Pricing Guide

PRICING GUIDE FOR CONVEYANCING AND RELATED WORK

At Boulter & Co LLP we are committed to providing the best information we can on our charges for all of our services. We set out below pricing and service information for the conveyancing services which we offer.

Residential Conveyancing and Leasehold Work

Boulter & Co LLP offer legal assistance and professional support for all our clients in buying, selling and re-mortgaging and we advise you throughout the process providing a quick, reliable and straightforward service. We have extensive experience of dealing with re-mortgages and transfers of property following relationship breakdown, gifts of property, trusts, lease extensions, freehold acquisitions and management agreements.

We work closely with our clients to reassure them throughout, offering home visits, out of office hours’ appointments and face to face meetings.

Our property department when required will work together with your estate agent, broker and your lender to ensure that your transaction progresses smoothly.

Your transaction will be handled by a named individual lawyer throughout the entire transaction. Information on our lawyers can be found below.

We hold The Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation. This ensures that the service we provide is to an exceptionally high standard as this is awarded only to solicitors who meet the highest management and client care standards. We are on the panels of most main mortgage lenders.

We will give you an individual cost estimate at the start of your transaction, taking into account the specific features of your transaction and we will advise you of any complications once we become aware of these and discuss the impact on price before additional charges are incurred.

We provide expert advice to our clients regarding residential and business leases and lease extensions as well as Deeds of Variation and Rectification of leases. We act for both Landlords and Leaseholders in the disposal and acquisition of freehold interests (enfranchisement). We also act for leaseholders seeking the right to manage their property in place of their landlord.

Pricing Information

In accordance with the SRA Transparency Rules we have set out below details of our range of fees applicable to each type of transaction.

Residential Conveyancing – Freehold or Leasehold Purchases

Our fees for a typical freehold purchase range from £1,250.00 plus Vat (= £1,500.00) to £3,500.00 plus Vat (= £4,200.00) for a high value complex transaction.

These fees may vary if there are additional factors to take into account – see below. That is why we will always give you an individual quotation before we start work for you although frequently items will arise during the course of a transaction which will affect what we charge.

In addition to our charges there will be additional payments that we will need to make to third parties and these are known as “disbursements”. We can give you a better indication of what they are likely to be when we have details of the property.

There will usually be one or more searches to be carried out and this depends on the location of the property. The usual budget for searches would be in the region of £400 plus Vat (=£480) to £500 plus VAT (=£600). Typically the following searches are usually required on a purchase:

Environmental search – £94 plus Vat (= £112.80) (approx.)
Chancel insurance – £20 plus Vat (= £24) (approx.)
Local Authority search (direct with the relevant Council) – These vary but typically around £250 plus Vat (= £300)
Drainage search – £61 plus Vat (= £73.20) (approx.)
Plan Search – £30 plus Vat (=£36)
Lawyer Checker at a cost of £25 plus Vat (= £30)

Further examples of expenses would be Landlord and/or Management Company charges for leaseholds which would typically be between £100 plus Vat (= £120) and £300 plus Vat (= £360). Full details of these and other disbursements and expenses can be found in our terms and conditions of business.

Additionally there may be Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for properties in England, Land Transaction Tax for properties in Wales and also Land Registry fees to pay. These depend on the value of the property so we cannot inform you what these will be without talking to you first. Further details will be found below.

Should your transaction not proceed to exchange and completion then we will charge a proportionate fee depending on the work already carried out on your behalf

Other Factors

Please be aware that there are factors that may lead to an increase in our fees and charges for the transactions we undertake and you should contact us for an exact quotation. Typical factors that could lead to a cost increase are set out below:

A sale or purchase with a share of freehold

Any unusual circumstances such as length of the lease, planning or building regulations issues, listed building, estate management schemes or defective title
expediting the transaction
New builds
Lease extension, deed of variation or other legal deed
The price is above £1m
Unregistered land
Help to Buy Scheme or Help to Buy Isa
Auction sale or purchase

Please note that this list is not exhaustive.

