What the real form asks you

So there are no surprises. On the real Retainer Agreement you are asked for the following. Nothing on this example page collects anything.

• Your full legal name, as it appears on your current or last valid ID or passport, and your date of birth
• Your passport or identity document number, its country, and its date of issue
• Your full residential address and country of residency
• Your email address, a billing email if invoices should go elsewhere, and a telephone number
• The company name to put on your invoice, if a business is paying
• The details of a spouse, registered partner, partner or adult child if you want them included, and any minor children
• The service you need, and the fee that goes with it
• Your preferred lawyer, if you have one
• Your preferred invoice currency, and the deposit you agree to, in hours
• An optional time budget, an optional note about what you need, and any government deadline you are facing
• Which channels we may use to contact you, everyday and secure
• Two confirmations about the 14-day cancellation period, if you want us to start straight away
• How you heard about us

The real form is sent to you personally. It is not published on this website.

INFORMAL EXPLANATION
EN: our head office is in London the UK and thus we use English for this agreement.
NL: ons hoofdkantoor is in Londen, VK, en dus is de Retainer Agreement in het Engels opgesteld.

To explain this simply, the key points in the below required Retainer Agreement are the following:

• You agree to the (hourly) fee and currency you choose below. More info on our fees can be found here. However, the fees that you agree to here, or we mutual agree to in any later email, is binding.
• In our last email to you with the Retainer Agreement link we advised you how many hours of deposit we ask for. To avoid bank transfer and exchange fees you can choose for an even higher deposit amount (only makes sense if your bank is not in the UK or EU). Your deposit is your money until we earn it: it sits against our fees and we draw it down as we work, and whatever we have not earned you can get back.
• There is a minimum charge of one hour for any engagement, so any time spent within that first hour is charged as one full hour. After the first hour we charge for the time we actually spend, calculated to the minute and rounded down. If we spend two hours and eleven minutes on your case, you pay for two hours and eleven minutes. We charge no admin fee, no membership fee and no other extra – only expenses we pay on your behalf with your approval, and a £/€ 5 admin fee if you ask us to change your payment method or currency after we have started.
• You can call stop at any time and won’t be charged for time after that.
• You can set a time/budget limit.
• A deposit invoice is sent to you after your Retainer is accepted and we register you as a client.
• After that you will normally get an invoice in the first week of each month, covering the work done in the previous month up to the invoicing date. The final invoice can be sent upon completion of our work for you.
• You understand that we charge our time for; (video) meetings, consultations, handling of your email questions, any calls or messaging, any research we do for your case, any time we spend on preparing forms for you, communicating with authorities on your behalf, and anything else you request of us and in line with your instructions, questions and requests to us.
• You agree to pay within 7 days from invoice date. Do not worry if you are a little late. Where you have financial challenges we are willing to work with you to find a solution that works for both.

By completing the form below you commit to the terms and conditions below the form. We apologise for the required legal language (mumbo jumbo) in below agreement. However, this is important and you should read it as it clarifies both our responsibilities. Once we accept your retainer you will get a confirmation email from us.

FORMAL AGREEMENT:

Retainer Agreement

Retainer Agreement

The Client
The Client has entered his/her/their details here and wishes to retain the Service Provider to provide services to the client and agrees to the client’s details above and all articles as set out in this agreement.

The Services Provider

Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services ltd
A company registered in England and Wales, company number 16541279
Registered office: 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom
(the “services provider”)

Background

The services provider is by a following confirmation email agreeable to provide such services to the client on the terms and conditions set out in this agreement.

