acting on your behalf

Should you at any time be dissatisfied with the fee charged by us, please discuss the matter with us in the first instance, but then, if you are still not satisfied, you are entitled to have our fees independently assessed to ensure that a fair and reasonable fee is being set. If you require this to be done, you must ask at the end of the matter and we will pass the file to an independent auditor for assessment. If an independent assessment of our fee is carried out at your request, you must pay the auditor's fee, in advance if necessary. If you require an independent assessment of our fees yet fail to pay the auditor's fee within fourteen days of it being requested, then we shall be entitled to assume that you have abandoned your request to have the file independently assessed and we shall be entitled to submit our fee note, as calculated by us, to you for payment in the ordinary way. If the auditor reduces the amount of our original fee, then you will be required to pay our fee at the level set by the auditor.

Please note that if our file is referred to an external auditor for verification of the fee, any discount which we may have previously offered on the fee will be revoked.

Independent assessment of fees charged will not be possible if we have parted with possession of the file or if the file has been destroyed after the conclusion of the dealing.

Sometimes we will require a payment to account of our fees before we commence work.

Unless stated otherwise in writing, our initial consultations are chargeable at our normal hourly rate as noted in the schedule of charging below.

Please note that in any court action, and when buying, selling, or leasing property, we will incur outlays on your behalf and we shall be entitled to ask you to pay them in advance. These include things like Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, court costs, document registration dues and property search dues, together with any and all monies due to the Factor of the property, all of which will be payable by you.
Estimates
Any estimate of quote that may be given will only be a probable fee based on our experience of the work you have asked us to do. In all cases, the fee will be based on the actual cost of the work done at the end of the transaction, litigation, or other piece of work.
Payments of Fees and Outlays
We will issue our account either at the end of a matter or at regular intervals. Payment is due immediately. We may also ask you for payments to account where fees and costs are mounting up, or are expected to mount up very quickly. If our fee note is not paid within 30 days, we reserve the right to revoke any discount on the fee which we may have given and to charge interest on the full amount overdue at five percent over base rate from the date on which the fee note was issued to you. If you do not pay our account on time, we reserve the right to stop working for you and to charge you the full amount for work we have done for you to that date.

Payment in full requires to be made before we will pass the case papers to another solicitor.
Expenses in Court Actions
If we act on your behalf in connection with a court action in which you are party or wholly successful, it may be possible to recover some expenses from your opponent. In practice, only a proportion of your costs are likely to be recoverable. You will be liable for the fees and outlays incurred by us on your behalf whether or not you are successful in an action after deducting all expenses recovered from your opponent. This liability may not arise if you have agreed with us a success fee agreement (otherwise known as a "no win, no fee" agreement). If your action is not successful, as well as being liable for our fees and expenses, you may also be liable for those of your opponent.
Deduction of Fees and Outlays at Source
Where we receive sums on your behalf or hold funds to your order, we shall be entitled to deduct from those sums all outstanding fees and outlays before sending you the balance.
Sale and Purchase of Property
When you are selling, or mortgaging a property, we will deduct all outstanding costs together with our fees from the sale (or loan) (proceeds as soon as practicable after the date on which the sale (or loan) is completed. In a sale, we will only deduct our costs after any mortgage has been repaid. When you are buying property, the price together with all outlays, costs, fees, and taxes required to be in our bank account as cleared funds on the day before the purchase. This will involve you letting us have cheques not later than six clear banking days before the intended date of entry or instructing a bank transfer of the funds to our clients account by no later than the day before the intended date of entry. We incur bank charges for all telegraphic transfers of funds, and these will be passed on to you as outlays.

In transactions relating to the sale of residential property the sale price will normally be received by telegraphic transfer of funds from the purchaser's solicitor and a deduction will be made in respect of the fee for the telegraphic transfer. If you have a mortgage over the property which is being sold that will be repaid by us by CHAPS transfer and the fee for that will be recoverable from you. Said sale price will be remitted to you by CHAPS transfer where a fee will be charged. In the event that in transactions relating to the sale of residential property the sale price is received by way of cleared funds the free proceeds will be disbursed to you within two working days of the date of settlement to allow time for an appropriate statement to be prepared. Under no circumstances will the free proceeds of sale or re-mortgage transactions be disbursed to third parties. unless there is sufficient evidence to justify the reason for proceeds to be transferred to third parties.

