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Tel: +44 (0)1239 621999
Fax: +44 (0)1239 621865
Email: enquiry@taylor-lewis.co.uk
Privacy Notice
Effective 25th May 2018
Taylor Lewis Solicitors
Bingham House, Pendre, Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales, SA43 1JU
UK Data Privacy/Data Protection Law changed significantly on 25th May 2018.
The General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR for short) is a positive step towards you having more control over how your data is used and how you are contacted by us.
If you are an individual, the rights you have under the GDPR include the following:
The changes will also help to better protect your Personal Data. We have therefore updated our privacy notice to reflect these changes.
We use your personal data to help us provide an excellent client service, which includes tailoring the information we share with you to help ensure that it’s relevant, useful and timely.
We will respect your privacy and work hard to ensure we meet strict regulatory requirements.
We will not sell your personal data to third parties.
We will provide you with easy ways to manage and review your marketing choices if you receive direct marketing communications from us.
We are a firm that is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). As you might expect, we are already subject to strict rules of confidentiality. It is therefore already part of the fabric and culture of our firm to keep your information private and secure.
We would ask you to help us keep your data secure by carefully following any guidance and instructions we give e.g. communicating bank account details and transferring funds to us.
We are sometimes obliged to share your Personal Data with external authorities without notifying you e.g. as required by the Anti-Money Laundering & Counter Terrorist Financing Act 2017. In all other cases, we will be transparent, and we will explain to you why we are requesting your data and how we are using it.
Lawful Bases for Processing your Data
The new law states that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper and lawful reason to do so. This includes sharing it with others outside the firm e.g. an auditor of a relevant quality standard.
The GDPR says we must have one or more of these reasons:
A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information.
Here is a list of all the ways that we may use your personal data, and which of the reasons we rely on to do so.
Use of your Personal Data |
Our reason/justification for processing |
Legitimate Business Interest |
Opening, progressing, closing, archiving and storing a matter/case file |
| Fulfilling your instructions (the retainer) Complying with regulations and the law |
Direct marketing to you |
| Keeping our records up-to-date, working out which of our products and services may interest you and telling you about them Providing information on changes in the law and inviting you to contact us for advice |
• To make and manage client payments. |
| Keeping accounts systems up-to-date Complying with SRA Accounts Rules and other regulations Effective and efficient management of a sustainable business |
To detect, investigate, report, and seek to prevent financial crime. |
| Developing and improving how we deal with financial crime including suspected money laundering as well as complying with our legal obligations in this respect
Being efficient about how we fulfil our legal and contractual duties. |
To run our business in an efficient and proper way. This includes managing our financial stability, business capability, planning, communications, corporate governance, and audit. |
| Complying with the SRA Accounts Rules and Code of Conduct and other regulations that apply to us
Being effective and efficient about how we run our business
To allow external consultants, advisers and auditors to inspect files |
To exercise our rights and comply with obligations set out in agreements or contracts |
| Complying with contractual requirements e.g. for the provision to clients of Public Funding by Public Bodies |
Special Categories and Criminal Convictions Data
Further to our lawful bases for processing personal data we rely on further conditions contained within the Data Protection Act 2018 for processing these types of data. These conditions are contained in Schedule 1, Part 3 of the Act. The primary condition we rely on is known as “legal claims” where;
This condition is met if the processing—
(a) is necessary for the purpose of, or in connection with, any legal proceedings (including prospective legal proceedings),
(b) is necessary for the purpose of obtaining legal advice, or
(c) is otherwise necessary for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending legal rights
We would normally also rely on another condition in Schedule 1, Part 3 of the Act known as “consent” where, due to the nature of these types of data we would obtain your consent prior to processing them.
If our reason for processing data is in connection with the Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Act, condition 18, safeguarding of individuals and children at risk,. This is because the processing will be necessary for the purposes of;
(a) protecting an individual from neglect or physical, mental or emotional harm, or
(b) protecting the physical, mental or emotional well-being of an individual,
In this condition;
(a) in the circumstances, consent to the processing cannot be given by the data subject;
(b) in the circumstances, the we cannot reasonably be expected to obtain the consent of the data subject to the processing;
(c) the processing must be carried out without the consent of the data subject because obtaining the consent of the data subject would prejudice the provision of the protection
Also, due to the nature of these data types, we comply with Schedule 1, Part 4 of the Data Protection Act which requires us to have an appropriate written policy explaining our security procedures, and data retention periods and we are required to retain this policy document and produce it to the Information Commissioner on request. Our policy is set out in the firm’s Information Management & Security Policy.