In consideration of the matters described and of the mutual benefits and obligations set forth in this agreement, the receipt and sufficiency of which consideration is hereby acknowledged, the client and the services provider (individually the “party” and collectively the “Parties” to this agreement) agree as follows:

Services provided

• The client hereby agrees to engage the services provider to provide the client with administrative and legal services relating to moving, immigration, residency, nationality/citizenship, passport, language and integration courses, and other services (the “services”) as separately instructed or requested by the client.
• The services will also include any other tasks which the parties may mutually agree on at a later stage. Such services can be requested and agreed to in writing by email in as long as the email comes from the email address or mobile number provided by the client in this agreement. Services also include the time of the services provider answering questions and calls by any kind of communication technology. The services provider upon email acceptance of this Retainer Agreement agrees to provide such services to the client.
• The client who choses to be, and is accepted as, a Priority Client will be given priority over other clients except where other clients their cases need attention for emergencies. The Services Provider determines what constitutes as an emergency. Priority clients can contact the Services Provider more easily or directly. Special considerations for Priority clients are agreed separately in writing.

Term of Agreement

• The term of this agreement (the “term”) will begin on the date of this agreement and will remain in full force and effect indefinitely until terminated as provided in this agreement.
• In the event that either party wishes to terminate this agreement, that party will be required to provide one day’s notice to the other party. Notice starts upon confirmed receipt of the notice.
• In the event that either party breaches a material provision under this agreement, the non-defaulting party may terminate this agreement immediately and require the defaulting party to indemnify the non-defaulting party against all reasonable damages.
• Where the client represents the interests of a partner, spouse or other family member the client confirms that this agreement is made with their permission. Where the service provider is asked to undertake actions or provide services for such a partner, spouse or family member, the service provider may stop services if this is deemed by the services provider to be contrary to the wishes, or to the best interest, of such partner, spouse or family member.
• This agreement may be terminated at any time by mutual agreement of the parties.
• Except as otherwise provided in this agreement, the obligations of the services provider will end upon the termination of this agreement.

Notices / Communication

• The client may communicate with the services provider by any means but will give new instructions which will incur additional charges for the client, or all notices, requests, demands or other communications required or permitted by the terms of this agreement, in writing. This can be through the email address or mobile number, and linked messaging software, provided in this agreement, or by regular mail.
• The client may update the in this agreement provided email address at any time by communicating this in writing from the provided email address. Where the client has no longer access to the provided email address the client can contact the services provider by any other means and change the email address by providing the services password.

Performance

• The parties agree to do everything necessary to ensure that the terms of this agreement take effect.

Currency

• Except as otherwise provided in this agreement, all monetary amounts referred to in this agreement are the currency as described and chosen under Preferred Invoice Currency and Service and Service Fee in this retainer form completed by the client.
• The Client can at any time request to change the currency for future work, or request to use both currencies with each one for other instructions/purposes.

Payment

• The services provider will charge the client for the services at the (hourly) rate as described under Service and Service Fee in above/accompanying retainer form completed by the client, and is also referred to as the payment (the “payment”).
• Where the client requests more than one type of service which is related to the client’s overall purpose, and the services are provided by the same service provider, the highest fee will be used to calculate for the time and work provided by the service provider. Where the time/work is very clear for one or the other services the fees will be separated. Where this is not very clear it is the service provider who will decide if it is possible to separate the time/work spend into the different services and fees.
• Priority clients will be charged a premium Priority fee as described and chosen under Service and Service Fee in the above/accompanying retainer form.
• A deposit (the “deposit”) as described and chosen under Deposit in above/accompanying retainer form completed by the client is payable by the client upon execution of this agreement and no work may commence until the deposit is cleared into the service provider’s account. The service provider will send a deposit invoice upon receipt of this agreement.
• Where the deposit is exhausted we may ask you to restore it before further work is carried out.
• The client can notify the services provider in advance of a budget, detailing a limit of time or monetary amount to spend on the services. The services provider will not charge more than the budget set in advance by the client. Any later and further instructions from the client for additional work will increase and alter this budget.
• For the remaining amount, or other future charges, the client will be invoiced every month or otherwise agreed period.
• Invoices submitted by the services provider to the client are due within seven days of receipt unless otherwise mutually agreed to.
• Late payment fees, as detailed below, can be applied to outstanding or overdue amounts. If the client does not respond to repeated payment requests then a debt collection agent or the courts can be used.
• The payment as stated in this agreement does not include Value Added Tax (VAT). Any Value Added Tax required by law (United Kingdom) will be charged to the client in addition to the payment.
• The services provider may change the hourly rate periodically and gives the client a two-week notice before the new rate is to be used. If and when the hourly rate changes the client may decide to terminate this agreement.