Mortgages

If you are obtaining a mortgage in conjunction with your purchase it is likely that your lender will ask us to act in its behalf as well as acting for you. Mortgage lenders pass on the cost for acting on their behalf to the borrower. The fees for acting for your mortgage lender are payable by you. You shall be charged the amount recommended by your mortgage lender in your mortgage offer subject to a minimum of £150 plus Vat (= £180). If your mortgage lender instructs another solicitor or conveyancer an additional fee will be charged subject to a minimum of £300.00 plus Vat (= £360.00) as we shall be required to deal with their enquiries and provide them with a copy of your file.

New Builds

If the property is a new build an additional fee of £200 plus VAT (= £240) will be added to our fee.

There are instances where there are management companies on a freehold and this may also attract further fees.

Residential conveyancing – Freehold or Leasehold Sales

Our fees for a typical freehold sale range from £1,250.00 plus Vat (= £1,500.00) to £3,500.00 plus Vat (= £4,200.00) for a high value and complex transaction.

For leasehold transactions the range would normally be as above.

These charges may vary if there are additional factors to take into account.

That is why we will always give you an individual quotation before we start work for you.

In addition to our charges there may be additional payments that we will need to make to third parties (disbursements).

We can give you a better indication of what they are likely to be when we have details of the property.

Residential Conveyancing – Freehold or Leasehold Re-mortgaging

For standard residential remortgage transactions this is the basic range of charges that we would seek to charge for a freehold and for a leasehold property.

Freehold £500 plus Vat (= £600) to £2,000 plus Vat (= £2,400)
Leasehold £600 plus Vat (= £720) to £2,200 plus Vat (= £2,640)

For the refinancing of property portfolios we will provide an individual quotation for our fees.

Different Lenders have different requirements that we may have to deal with on its behalf. Our fees will cover the redemption of any existing mortgage(s) and the completion and registration of the new mortgage at the Land Registry.

In addition to our charges there will be additional payments that we will need to make to third parties. We can give you a better indication of what they are likely to be when we have details of the property concerned. A Land Registry fee will usually be payable.

Should your transaction not proceed to exchange and completion then we will charge a proportionate fee depending on the work already carried out on your behalf.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is applicable to purchases of property in England and Land Transaction Tax (LTT) is applicable for properties in Wales

A Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) or Land Transaction Tax Return must be filed with HM Revenue and Customs following completion of a property purchase where the price agreed exceeds £40,000.

Responsibility for payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax or Land Transaction Tax rests solely with the property buyer. As filing of a return is a pre-condition of applying to register your ownership at the Land Registry, it is a condition of our retainer that you must pay your SDLT or LTT prior to completion of your purchase.

There are presently various rates of tax which apply depending upon the value of the property being purchased. These include discounted rates for first time buyers in England and higher rates when an additional property (eg a second home or “buy to let”) is being purchased.

More information about SDLT and how rates of SDLT are calculated are summarised in our terms and conditions of business and full details are available on the following websites:

SDLT: tax.service.gov.uk

Land Registry: gov.uk

Timescale for a Property Purchase

How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move in to your house will depend on a number of factors. These include how soon we receive the draft contract, information forms about the property and other papers from the seller’s solicitors; how long searches are taking; if there is a chain of parties involved; when we receive your mortgage offer and how quickly the other solicitors deal with the enquiries that are raised. The average timescale between instructing us to completion of the transaction is typically 8 to 12 weeks but this is the average and the timescale can vary depending on the circumstances and properties of the parties.

In the event that you require a period of less than 10 working days between exchange and completion there is a supplemental charge is £175 plus Vat (= £210.00).