In property purchase transactions our fees will normally be due, following completion of missives, at or prior to settlement, and if funds are required from you, payment will be expected prior to settlement allowing clearance time, but no more than 7 days before settlement. Any fees paid into our client account will be deducted from the final fee statement.

Along with our fee, we will issue a statement detailing financial dealings on your behalf. This will include the outlays (for example survey fees) which may have been incurred. In conveyancing transactions all professional fees, VAT and statutory outlays will be payable by Bank Transfer of Funds in advance of the date of settlement. Unfortunately, because of delays in clearance personal cheques cannot be accepted.

we will issue our account either at the end of the matter or at regular intervals. Payment is due within 7 days of the date of the account. If not paid within this time, we reserve the right to charge interest on the whole sum overdue, at 5% over the Bank of Scotland base rate. We receive payment of commission in respect of Property/Local Authority Searches and said commission will not be accounted for to our clients.

Please note that Chen Jie Solicitors Ltd shall not be held liable in respect of any additional outlays or fees incurred as a result of a payment not being made on the due date that is beyond our control. We undertake to make said payment at the earliest opportunity, but any expenses incurred as a result will be paid by you. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes payments to lenders to redeem securities where a payment may be held by the lender's security team.

Land and buildings transaction tax – purchase transaction only

As of 1 December 2003, a new property tax was introduced known as Stamp Duty Land Tax. This is a replacement for what was formerly known as Stamp Duty. This was replaced in Scotland in April 2015 by Land and Buildings Transaction Tax.

A return has to be submitted online for every purchase exceeding £39,999 in value and for most leases or other dealings with leases. If a transaction is notifiable for LBTT, a return must be made to Revenue Scotland. This must be within 30 days of the effective date. The buyer must calculate and pay any LBTT due at the same time as submitting the return. When the ADS applies, you will include details of this in the LBTT return and make payment for the ADS alongside any payment due for LBTT. With your consent, we have elected to pay the tax on behalf of you by BACS. This means we require cleared funds from you prior to completion of the transaction to pay this.

Because of the importance of this return and also its complexity we would recommend that you authorise us to complete this on your behalf in order to ensure that there is minimum delay in its preparation. All we will require you to do is to simply approve the return and provide us with a few pieces of information at a later stage. Unless we hear from you to the contrary therefore, we shall assume that we do have your authority as agents to process this return. We do also have to point out that because of this additional and reasonably substantial piece of work which falls out with the strict remit of a conveyancing transaction we will have to make a small charge for the additional responsibility which will however not exceed the sum of £50.00 excluding VAT.

We do have to emphasise, however, that the LBTT return is a tax return. There are therefore penalties for failing to complete the return or for submitting incorrect returns. In addition, the Inland Revenue require you to keep a copy of the return for up to six years from the transaction and can enquire into returns generally for up to nine months after the filing date. We will of course either retain a copy on your own file and/or provide a copy to you. In addition, the Revenue can demand access to the relevant documents e.g. our file or related papers. In effect, however, these provisions are no different from any other tax return. We will of course use our knowledge of the transaction to complete the form as far as we can reasonably do so, but this will be in our capacity as agents only. The final responsibility will require to remain with you as taxpayer.

From 5th December 2024, if you already own one or more residential properties and purchase a further property worth £40,000 or more, that transaction may attract a surcharge to LBTT of 8% of the whole purchase price. It is irrelevant where the existing property is located, it does not need to be located in Scotland.

If you already own a property, it is essential that you advise us of that in order that we can calculate the correct LBTT payable on the transaction. In effect, if the purchase price is £40,000 or above, tax will be charged at 8% on the full price. Thus, for example, a purchase at £60,000 would not normally be liable to LBTT but attracts additional tax of £4,800 if you already own another property.

The rules catch not only those who own other property outright but those who have an interest in property, for example you may own a property jointly with another party or your spouse or civil partner may own a property (in which case you are treated as having an interest in the property).

In addition, if any child of yours under the age of 16 has an interest in another residential property, then again you are treated as having an interest.

You may also be treated as having an interest in the property if you are the beneficiary of a Trust which owns residential property.