Reimbursement of expenses

• The services provider will be reimbursed from time to time for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by the services provider in connection with providing the services.
• All expenses over €150 Euro, or equivalent in another currency, must be pre-approved by the client .

Late payment: interest and recovery costs

• Interest payable on any overdue amounts under this agreement is at a rate of 10% per annum or at the maximum rate enforceable under applicable legislation, whichever is lower.
• If the outstanding and overdue amount is referred to any debt collection agent, or the courts, their respective fees and interests may be added to any outstanding amount and debt.
• Where an invoice remains unpaid 14 days after its due date we may suspend work on your matter. We will tell you in writing before we do, and we will resume as soon as payment is received. Any deadline that passes while work is suspended is your responsibility.

VAT

The fees in this agreement do not include Value Added Tax.

If you are in the United Kingdom – whether as a private individual or as a business – we are required to charge UK VAT at the standard rate, and it will be shown separately on your invoice. A VAT-registered business can reclaim it from HMRC in the usual way.

If you are outside the United Kingdom, our services to you are outside the scope of UK VAT and no VAT is added. We rely on the address you have given us as evidence of where you belong, so please tell us if it changes.

Which fee applies, and when it can change

Different services, and different areas of law, carry different fees. The rate that applies to you is the one set out in this agreement.

Where you ask for more than one service and they relate to the same overall purpose, and the same person does the work, the higher rate applies. Where the work divides clearly between services we charge each at its own rate; where it does not divide clearly, we decide, and we will explain how.

If you later ask us for an additional or a different service, that service is charged at its own rate, and we will tell you the rate before we begin it.

We can agree a different fee with you at any time. Any such agreement must be in writing – an email is enough – and once made it binds both of us.

We may change our standard rates from time to time. If we do, we will give you at least two weeks’ notice before a new rate applies to your matter, and if you would rather not continue at the new rate you may end this agreement.

When this agreement starts

Submitting this form is your request to engage us. It is not yet an agreement, and you are not yet our client.

We read what you have sent, and we decide whether we can act for you. If we cannot, we will tell you and that is the end of it – you owe us nothing.

This agreement begins on the day we email you to say that we accept you as a client and give you your case reference. These terms take effect from that moment, and your 14-day cancellation period runs from that day. That email will say so.

Making a payment does not by itself make you our client. Until we have written to you accepting your instructions, you are a potential client.

Your right to cancel

If you are engaging us as a consumer – that is, for purposes outside your trade, business, craft or profession – you have the right to cancel this agreement within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period ends 14 days after the day this agreement is entered into.

To cancel, tell us clearly that you have decided to cancel. You may email us at hls@habsburg-legal-services.com, or write to us at the address above. A model cancellation form is sent to you with your copy of this agreement, and we will send you another on request – but you do not have to use it. Any clear statement will do. To meet the deadline it is enough that you send your communication before the cancellation period expires.

If you cancel, we will reimburse all payments received from you, without undue delay and no later than 14 days after the day we are informed of your decision, using the same means of payment you used unless you agree otherwise. You will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement.

This is subject only to the section immediately below, which applies if you have asked us to begin work straight away.

If you want us to start before the 14 days are up

Most clients want us to begin immediately. We are happy to, but the law requires that you ask us to, expressly, and that we tell you what it means. So, in the form above you are asked to confirm two things:

☐  that you expressly request that Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services Ltd begins providing the services during the 14-day cancellation period; and

☐  that you understand and acknowledge that once the services have been fully performed you will lose your right to cancel, and that if you cancel after work has begun but before it is complete you will be liable to pay a proportionate amount for the work carried out up to the moment you told us you were cancelling, calculated on the basis of the fees agreed in this agreement.