Stages of the process

The precise stages involved in the purchase of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. However, we set out below some key stages:

Take your instructions and give you initial advice
Check your finances are in place to fund the purchase and contact lender’s solicitors if needed
Receive and advise on contract documents
Carry out searches
Obtain further planning documentation if required
Make any necessary enquiries of seller’s solicitors
Give you advice on all documents and information received
Go through conditions of mortgage offer with you
Send final version of the contract to you for signature
Agree a completion date (the date from which you own the property)
Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened
Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you
Complete purchase
Complete SDLT return and deal with payment
Deal with application for registration of the property in your name(s) at the Land Registry

Referral Rees

These are sometimes arrangements between lawyers and estate agents involving the payment of a referral fee and we will advise you if there is a referral arrangement. Referral fees are not passed onto our clients.

Our fees assume that:

This is a standard transaction and that no unforeseen matters arise including for example (but not limited to) a defect in title which requires remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction
This is the assignment of an existing lease and is not the grant of a new lease
The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complication arise
All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation
No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required.

The above is for information only, if you require a full and accurate quotation please contact us direct on 020 8340 022.

Further information about our charges, disbursements and procedures generally can be found in our terms of conditions of business relating to purchases and sales.

The Conveyancing Team

Andrew Joannides

Andrew Joannides is a solicitor and the firm’s Senior Partner and Head of the Conveyancing Department. He qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and he handles all types of commercial and residential conveyancing and property related work together with disputed lease extensions and enfranchisements to the First-Tier Tribunal.

Sally Louca

Sally Louca qualified as a Chartered Legal Executive in 2016. She is one of the partners in the firm and she deals with conveyancing work in our conveyancing department. She also prepares wills and handles probate work. She is based in our Crouch End office.

John Appleton

John Appleton is a solicitor and one of the partners in the firm. He qualified as a solicitor in 1989 and works at our office handling a wide variety of conveyancing and property-related work including lease extensions.

David Garfinkel

David Garfinkel is a Consultant Solicitor at Boulter & Co LLP. He qualified as a solicitor in 1975 and handles all types of commercial and residential conveyancing work as well as wills and probate and associated legal work. David also deals with contested lease extensions and enfranchisements.

Andri Loizou

Andri Loizou is a solicitor working in our conveyancing department at Crouch End. She qualified in 2021 after training at Boulter & Co. LLP.

DEBT RECOVERY PRICING GUIDE

At Boulter & Co. LLP we are committed to providing the best information we can on our charges for all of our services. We set out below pricing and service information for debt recovery and collection for claims up to £100,000.

We offer a prompt and effective service to recover debts owed to you or your business.

The guidance below sets out the procedure and this firm’s charges that will apply should we act on your behalf to seek to recover a debt of up to £100,000 that is owed to you or your business.

The debt recovery service includes the stages set out below.

Receipt of your instructions and sending a Letter of Claim on your behalf

The first step is to send to the debtor a formal demand for payment known as a ‘letter of claim’. This will need to be sent in compliance with the Pre-action Protocol for Debt Claims (the “Debt Protocol”) where the debtor is an individual or sole trader. If the debt is a business such as a partnership or limited company then there must be compliance with the Practice Direction relating to Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols (PDPACP) contained in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The PDPAPC can be found online at www.justice.gov.uk. Follow the links to PDPACP

In order for us to prepare an appropriate letter of Claim, we will need full details of the debt and supporting documents including invoice(s) and relevant correspondence as well as your terms and conditions of business (if any). We can then draft a letter of claim on your behalf.

Once completed, the letter of claim will be sent to the debtor by post and by email (if an email address is provided). Unless it is clearly stated within your terms of business or other contractual document that applies, we will not be able to recover our costs and charges for preparing the letter of claim from the debtor.

Our cost for completing the initial letter of claim will be £75 plus Vat (= £90) to £150 plus Vat (= £180).

The debtor will have a period of up to 14 days (where it is a limited company or partnership) or 30 days (where he/she is an individual or sole trader) from receipt of the letter of claim to provide their response. Further charges beyond sending the letter of claim will depend on the debtor’s response.