Limited companies and other natural persons become liable to pay this surcharge even on the purchase of a first residential property.

If you are replacing your existing main residence, but the sale does not complete until after completion of the purchase of the new property, you are required to pay the tax and reclaim it from Revenue Scotland on completion of the sale of the existing property provided that the sale is completed within 18 months of the purchase. The position can be complicated so it is essential that you discuss the matter with us as soon as possible.

Buildings insurance

During the course of a purchase transaction, we will notify you about the property's building insurance status. If the property is covered by the builder's factor or has independent building insurance, we will inform you accordingly. However, if there is no existing insurance in place, it becomes your sole responsibility to ensure that the property is adequately insured before or on the settlement date. We shall take no action in that regard unless required to do so by your mortgage lender.

Surveys

If you request that we instruct a property survey on your behalf it will be for you to tell us what type of survey you require, failing which we will instruct only the basic (Scheme 1) valuation/survey. No matter what type of survey you instruct we accept no responsibility whatsoever in the event that the property inspected has defects which are not pointed out in the survey report.

Contaminated land

The Contaminated Land regime, which came into effect in Scotland on 14th July 2000, applies to all types of land, including residential, commercial, industrial, or agricultural. This regime can have implications for owners, occupiers, developers, and lenders.

Local Authorities are responsible for inspecting and identifying seriously contaminated sites.

During your property purchase, the sellers' solicitors will provide a Property Enquiry Report from either the Local Authority or a private search firm. It's important to note that a negative response to the standard Local Authority enquiries regarding contaminated land may simply indicate that the site has not been inspected yet. It does not rule out the possibility of future inspections or potential issues.

Compliance with contaminated land regulations can be expensive, and the associated costs may even exceed the value of the property. In summary:
- A "clear" Property Enquiry Report does not guarantee the absence of contaminated land issues.
- In a new house purchase, sellers' solicitors usually do not obtain Property Enquiry Certificates. If you want further investigation, please inform us, and you will be responsible for the cost of the report. However, it's unlikely that the Local Authority granted Planning Consent for the development without the developer providing satisfactory ground condition reports.
- Contaminated land registers may not be completely up-to-date, and additional information could emerge in the future that is not currently included in any register.
- Environmental reports can be obtained from certain firms at a nominal cost (around £40.00). However, we will not obtain such a report unless you specifically instruct us to do so, and you will be responsible for the associated cost, which is not covered by our quotation.
- This firm provides no warranty or representation concerning contaminated land matters or environmental law matters. If it later transpires that the property is affected by contamination, you will have no recourse against this firm for damages or any other claims.
Lease transaction
It is your responsibility to take action in advance of any critical dates arising after completion of your transaction, e.g. lease expiry dates, rent review dates, lease break options, licence renewal dates, time limits, etc. We will not remind you of any critical dates unless we have given an undertaking to you in writing that we will do so.

LBTT was introduced on 1 April 2015 and it may apply to anyone leasing non-residential land or property in Scotland. Where a notifiable lease has been granted on or after 1 April 2015 then an LBTT return must be submitted by the tenant.
Criminal Cases
If we are acting on your behalf in relation to a criminal case, then the following terms and conditions apply to you:

Bail

You may have been placed on bail by the police or the Court.

Police Bail (or Undertakings)

If you have been given bail by the police, you will have signed a form known as an Undertaking. This form will contain the standard conditions you require to adhere to and any additional conditions the police deemed appropriate. If you have signed the Undertaking form, you are bound by these conditions. The standard conditions of police bail cannot be altered, but it is possible in certain circumstances to have one or more of the special conditions removed by application to the Court. If you wish to do so, then you must provide us with prompt instructions regarding the reason for your application. We will then provide you with advice on the likelihood of success. Applications to remove undertaking conditions attract an additional fee, the level of which will be set by us depending on the amount of work that will be involved in your particular application.