Types of Personal Data we process
Type of Personal Information |
Description |
Financial | Your Bank account details and your financial status and information |
Contact Information | Where you live and how to contact you |
Socio-Demographic | This includes details about your work or profession, nationality etc. |
Transactional | Details about payments to and from your bank accounts |
Contractual | Details about the products or services we provide to you |
Behavioural | Details about how you use our services |
Communications | What we learn about you from letters, emails, and conversations between us |
Social Relationships | Your family, friends and other relationships |
Open Data and Public Records | Details about you that are in public records such as the Land Registry, and information about you that is openly available on the internet |
Documentary Data | Details about you that are stored in documents in different formats, or copies of them. This could include things like your passport, drivers licence, or birth certificate |
Special types of data | The Law and other regulations treat some types of personal information as a special category. We will only collect and use these types of data if the law allows or requires us to do so:
|
Consents | Any permissions, consents or preferences that you give us. This includes things like how you want us to contact you. |
National Identifier | A number or code given to you by a government to identify who you are, such as a National Insurance Number |
Legal Aid Application and Bill | Information required to submit an application for public funding and to claim our fees under any legal aid certificate issued to you. |
Sources of Data
We collect personal data from various sources:
Data |
Source |
Purpose |
Data you give us when you instruct us to advise you or act for you | You | To enable us to decide whether to accept your instructions and to progress your matter |
Data you give us by letter/phone/email and other documents | You | To enable us to decide whether to accept your instructions and to progress your matter |
Data you give us when you visit our website, via a messaging service or social media | You | To enable us to deal with your query or request and to contact you if appropriate |
Data you give us during interviews | You | To enable us to advise and represent you and to communicate with other solicitors and third parties on your behalf |
Data you give us in client surveys | You | To enable us to improve our services and respond to any expressions of dissatisfaction |
Data provided to us by referrers and introducers | Referrers | To enable us to contact you and to enable us to decide whether to accept your instructions and to progress your matter |
Fraud Prevention agencies | Agency | To enable us to comply with the law and regulations and carry out client due diligence checks |
Estate Agents | Agents | To enable us to act on your behalf in relation to a land transaction |
Other Solicitors | Solicitor Firms | As part of an exchange of information to enable us to progress the matter and advise you |
Public Bodies | Public Body such as HMRC, HM Treasury, Local Authority, Land Registry, Land Charges Registry, Probate Registry, Legal Aid Agency, Police, CPS, Courts Service and other government departments | To enable us to advise you and progress your matter.
To prevent fraud and money laundering |
Your GP or other medical professional | Doctor | To obtain appropriate medical reports |
The Legal Aid Agency | LAA | Under our contractual obligations we will receive “Shared Data” from the LAA if you matter is legally aided |
Who we share your Data with
Subject to the SRA Code of Conduct and the requirements with regard to client confidentiality, we may share your personal information with:
Automated Decision-Making
We do not use automated decision-making systems. All decisions relating to you and your matter are made by a person.
Personal Data we use
We typically will use the following types of personal data:
Sending Data outside the European Economic Area (EEA)
Unless you instruct us in a matter or case that involves an international element, we do not normally send your personal data outside the EEA. If we do, then we will seek your consent to do so, explain the risks to you and talk to you about potential safeguards depending on the country involved.
Your refusal to provide Personal Data requested
If you refuse to provide the information requested, then it may cause delay and we may be unable to continue to act for you or complete your matter.
Marketing Information
We may from time to time send you letters or emails about changes in the law and suggestions about actions that you might consider taking in the light of that information e.g. reviewing your will. We will send you this marketing information either because you have consented to receive it or because we have a “legitimate interest”.
You have the right to object and to ask us to stop sending you marketing information by contacting us at any time. You can of course change your mind and ask us to send the information again.
