Our services are described on this website and the individuals who carry out those services are also identified. We are required to set out on our website the Costs’ Information with regard to some of the services which we provide.

Residential Conveyancing

Please click on the Get A Quote button on the Home page or the Residential Conveyancing page .

These are our total fees.

Probate and Administration of Estate

We do not normally charge a percentage of the Estate and our fees are based on the time that it takes to deal with the Administration. Since we do not know what the likely time to be taken will be, we cannot provide a realistic estimate of our fees until you give us details of the Estate and we can assess what is involved. This is because every Estate is different. Our hourly rate is £225.00 plus VAT.

Remember that some solicitors work more effectively and quicker than others, so going to a solicitor who charges at a lesser rate might not be financially advantageous to you.

Debt Recovery

We do not charge a percentage of the debt, but charge on a time basis at the rate of £225.00 per hour, plus VAT. We believe this is fairer than charging a percentage. Our charges will depend entirely on what we have to do to pursue the debt.

Employment

When acting for an employer or employee in respect of claims before the Employment Tribunal, we charge for time spent at the rate of £225.00 per hour, plus VAT. As to how much time will be involved in dealing with the matter depends entirely for how long the case continues. You will be kept informed of our costs as the matter progresses, but you can enquire at any time where the costs are up to. If representation at the Tribunal is required, then Counsel would normally be instructed and those fees will depend on the circumstances of the case and what is involved.

Some points

There is an old adage “you get what you pay for”. We strive to give every client the best possible service and that is our goal. We are not sitting on our laurels, but these are just a few of the thanks we have had:

“Maggi is very efficient and answered any question we had very promptly. We would definitely use your services again and would recommend you to friends and family” James and Claire K

“Dear Maggi and Nicola I have now moved in and would like to thank you both very much for your kind, professional and very efficient service. I had the utmost confidence in you throughout and would not hesitate to recommend you” Mel G

“Dear Maggi and all at HHB, thank you so much for all your help and support in getting our first home!” Val and Dave P

“Thank you for all your swift help and support. The service we received from you was excellent” Joanne and Mark S

“Dealing with Maggi was a pleasure as she made her job look easy, by always adopting a professional and courteous approach, and always replied to my queries for updates. She made sure I was regularly informed until exchange and completion” David T

“Thank you for being an absolute superstar with our house sale. Such hard work but you’ve restored our faith in solicitors again and we’ll be shouting your name from the roof tops!” Mr and Mrs H

“Thank you so much for dealing with the sale of our Manchester flat so efficiently. At a time when I have been busy dealing with other matters, it has been a real relief to have all the hard work taken care of; with so little effort on my part” John G

“Richard is the Harry Potter of solicitors. This gentleman is a wizard when it comes to legalities and getting things done” Steve H

“Hi Andrew I just wanted to say thank you for everything you did for me. I don’t believe I would have achieved everything I wanted without you, and to be fair you got me more than I originally thought I was getting” Alison E

“Andrew, Thanks very much for all your hard work in getting the transactions over the line. All went smoothly on the day and we are now settling in to our new home. We really appreciate your efforts, particularly over the last few weeks, and will certainly be recommending you to friends going through conveyancing.” Simon G

A client must always raise any complaint with us first and we will deal with it under our Complaints Procedure.  Hopefully any complaint will be resolved to your satisfaction.

If, unfortunately, a complaint has not been resolved, you can take it to the Legal Ombudsman.  If it concerns non compliance with the Solicitor’s Code of Conduct,  as set out in the Principles, laid down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA),    then a complaint should be addressed to the SRA.    You will find the address of the Legal Ombudsman and the  SRA on their web sites and in the Terms of Business that we give to you at the commencement of any matter on which you instruct us.

Although you will refer to them as “Bailiffs” or “Sheriff’s Officers”, they are now called Enforcement Officers.

In 2013 Regulations introduced a requirement for a 7 Day Notice, that an Enforcement Officer intends to attend a debtor’s premises, to be sent warning the debtor of that meeting.  This came into effect in April 2014 and before then, no such Notice was required.  You do not need to be a genius to know what the debtor will do with his valuable belongings once he gets a 7 Day Notice.

A Judge can dispense with the 7 Day Notice if it can be shown that there is good cause to believe that goods might be disposed of once this Notice has been given.  A recent case involved a passenger aircraft which landed at Manchester Airport and because there was an outstanding bill for fuel Enforcement Officers seized the aircraft, which could not leave until the debt had been satisfied.  The Judge in that case dispensed with the need for the 7 Day Notice.  The passengers were none too happy!

An Enforcement Officer does not need to take goods away, but can obtain a signed Controlled Goods Agreement from the debtor.  This confirms that the debtor no longer has title to the goods and confirms that he may not dispose of them.  The Agreement also gives the Enforcement Officer the right to enter the property to inspect the goods and remove them for sale at any point.  Of course, if a third party buys those goods from the debtor, he does not get title to them and the third party will have to either return the goods or pay their value to the Enforcement Agent.  The difficulty is that he/she does not know if the goods are not the seller’s goods to sell.  “Caveat Emptor” – let the buyer beware!

So, beware if you are buying goods, particularly if they are being sold online.  How do you know if the seller has title to them?  Well you don’t, until there is a knock at the door.

Why do many of us not like being in the EU? Many people feel that we are not allowed to govern our own Country and object to Brussels telling us what to do in our home affairs. Basically, do we still want to be part of a Federalist State? I am not going to try and give you any answers. It is not my place to do so.

But I was lucky to meet and have a discussion with a Judge who has recently retired from the European Court of Justice. The first point I challenged her on was the fact that, unlike in the English Jurisdiction, a verdict is given in the ECJ as if all the Judges agreed with it. In the UK any dissenting judgment is reported as well, not merely the majority’s judgment. My comment to her was that in my view many judgments seem to be “administrative decisions” rather than law inspired. She acknowledged that a judgment of the ECJ sometimes adopts the “lowest common denominator”. This is certainly not the way the UK judicial system operates. The ECJ has adopted the procedures of France, Germany and other Europeans. For me, the quality of justice from the ECJ is not as sound as that in the UK and hence we see some absurd decisions.

What was informative is that if we do leave the EU, the EU will be very much worse off. One reason is that the English contingent in Brussels are very proactive, as are the Germans, in putting through legislation and then implementing it, whereas it can take years before other Member States (eg. Greece or Portugal) do so. So if we leave the EU the impetus that the UK representatives give to the EU Law making machine will be lost. So, in reality, EU Federalists will greatly miss our legal expertise and input if we leave the EU. Their loss and, maybe, it is our gain.

The big question is when we leave the EU what will we lose? Time will provide the answer.

Richard J Bell