Court Bail

If you are placed on bail by the court, then you will be subject to the standard conditions of bail. These are listed in section 24 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, and they require that the accused–
1. appears at the appointed time at every diet relating to the offence with which he is charged of which he is given due notice;
2. does not commit an offence while on bail;
3. does not interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice whether in relation to himself or any other person;
4. does not behave in a manner which causes, or is likely to cause, alarm or distress to witnesses;
5. whenever reasonably instructed by a constable to do so (i) participates in an identification parade or other identification procedure; and (ii) allows any print, impression, or sample to be taken from the accused;
6. makes himself available for the purpose of enabling enquiries or a report to be made to assist the court in dealing with him for the offence which he is charged; and
7. where the (or an) offence in respect of which he is admitted to bail is one of a sexual or domestic nature, does not seek to obtain, otherwise than by way of a solicitor, any precognition of or statement by the complainer in relation to the subject matter of the offence.
The court may also impose special conditions of bail, for example a curfew or a prohibition on approaching or contacting one or more individuals. It is essential that you do not breach these conditions because doing so constitutes a separate offence. It is likely that doing so will result in you being returned to court and potentially remanded in custody pending trial.

Should you wish to review or have removed any of these conditions, we can apply to the court on your behalf. This can be done either verbally or in writing.

If you are not remanded in custody, but are also not placed on bail, your are simply "ordained" to appear. This means that you are simply required to return to court on a particular date or dates.

Change of Address

If you change address, you must inform us immediately.

If you are on bail, then we must application to the court to change your bail address within seven days. If you fail to timeously notify us of your change of address, you may be charged with a separate offence, which could result in you imprisoned for up to twelve months.
Free consultation service
We offer FREE consultation service to clients in general on monthly basis, free consultation is held at Chen Jie Solicitors, 117 Crow Road, Glasgow G11 7SH, every second Tuesday of each month, appointment slots can be booked in advance or dropping in is also welcomed. Appointment slot is 20 minutes per person for general enquiries only.
Termination and Variation of Engagement
These terms and the covering letter of engagement form the agreement between us and will not be varied unless agreed by both parties in writing.

You are entitled to change solicitors at any time but in such circumstances, your new solicitors must provide us with a mandate from you instructing us to pass your papers on to them. In these circumstances you will remain responsible for all fees and other outstanding payments due to us until the time when we receive the mandate, as well as for the cost of sending your papers on. We are entitled to retain your title deeds and other papers until the sums due to us are paid in full.
Client Funds Held by us
Any cleared funds which we hold on your behalf will be placed by us on a Solicitors Special Deposit Account with the Bank of Scotland and you shall be entitled to receive any interest which may accrue while the funds are on deposit.
Complaints
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If something goes wrong, we encourage you to tell us about it as soon as possible. This will help us improve our standards and put things right where appropriate.

If you are not happy with the service provided to you and/or the handling or storage of your personal data, you should contact the person normally dealing with your case or their supervising partner or manager. The supervising partner or manager will be Jade Smitheram or, if you don't have this information, then please contact admin@chenjiesolicitors.co.uk.

The person handling your case and their supervisor or manager will carry out an investigation into your complaint and provide you with a response within 15 business days. If the matter is complex and it takes longer to deal with your complaint, they will let you know as soon as possible and give you an approximate timescale of when you can expect a response. They may suggest a telephone call or meeting to discuss matters. If you have a preference for how they communicate their response to you please let them know.

If you are not satisfied with the final response from Jade Smitheram, or you have not received a response to your complaint within eight weeks, you may refer your complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission who are based at 10-14 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG.
The Case File
We record all of our work in an electronic form and sometimes in a physical file. Once the matter has concluded, we will retain the file. However, after some time has passed, the file will be destroyed in accordance with the Law Society's Guidelines. If you would like to have the file instead, please let us know in plenty of time and thereafter arrange to uplift it. Unless you do this, we shall assume that you consent to the destruction of the file and proceed accordingly.
Limit of our liabilities
This firm is covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance under the Law Society of Scotland's Master Policy and our liability is limited to the level of cover under that policy from time to time, viz; the current level of cover is £2m in respect of each and every claim. You shall not have any claim against any individual director, employee or agent of this firm personally. Any claim against the company will be against the limited company only.
Jurisdiction
These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Scotland. The parties agree that the Scottish Courts shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms and Conditions.
Future Communications
We have chosen to use email, telephone, or other electronic means to communicate with you in the future. Through these channels, we may provide you with important information that could impact your personal, family, employment, or business matters. We may also share details about our expertise, experience, and legal services in various areas of law, occasionally offering special promotional rates to our valued existing clients. However, we respect your preferences, and if you do not wish to receive such communications from us, please let us know. You can communicate your preference through a letter, phone call, email, WeChat or in-person visit at any time. Your satisfaction and comfort with our communication approach are of utmost importance to us, and we are committed to ensuring that your experience with our firm is tailored to your preferences.
Data Retention Period
Data will be retained by the firm based on legal, regulatory, and business requirements. The firm does not have a policy of holding files indefinitely.