If the debtor chooses not to reply and fails to make payment of the debt

We will inform you of the debtor’s failure to respond and you can decide whether you wish to instruct us to issue Court proceedings on your behalf(see below).

If the debtor admits the debt but wants to negotiate payment terms

We will pass on to you any proposals received from the debtor and take your instructions. We can then conduct further correspondence with the debtor and send a reply to the debtor either agreeing or rejecting the debtor’s proposals or to try and resolves issues Our costs for further correspondence are likely to be in the region of £100 to £500 plus Vat (ie £120 to £600).

We will not be able to seek to recover these costs from the debtor.

If the debtor admits the debt and agrees to pay the debt

We will inform you of the debtor’s response and request that the debtor makes payment directly to you. Our fee for this will be £75 plus VAT (= £90).

If the debtor disputes some or all of the debt

If the debtor disputes all or any part of the debt, the debtor must set out in writing what sum is disputed and reasons as to why it is disputed. The debtor is also required to provide any relevant documentation. If we conduct further correspondence with the debtor costs will be in the region of £200 plus Vat (= £240) to £600 plus Vat (=£720).

If the debt is disputed in full or part and issues cannot be resolved through correspondence or dialogue with the debtor then we will take your instructions as to whether you wish to proceed to take further legal action concerning the debt or not. If the debtor disputes your claim and further work is required beyond the work indicated including the issue and pursuit of a claim through the court above then we will provide you with an estimate of costs that will apply to further time and work necessary to pursue the disputed debt. Those costs will be based on an hourly rate applicable to the solicitor acting on your behalf, currently £300 plus Vat (= £360).

Drafting and issuing Court proceedings

If you instruct us to draft and issue court proceedings, then in addition to our fees, you will be responsible for paying the applicable court fee due on the issue of proceedings. Details of fees can be found online. For claims for sums up to £10,000 fees vary from £35 to £455. For claims above £10,000 the court fee is usually calculated at 5% of the sum(s) being claimed.

If proceedings are issued you would be entitled to seek to recover a limited amount of “fixed costs” ranging between £50 and £100 in respect of your legal costs, in addition to the payment of the court issue fee incurred which would be claimed in addition to the value of the debt. Therefore if any costs are recovered they are very limited.

In simple debt collection cases, particularly those based on unpaid invoices, our charges for drafting, generally preparing documents necessary to commence the claim and forwarding these to the Court will range between £400 plus Vat (= £480) and £750 plus Vat (= £900). In some cases you may be advised to instruct a barrister to draft the claim in which case you will additionally incur barrister’s fees, typically in the region of £500 plus Vat (= £600) to £1,000 plus Vat (= £1,200). These charges will include making an application to the court for the entry of a County Court Judgment against the debtor where there has been failure to file a Defence or an Acknowledgment of Service within the timescale allowed This is known as Judgment in default.

In more complex cases where proceedings are issued then additional charges may be incurred in preparing and issuing the claim, especially when a barrister is instructed, and these could be in the region of £4,000 plus Vat (= £4,800) to £10,000 plus Vat = £12,000).

After the court issues the proceedings, it will serve court documentation on the debtor by post. The debtor will then have a period of 14 days from receipt of court papers in which to either file an Acknowledgment of Service, a Defence or an Admission (or Part Admission). In the event that the debtor does not file either a Defence or an Acknowledgment of Service, we will request that the Court enter a County Court Judgment against the debtor. The costs of applying for judgment will be in the region of £100 plus Vat (= £120).

When Judgment in default is received from the court, we write to the Defendant to request payment. If payment is not received then we will provide you with advice on the next steps and likely costs of enforcement action

If the debtor files an Acknowledgment of Service

If the debtor files an Acknowledgment of Service within 14 days of receiving the claim, he/she will have 28 days from receipt of the claim to file and serve a Defence. If he/she fails to do so then we will request a County Court Judgment in default at that stage.