How long we keep your personal information
We are legally obliged to keep certain information for at least 5 years and typically store your file for 6 years before destroying it.
In some cases, e.g. Legal Aid Matters we are obliged to keep your files for a longer period of time, this period will be set out in our closing letter to you.
We will store Wills and other documents indefinitely.
We will keep your name and personal contact details on our database until you tell us that you would like them removed e.g. where you have changed solicitor.
How to get a copy of your Personal Information
If you wish to access your personal data then write to:
Alan Lewis, Data Protection Supervisor,
Taylor Lewis Solicitors,
Bingham House, Pendre, Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales, SA43 1JU
Telling us if your Personal Information is incorrect (The right to rectification)
If you think any information we have about you is incomplete or wrong, then you have the right to ask us to correct it. Please contact us as above.
Other Rights
As mentioned above you also have other rights, namely
You have the right to ask us to delete (erase) or stop us using your data if there is no longer any need for us to keep it (e.g. under a legal obligation).
In terms of data portability then subject to any lien we may enjoy for non-payment of fees, we will comply promptly (where permitted) to your request to transfer your physical paper file to another solicitor upon receipt of your signed consent. If your file is in electronic format we will take reasonable steps to export the file to a “portable format” where possible so that your new solicitor can upload it to their system. As many different IT systems are used by the legal profession we cannot guarantee that we can provide data in a compatible format.
Consent
GDPR in some cases requires us to obtain your explicit consent i.e.
(a) the racial or ethnic origin of the data subject,
(b) his political opinions,
(c ) his religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature,
(d) whether he is a member of a trade union (within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992),
(e) his physical or mental health or condition,
(f) his sexual life,
(g) the commission or alleged commission by him of any offence, or
(h) any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by him, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings.
Where acting for you involves us processing such data we will seek your explicit consent e.g. when we plan to obtain your medical records.
You have the right to withdraw your consent by contacting us as stated above.
However, if you do so then we may not be able to progress you case or indeed continue to act for you.
How to Complain
If you are unhappy about how we are using your Personal Data then you can complain to us using the contact information above.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Further details on how to raise a concern with the ICO can be found on the ICO’s website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns
Updating this Notice
We will, from time to time, update this Privacy Notice after 25th May 2018 to reflect emerging ICO and Working Party 29 guidance, requirements of the new Data Protection Act and any other relevant changes in the law or regulations. We will also seek to learn from any published cases of Data Protection breaches.
Complaints
We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become
unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then you should inform
us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your
case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this
stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full
complaints procedure here. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our
behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or
treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
What do to if we cannot resolve your complaint
The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint
ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how
we handle your case.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that
you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take
your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint
and
No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known
there was cause for complaint.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them
using the following details.
Contact details
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
The criminal department is made up of two solicitors Alan Lewis
and Colin Taylor. The department also has paralegals and police
station representatives to assist clients.
Alan Lewis and Colin Taylor have over 70 years experience
between them in this area of law. We have considerable expertise
in dealing with all types of criminal offences to include:
We provide a 24 hour service for 365 days of the year.
Representation at the police station is FREE of charge at any time
of day or night. If you are arrested or are asked to attend for a
voluntary interview at the police station please ask for Taylor Lewis
Solicitors and one of our representatives will be on hand to provide
you with expert legal advice and representation.
FREE legal advice may also be available subject to your means in
the Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court.
Please contact us by telephone on 01239 621999 to discuss your
case.
Motoring Offences Fees
We offer a fixed fee in the Magistrates’ Court for motoring offences where you
will be entering a guilty plea. Please see below details of what services are
included in the price and the type of offence that they apply to.
£300 plus VAT – the fee includes:-
The fee does not include:
Our costs may vary depending upon geographical location.
Time scale
We cannot provide a timescale of when your hearing will take place, as this
depends on the court listing for that day.
Total Cost including VAT: £360
Where the Court have discretion to disqualify or endorse your driving licence
with penalty points – guilty plea only
£250 plus VAT the fee includes:-
Offences in this category include:
The fee does not include:
Our costs may vary depending upon geographical location.