If you do not confirm both, we will still take your instructions and open your file, but we will not begin substantive chargeable work until the 14 days have passed.

Our responsibility to you

We will carry out our services with reasonable care and skill, and within a reasonable time, as the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires. Nothing in this agreement limits or excludes that duty, or our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else which cannot lawfully be limited.

Subject to that, our total liability to you in connection with any matter is limited to the greater of (a) three times the total fees you have paid us on that matter, and (b) £2,500.

We are not insured for professional indemnity. We tell you this openly so that you can take it into account before you engage us.

We are not liable for a decision of any government department, authority, court or registry, or for any delay in their processing – we advise you and we represent you, but the decision is theirs. We are not liable for loss arising from information you gave us that was incomplete, inaccurate or out of date, where we could not reasonably have known. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, including lost earnings, lost opportunity or the costs of relocation.

We do not guarantee any particular outcome, and we do not advise on the law of any country other than those we have told you we advise on.

Any claim must be brought within three years of the date on which you became aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, of the matter giving rise to it.

Working with other lawyers

Some matters need a lawyer in another country, or with other knowledge or skills. There are two different arrangements, and we will always tell you which one applies.

Sub-contracting. Where we engage a third party to perform some or all of our obligations, we pay them, the agreed payment remains payable by you to us, and for the purposes of the indemnification clause that third party is our agent. In this arrangement the work remains ours and so does the responsibility for it.

Referral. Where we instead refer you to another lawyer or firm, you become their client for that work. You contract with them and pay them directly. Their own terms of business apply, including any limitation of their liability, and they will provide those terms to you. We are not a party to that engagement and we are not liable for their advice, their work or their fees.

We will always explain to you why a matter is being referred or shared, and who is doing what.

Confidentiality

• Confidential information (the “confidential information”) refers to any data or information relating to the client which would reasonably be considered to private or proprietary to the client.
• The services provider agrees that they will not disclose, divulge, reveal, report or use, for any purpose, any confidential information which the services provider has obtained, except as authorised by the client or as required by law or where there is a threat of physical harm to any (3rd) party. The obligations of confidentiality will apply during the term and will survive indefinitely upon termination of this agreement.
• All written and oral information and material disclosed or provided by the client to the services provider under this agreement is confidential information regardless of whether it was provided before or after the date of this agreement or how it was provided to the services provider. The parties agree that the services provider may record, and keep records, of any communication between the parties. This includes calls, emails and mail and any other methods of communication.

Ownership of intellectual property

• All intellectual property and related material (the “intellectual property”) that is developed or produced or used under this agreement, will be the property of the services provider. The client is granted a non-exclusive limited-use license of this intellectual property.
• Title, copyright, intellectual property rights and distribution rights of the intellectual property remain exclusive with the services provider.

Return of property

• Upon expiry or termination of this agreement the services provider will return to the client any physical property, original documentation, records, or confidential information which is the property of the client. The client will reimburse costs for any mail or shipping required to do so.
• The client may instruct the services provider in writing to destroy any property of the client. The client will then accept the word of the services provider in good faith if the client is notified of such destruction.
• The services provider will not destroy any property or original documentation intentionally without the explicit written instructions of the client unless this agreement is terminated for over a year.

Right of substitution

• Except as otherwise provided in this agreement, the services provider may, at the services provider’s absolute discretion, engage a third-party, sub-contractor, or external services provider to perform some or all of the obligations of the services provider under this agreement.
• In the event the services provider engages a third party:
  a) The services provider will pay the third party for its services and the agreed payment
  will remain payable by the client directly to the services provider.
  b) For the purposes of the indemnification clause of this agreement, the third party, also described as sub-contractor, is an agent of the services provider.