If the debtor files a Defence

If a Defence is filed and served, we will inform you of this and provide you with a separate estimate of our costs for continuing to act on your behalf in relation to the disputed debt. Those costs will usually be calculated with reference to the hourly rate of the solicitor who is acting on your behalf in relation to the debt claimed.

Enforcement of a County Court Judgment

Once a County Court Judgment has been obtained there are a variety of enforcement methods that can be used to seek to recover your debt. Full details of the enforcement options available to you are outside the scope of this guide. However, we can discuss these options with you and provide you with a cost estimate for proceeding on this basis as and when requested.

The options available to seek to enforce a County Court Judgment include:-

(1) Instructing a county court bailiff to enforce judgment;

(2) Seeking to obtain a charge over any property owned by the debtor;

(3) Seeking to obtain a Third Party Debt Order. A Third Party Debt Order requires a bank/building society which holds funds on behalf of the debtor to make payment to the creditor directly.

(4) Seeking an Attachment of Earnings order. This process requires the debtor’s employer to pay the debt out of his/her salary.

(5) Requiring the debtor to attend Court for questioning concerning his/her assets.

(6) Proceedings to make the debtor bankrupt or insolvent

Our charges for taking enforcement action (excluding insolvency proceedings) will usually vary between £100 plus Vat (= £120) and £1,000 plus Vat (= £1,200) depending on the type of action (though more in the case of bankruptcy) and whether court hearings are involved. Additionally Court fees will be payable in most cases when proceeding with any one of the above options. A specific estimate of costs will be supplied if required.

You should note that:

The VAT element of Boulter & Co. LLP’s fees cannot be reclaimed from the debtor if you or your business are VAT registered;
The fixed costs of the claim and the court fee and will be added to the claim but may not necessarily be recovered from the debtor;
The costs we will charge you will be more than the fixed costs you are allowed by the court to add to your claim;

General Information on Costs

If the claim does not exceed £10,000 in monetary value then, if contested in the courts, it will usually be allocated as a “small track” claim which will have important costs consequences for you as you will not normally expect to recover any costs from your opponent if you win (beyond any “fixed costs”). This means that it may not be financially worthwhile for you to engage and use solicitors to act for you in such a claim unless you secure funding for your claim through a third party such as a legal expenses insurer.

If the claim does exceed £10,000 in value (or is regarded by the judge as more complex than a “small claim”) it is likely to be allocated to the “fast track” (or “multi track” for claims above £25,000). This means that if you successfully resist the claim the Court will usually order your opponent to pay most (but not all) of your legal costs and disbursements including barrister’s fees etc. Such costs can be assessed by the Court if there is dispute over these. There will inevitably be a shortfall between costs you incur and costs you can recover.

Recovery of your legal costs cannot be guaranteed and may be disputed by your opponent. Efforts will be made to secure payment of at least some of your legal costs in any settlement negotiations. However, if you reach a settlement with your opponent at any stage during the course of the proceedings then it is often the case that the settlement terms will provide that each party pays their own legal costs.

Legal Expenses Insurance and Funding

It is always worth checking whether your home insurance (or in the case of commercial debts, business insurance) might include provision for legal expenses cover. If this is available it may not only enable you to obtain funding for your own costs but would normally include an indemnity cover against any liability you may incur for your opponent’s costs. It is important that you check to see if you have access to any such policy, which is typically found in a home or contents or business policy. Further, you may have access to legal expenses funding through a Trade Union or a professional body and you will need to contact such an organization in order to obtain such funding

Rupert Chichester

Your debt claim and associated legal work will be handled by Rupert Chichester who is Head of Boulter & Co. LLP’s Litigation Department and a partner in the firm. He is a solicitor who qualified in 1985 and he handles civil litigation and dispute resolution work at the firm including debt collection, landlord and tenant issues, property disputes and other types of litigation as well as some aspects of employment law. He has regularly advised clients on a wide variety of litigation and debt collection matters over a number of years. Work undertaken by Rupert Chichester is supervised by Andrew Joannides, the firm’s senior partner. Rupert can be contacted by e mail at r.chichester@boulterandco.com

PROBATE PRICING GUIDE

At Boulter & Co. LLP we are committed to providing the best information we can on our charges for all of our services.