Time scale
We cannot provide a timescale of when your hearing will take place, as this
depends on the court listing for that day.
Total Cost including VAT: £300
Our team has over 70 years of collective experience in delivering high quality
work in all matters relating to criminal law, including road traffic law. We have
two solicitors who may work on your matter plus support staff. Regardless of
who works on your matter they will be supervised by Alan Lewis who is the
Sole Principal of the firm.
Alan Lewis – Solicitor
Sole Principal
Alan qualified as a solicitor in 1996 having trained with our predecessor firm of
Colin Taylor Solicitors and was made a partner in 2001 when the firm became
Taylor Lewis Solicitors. In 2006 Alan became the Sole Principal of the firm.
Alan specialises in all aspects of criminal law including road traffic offences
and has dealt with numerous high profile cases to include murder,
manslaughter, serious drug cases, offences of violence and sexual offences.
Alan appears regularly in Police Stations and Magistrates’ Courts in
Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.
Colin Taylor, solicitor is head of the Conveyancing department in the office. The department also has
two very experienced support staff members who work closely with the solicitor. Colin has 47 years of
experience in this area of law. The department is supervised by Alan Lewis, solicitor who is the Sole
Principal of the firm.
Our fees cover all of the work required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing
with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp
Duty) if the property is in England or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property you wish to buy is
in Wales.
The amount that you will pay will depend upon the price of the property and the nature and complexity of
the work involved. We will give you a fixed cost price once we have details of the property and your
circumstances. We have provided below an example for a property costing £175,000.00 with or without a
mortgage.
*Example of property costing £175,000.00 with or without a mortgage
Disbursements for the above example
Disbursements – are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land
Registry Fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother
process.
This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay
by using HMRC’s website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s
website. In this example for a property valued at £175,000.00 the Land Tax Charge would be £0.00
Our fees cover all the work required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with
registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (Stamp Duty) if
the property is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (Land Tax) if the property is in Wales.
* Example of a property costing £175,000.00
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as search fees. We
handle the payment of the disbursement on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. There are certain
disbursements which will be set out in the individual lease relating to the property. The disbursements
which we anticipate will apply are set out separately below. This list is not exhaustive and other
disbursements may apply depending upon the term of the lease. We will update you on the specific fees
upon receipt and review of the lease from the sellers solicitors.
* These fees vary from property to property and can on occasion be significantly more than the ranges given above, we can give you an accurate figure once we have sight of your specific documents.
You should also be aware that ground rent and service charge are likely to apply throughout your
ownership of the property. We will confirm the ground rent and the anticipated service charge as
soon as we receive this information.
This depends on the purchase price of your property. You can calculate the amount you will need to pay
by using HMRC’s website or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s
website.
In this example on a property valued at £175.000.00 the Land Tax charge would be £0.00
The precise stages involved in the purchase of a residential leasehold property vary according to the
circumstances. However, below we have suggested some key stages which will be involved in the
transaction:
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. If you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this
can take significantly longer.
Our fee assumes that:
a. 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.
b. This is the assignment of an existing lease and is not the grant of a new lease.
c. The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complications arise.
d. All parties to the transaction are cooperative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation.
e. No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are required
Colin Taylor, solicitor is head of the Probate team. The department also has two very
experienced support staff members who work closely with the solicitor. Colin has 47
years of experience in this area of law. The department is supervised by Alan Lewis,
solicitor who is the Sole Principal of the firm.
We undertake all aspects of probate work from securing a grant to acting throughout
in the administration of an estate.
The exact cost will depend upon the individual circumstances of the matter. For
example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of
the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts,
costs will be at the higher end.
We will handle the full process for you. This quote is for an example of an estate
where:
We anticipate that this would take between seven and ten hours work at £150.00 per
hour plus VAT. Total costs estimated at between £1,050 to £1500 plus VAT.
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such
as Court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure
a smoother process.
On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within six to eight
months. On average obtaining the Grant of Probate takes eight weeks. Collecting
assets following the Grant of Probate can take between six to twelve weeks. Once
this has been done we can distribute the assets which in this example would take
between one to two months.
As part of our service we will:
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