No exclusivity

• The parties acknowledge that this agreement is non-exclusive and that either party will be free, during and after the term, to engage or contract with third parties for the provision of services similar to the services.

Indemnification

• Except to the extent paid in settlement from any applicable insurance policies, and to the extent permitted by applicable law, each party agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the other party, and its respective directors, shareholders, affiliates, officers, agents, employees, and permitted successors and assigns that occurs in connection with this agreement. This indemnification excludes payment or interest defaults by the client. This indemnification will survive the termination of this agreement.

Modification of agreement

• Any amendment or modification of this agreement or additional obligation assumed by either party in connection with this agreement will only be binding if evidenced in writing as per confirmed and accepted method of communication.

Time of the essence

• Time is of the essence in this agreement. No extension or variation of this agreement will
  operate as a waiver of this provision.

Your information

Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services Ltd is the controller of the personal information you give us. Our privacy notice at habsburg-legal-services.com/privacy-policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it and what rights you have.

We ask for your passport or identity document so that we can be sure who we are acting for, so that nobody can impersonate you to us, and because a request for it is a fair test of whether an enquiry is serious.

We keep it securely for as long as your retainer is active, and for one year after it ends, and then we delete it.

You can ask us to return or delete your documents at any time. We will, unless the law requires us to keep something – and if so we will tell you what, and for how long.

If something goes wrong

We would much rather hear about a problem than not. Please write to hls@habsburg-legal-services.com. We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days and give you a considered reply within 28 days.

If your complaint concerns how we have handled your personal information, you may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.

No Discrimination

• The parties agree that no party, or third party, shall be discriminated against on any ground such as gender, race, colour, facial hair such as beards or moustaches or the absence thereof, language, religion, political or other opinion, nationality or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.

Entire agreement

• It is agreed that there is no representation, warranty, collateral agreement or condition affecting this agreement except as expressly provided in this agreement.

Enurement

• This agreement will enure to the benefit of and be binding on the parties and their respective heirs, executors, administrators and permitted successors and assigns.

Titles/headings

• Headings and (subject) titles are inserted for the convenience of the parties only and are not to be considered when interpreting this agreement.

Singular, Plural and Gender

• Words in the singular mean and include the plural and vice versa. Words in the masculine mean and include the feminine and vice versa.

Governing law

• This agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England, United Kingdom.
• If you are a consumer and you live in a European Union member state, our choice of English law does not take away the protections available to you under the consumer law of your own country that cannot be set aside by agreement. This follows from Article 6 of the Rome I Regulation, which remains part of United Kingdom law after Brexit.

Severability

• In the event that any of the provisions of this agreement are held to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, all other provisions will nevertheless continue to be valid and enforceable with the invalid or unenforceable parts severed from the remainder of this agreement.

Waiver

• The waiver by either party of a breach, default, delay or omission of any of the provisions of this agreement by the other party will not be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or other provisions.

Representation / Power of Attorney

• The client(s) confirm(s) that it gives power of attorney to Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services Ltd to represent the client(s), and act on behalf of the client(s), and as such appoints Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services Ltd as its legal representative and attorney for matters relating to immigration, residency and nationality.
• The client(s) may need to complete separate Power of Attorney forms for certain authorities.

Acknowledgment

• The client confirms to have understood all articles and the pages of this retainer and services agreement.
• The client and the services provider agree to all terms and conditions in this agreement.

Confirmation of Agreement

This digital agreement can’t be signed with a physical signature. The client(s) agree to place their name, passport number and personal email address in order to witness their agreement to this Retainer Agreement. The separate (email) submission of a copy/scan of the client(s) passport confirms the agreement to this Retainer Agreement and the terms. A copy of this Retainer Agreement, the terms and the form, will be emailed in confirmation to the client(s). Only upon email confirmation by Habsburg & Kuijk Legal Services ltd will the client(s) be accepted as client(s).

— end Retainer Agreement —