Top of Form

-Every estate is different. Some estates are small and very straightforward. Others are substantial with properties, stocks, shares and complicated assets. Some clients want us to undertake only the formal steps to obtain a Grant of Probate and then will collect and distribute the assets of the deceased themselves while others will want us to undertake all aspects of the Probate and the administration and distribution of the estate.

Our charges reflect the amount of work we do. They are not based on a fixed percentage of the assets. If you are thinking of instructing us, we will agree what you want us to do and give you an estimate of our costs which we will confirm in writing. We prefer to have an initial meeting in person with you but will deal with this on the telephone if you prefer. The matters we will discuss are whether or not there is a will, the location of the will, the size of the estate, what the assets and debts of the estate are and whether any tax is likely to be payable on the estate. If tax is payable, we will discuss when it is due, how it will be paid and whether there can be any saving in tax. You will decide what work you want to do yourself and what you want us to do. You can always change your mind later and ask us to do more or less work. If during the course of dealing with the estate it becomes apparent that more or less work is required, we will revise our estimate.

Our Charges

The price information set out here is a general indication of costs based on our experience.

Grant Only Service

If you want us only to apply for a Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration where there is no will), our charges will usually be between £750 plus VAT (= £900) and £1,500 plus Vat (= £1,800) depending on the size and complexity of the estate.

The work involved will include telling you the information that will be needed to apply for the Grant, and obtaining balances on bank, building society and other accounts as at the date of death of the deceased. Once we have received the requisite information, we can complete the relevant form(s) and apply for the Grant. Once received, we will return the Grant to the Personal Representative so that they can collect in the assets, pay the debts and generally administer the estate.

Full Estate Administration of the Estate

A full administration covers everything we need to do in order to administer the estate and distribute the assets. In addition to obtaining the Grant, we collect in all the monies, deal with any liabilities, make payment of any inheritance tax to HMRC, prepare estate accounts and distribute the estate to beneficiaries in the Will, or if there is no will, in accordance with the intestacy rules.

Our fees for this type of work usually start from £1,500 plus VAT (= £1,800) and go up to around £5,000 plus Vat (= £6,000) and disbursements.

Our fees will depend on the nature of the estate. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range. However, if there are multiple beneficiaries, and multiple bank or savings accounts, the costs will be at the higher end. Therefore, the costs are not based on the value of the estate, but rather on how complicated it is to administer.

Disbursements (costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties):

Item	Amount	VAT
Probate fee	£155.00	none
Office copies for the grant of probate (per copy)	£1.00	none

Please note that current rates are given above but the Government has previously issued proposals to increase fees in the future.

Please note that the following factors are likely to increase the cost of your matter:

Not having all of the paperwork available, or having missing or incorrect information that needs investigation and correction;
Third parties not responding to our communications promptly;
Dealing with unusual or complex assets or items (for example: fine art, timeshares, shares in private companies etc).

As soon as any complications arise we will discuss these with you and agree the fee for the additional work being carried out in advance of any additional work being undertaken.

Timescales

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 3 – 9 months. Typically, obtaining the Grant of Probate takes 6 – 8 weeks. Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 2 – 10 weeks depending on the asset holder. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes 1 – 3 weeks.

The lawyer at Boulter & Co. LLP who will deal with probate is David Garfinkel. David Garfinkel is a Consultant Solicitor at Boulter & Co. LLP. He qualified as a solicitor in 1975 and he works under the supervision of Andrew Joannides.

Please contact us so that we can provide you with an individual quote based on your specific circumstances. David Garfinkel can be contacted by e mail at d.garfinkel@boulterandco.com

EMPLOYMENT LAW PRICING GUIDE

At Boulter & Co. LLP we are committed to providing the best information we can on our charges for all of our services. We set out below pricing and service information for areas of employment work that we undertake.

