INTRODUCTION
These Terms apply to all work carried out by us, current engagement as well as any future engagement, whether or not we send another copy of the terms to you, except to the extent we otherwise agree with you in writing.
SERVICES
The services we are to provide for you are outlined in our letter of engagement.
COMMUNICATIONS
We will report to you, by email, periodically on the progress of any engagement and we will inform you of any material and unexpected delays, significant changes or complications in the work being undertaken. You may request a progress report at any time.
FEES
The basis upon which we will charge our fees is set out in our engagement letter.
If the engagement letter specifies a fixed fee, we will charge this for the agreed scope of the Services. Work which falls outside that scope will be charged on an hourly rate basis. We will advise you as soon as reasonably practicable if it becomes necessary for us to provide services outside of the agreed scope and, if requested, give you an estimate of the likely amount of the further costs.
Where our fees are calculated on an hourly basis, the hourly rates of the people we expect to undertake the work are set out in our engagement letter. Time spent is recorded in six-minute units.
Hourly fees may be adjusted (upwards or downwards) to ensure the fee is fair and reasonable to take into account matters such as: the complexity, urgency, value and importance of the Services. Full details of the relevant fee factors are set out in Rule 9 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008 (Rules).
DISBURSEMENTS AND THIRD-PARTY EXPENSES
We may incur disbursements and payments to third parties on your behalf, such as: search and registration fees, LIM costs, court filing fees, travel, courier charges, expert or counsel fees which are reasonably necessary to provide our services.
You authorise us to incur these disbursements. You also authorise us to make payments to third parties on your behalf. These costs will be included in our invoice as “disbursements” when the expenses are incurred.
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES
We may charge an administrative fee to cover out of pocket costs which are not included in our fee and disbursements. These include items such as: photocopying; printing; postage and phone calls.
GST
GST is payable by you on our fees and charges.
INVOICES
We will send interim invoices to you, usually monthly, and on completion of the matter, or termination of our engagement. We may send you invoices more frequently when we incur a significant expense or undertake a significant amount of work over a shorter period of time.
PAYMENT
Invoices are payable within 7 days of the date of the invoice, unless alternative arrangements have been made with us.
If your account is overdue, we may:
- Require interest to be paid on any amount which is more than 7 days overdue, calculated at the rate of 18 % per annum
- Stop work on any matters in respect of which we are providing services to you
- Require an additional payment of fees in advance or other security before recommencing work
- Recover from you in full any costs we incur (including costs on a solicitor/client basis) in seeking to recover the overdue amounts from you, including our own fees and the fees of any collection agency.
PAYMENT MAY BE MADE ONLINE
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