If a client exercises their right of erasure, this request will be complied with provided that the last movement date on the file or client ledger in connection with the matter is beyond our minimum retention period.

Our minimum retention period will accord with the timescales recommended by the Law Society of Scotland from time to time or five years, whichever is longer.

All data collected in order to comply with our money laundering requirements will be stored for at least five years from the end of the business transaction, as per Regulation 40 of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017.

Specific retention periods for different work types are provided in our Data Policy document.
Destruction of paper files
You consent to the destruction without further warning of all physical files and papers on immediately after completion of the work being carried out on your behalf. We will arrange for your file to be scanned and stored digitally both off site and on DVD which will be held in a secure location in this office. These digital files and the relevant DVD will be destroyed on the expiry of our minimum data retention period in accordance with relevant guidelines produced from time to time by the Law Society of Scotland or 5 years from completion of the work carried out on your behalf whichever is later.
Exercise of Right of Erasure ("right to be forgotten")
In the event that you wish to exercise your right of erasure, we will be pleased to comply with your request provided the last transaction movement or ledger entry of your last transaction or case has exceeded our minimum retention periods. If you wish to exercise your right of erasure you must write to us to advise us of this (we will not accept such instructions verbally or by email or telephone). Your instructions to us must also be signed by all parties involved in a transaction or case.
Privacy Statement
We have prepared and published a Privacy Statement on our website and attach a copy to these Terms of Business. Our Privacy Statement sets out the lawful basis of processing your data (which, in the case of our representing you or acting on your behalf in a legal matter, is the Contract constituted by these Terms of Business/Engagement) and sets out your rights in relation to that data.
Disclosure of data to third parties
We are bound to protect and keep confidential your data, but inevitably, to enable us to properly represent your interests and conduct business on your behalf, we have to disclose some information to third parties. Some examples of such third parties are other solicitors, the Registers of Scotland, the Courts and Tribunals in Scotland or elsewhere, the Office of the Public Guardian, Insurance Companies, other financial institutions, HMRC and Revenue Scotland. This is not an exhaustive list but merely an indication of the range and extent of third parties to whom your data is disclosed.

We also instruct third parties to process data on our behalf. Where we do so, such third parties are bound by the terms of Article 28 of the GDPR in respect of their data processing contract with us. Our Privacy Statement lists those third parties who will process your personal data on our behalf.

By instructing us, you consent to us disclosing such information as is reasonable and necessary for the purpose of carrying out your instructions.
Change of Bank Details
Recent press coverage has highlighted that email scams and cybercrime are increasingly prevalent. Despite security measures being in place, emails can be intercepted and their contents altered. Before transferring any money to us, you must telephone our office using the number you normally use for correspondence to verify that you have the correct bank account details.

Our bank account details will also be provided alongside any Fee Notes in a PDF document containing our Chen Jie Solicitors Client Account information. You must independently verify those details by telephone before making any payment.

We will never notify you of a change to our bank details by unencrypted email. If you receive any email suggesting that our bank details have changed, do not make any payment to the account stated and contact us immediately. We will not telephone you asking you to transfer funds to a different bank account. If you receive such a call, terminate the call immediately and contact us from a different telephone using the number shown on our letterhead to verify the position.

We will not accept responsibility if you transfer funds to an incorrect account.
This Agreement
These Terms of Business, in addition to the Letter of Engagement, and as the case may be, your retainer agreement, will form the whole agreement between us to carry out the work we are instructed to do. Any subsequent modifications to our contractual relationship with you must be in writing and signed by you. In the event of a dispute between us, resulting in litigation, any court action will be subject to Scots Law. The losing party shall bear all legal costs, including but not limited to court fees, reasonable legal expenses, and solicitors' fees incurred by the prevailing party.

Version March 2026