We offer a prompt and effective service and we can advise you on various employment issues including redundancy, unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, wages claims, discrimination, termination of employment, grievances and employment contracts. However, we do not usually represent clients in Employment Tribunal cases.

Initial Advice

We offer clients initial advice on certain aspects of employment law including unfair dismissal and redundancy on a fixed fee basis. Charges for an initial meeting and assessment will be in the region of £250 plus Vat (= £300).

The initial advice fixed fee includes:

An initial 1 hour meeting by telephone or in person at our offices;
Review of relevant documentation. Normally this includes (but is limited to) the employee’s dismissal letter, the disciplinary/capability/redundancy documents/evidence, any investigation report, any letters to the employee inviting him/her to meetings, any grievance raised by the employee and/or the employee’s dismissal appeal letter.

It will not include any further work that we are subsequently instructed to undertake. This is usually charged by reference to an hourly rate (currently £300 plus Vat (= £360)) and we shall provide you with an estimate of likely costs and will on occasions offer to work on a fixed fee basis for certain aspects of work wherever feasible.

We also seek to ensure that our clients consider the possibility of reaching a settlement with the other party in order to avoid escalation of legal costs.

Settlement Agreements

We can assist and advise you on the implications of settlement agreements offered by employers. These are often used as part of termination arrangements for employees on the basis that the employee receives a financial package and other benefits in return for leaving the employer and giving up rights to bring legal action in a court or tribunal against the employer. Payments usually include pay in lieu of notice, holiday pay and a lump sum payment at least some of which could be tax free.

In order to conclude the Settlement Agreement and make it legally binding It is a requirement that the employee receives independent legal advice on the implications, terms and effect of the settlement agreement and whether the terms and payments are fair and reasonable or whether the employee has grounds for any claims arising from their employment or its termination. We can provide such advice and in some cases we can conduct negotiations with the employer to try and secure a larger payment.

Our charges for advising on settlement agreements are usually in the region of £500 plus Vat (= £600) to £750 plus Vat (= £900) and if the settlement agreement is successfully concluded then in most cases the employer makes a contribution towards your legal costs. Sometimes all your costs are covered and we will invoice the employer direct.

Funding Options and Legal Expenses Insurance

We will discuss insurance and other funding options with clients during our initial meeting.

It is always worth checking whether your home insurance (or in the case of employers, business insurance) which might include provision for legal expenses cover (LEI). If this is available it may not enable you to obtain funding for your own costs. It is important that you check to see if you have access to any such policy, which is typically found in a home or contents or business policy. Further, you may have access to funding through a Trade Union or a professional body and you will need to contact such an organization in order to obtain such funding

Rupert Chichester

Employment law cases and associated legal work will be handled by Rupert Chichester who is Head of Boulter & Co. LLP’s Litigation Department and a partner in the firm. He is a solicitor who qualified in 1985 and he handles civil litigation and dispute resolution work at the firm including debt collection, landlord and tenant issues, property disputes and other types of litigation as well as some aspects of employment law. He has regularly advised clients on a wide variety of employment, litigation and other legal matters over a number of years. Work undertaken by Rupert Chichester is supervised by Andrew Joannides, the firm’s senior partner. Rupert can be contacted by e mail at r.chichester@boulterandco.com

THE CONVEYANCING TEAM

Andrew Joannides

Sally Louca

John Appleton

David Garfinkel

Andri Loizou

Andri Loizou is a solicitor working in our conveyancing department at Crouch End. She qualified in 2021 after training at Boulter & Co. LLP.

PRICING GUIDE FOR CONVEYANCING AND RELATED WORK

DEBT RECOVERY PRICING GUIDE

PROBATE PRICING GUIDE

EMPLOYMENT LAW PRICING GUIDE

THE CONVEYANCING TEAM

Crouch End Office