Legal

GENERAL

Terms and conditions

A letter of engagement accompanied by our standard Terms of Engagement (and any other relevant Terms of Engagement) will be provided to the client at the commencement of any engagement to which they apply. Our standard Terms of Engagement may be viewed by clicking here.

Complaints

If you have a complaint, then these notes set out the procedure we will follow in dealing with your complaint.

1. H McC Townsend has been appointed to deal with complaints and you should not hesitate to contact Mr Townsend to deal with any complaints in relation to this firm.

2. Where your complaint is initially made orally, you will be requested to send a written summary of your complaint to Mr Townsend (by post or email to htownsend@townsendcharteredsurveyors.co.uk).

3. Once we have received your written summary of the complaint, we will contact you in writing within fourteen days to inform you of our understanding of the circumstances leading to your complaint.  You will be invited to make any comments that you may have in relation to this.

4. Within twenty eight days of receipt of your written summary, Mr Townsend will write to you in order to inform you of the outcome of the investigation into your complaint, and let you know what action has been or will be taken.

5. If you remain dissatisfied with any aspect of our handling of your complaint, then we will attempt to resolve this promptly through negotiations.

Private clients

6. a) If the complaint still has not been resolved to your satisfaction and you are a private client with an estate agency complaint, we agree to the referral of your complaint to the PRS (Property Redress Scheme), the redress scheme to which Townsend Chartered Surveyors belong. The PRS can be contacted via their website (https://www.theprs.co.uk/consumer), by writing to Property Redress Scheme, Premiere House, 1st Floor, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, WD6 1JH or by telephone on 0333 321 9418. The Property Redress Service will consider any property or estate agency related consumer complaints.

or

b) If the complaint has still not been resolved to your satisfaction and you are a private client with a surveying or valuation complaint, we agree to the referral of your complaint to CEDR (Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution), 70 Fleet St, London EC4Y 1EU tel: 020 7536 6000 from whom details of how to complain may be obtained. Alternatively please go to their website for further information (https://www.cedr.com/consumer/). This is a consumer-facing redress scheme.

Business clients

7. If the complaint still has not been resolved to your satisfaction and you are acting on behalf of a business, we agree to the referral of your complaint to the Arbitration Procedure for Surveying Disputes operated by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, 24 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2RS (https://www.ciarb.org/dispute-appointment-service/das-faqs) by emailing complaints@ciarb.org or tel: 020 7421 7444. This is a business to business arbitration scheme.

Anti-Money Laundering Policy

Our firm is committed to being fully compliant with the provisions of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and anti-terrorism laws.

To ensure compliance with the law and to ensure we know and fully understand the identity and structures of our clients we have robust anti-money laundering policies and procedures in place.

Client and Matter Due Diligence

We conduct due diligence enquiries on all new clients to establish and verify our clients’ identity and the identity of any beneficial owners. We may also undertake such enquiries on anyone instructing us on behalf of, but who may not be our clients. We cannot act if sufficient information is not provided.

We generally require to see original documentation. We use third party providers who search external electronic databases as part of this diligence process.

We also undertake risk assessments for all new matters for existing clients.

On-going Monitoring

We undertake on-going monitoring of all existing clients (which may require you to provide us with updated proof of identity documentation).

Source of Wealth and Funds

We are required to know the source of funds involved in the transactions we are undertaking. We will also have to enquire about the source of your wealth. We accept no responsibility for any transactions being delayed while this information is awaited.

Tipping off

We must report to the National Crime Agency and other relevant authorities any suspicion or knowledge regarding money laundering or the proceeds of crime. We are not permitted to notify you of the fact that such reports have been made.

Confidentiality

Our duties to report to the National Crime Agency may take priority over any duty to keep your information and the detail of your transactions confidential.

WEBSITE DISCLAIMER

Introduction

This disclaimer governs your use of our website; by using our website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of this disclaimer, do not use our website.

Intellectual property rights

Unless otherwise stated, we or our licensors own the intellectual property rights in the website and material on the website. Subject to the licence below, all these intellectual property rights are reserved.

Licence to use website

You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages [or other pdf documents herein attached] from the website for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions below.
You must not:
a) republish material from this website (including republication on another website);
b) sell, rent or otherwise sub-license material on the website;
c) reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise exploit material on our website for a commercial purpose;
d) edit or otherwise modify any material on the website; or
e) redistribute material from this website.

Limitations of liability

The information on this website is provided free-of-charge, and you acknowledge that it would be unreasonable to hold us liable in respect of this website and the information on this website.
Whilst we endeavour to ensure that the information on this website is correct, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy; nor do we commit to ensuring that the website remains available or that the material on the website is kept up-to-date.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law we exclude all representations, warranties and conditions (including, without limitation, the conditions implied by law of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and the use of reasonable care and skill).
Our liability is limited and excluded to the maximum extent permitted under applicable law. We will not be liable for any direct or indirect loss or damage arising under this disclaimer or in connection with our website, whether arising in tort, contract, or otherwise. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing exclusion, we will not be liable for any loss of profit, contracts, business, goodwill, data, income, revenue or anticipated savings arising under this disclaimer or in connection with our website, whether direct or indirect, and whether arising in tort, contract, or otherwise.

Variation

We may revise this disclaimer from time-to-time. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version.

Entire agreement

This disclaimer constitutes the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of our website, and supersedes all previous agreements in respect of your use of this website.

Law and jurisdiction

This disclaimer will be governed by and construed in accordance with English law, and any disputes relating to this disclaimer shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

Registrations and authorisations

We are registered with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and are subject to the RICS Regulations, which can be found at https://www.rics.org/newregulation/ . We are also regulated under the RICS Client Money Protection Scheme for lettings and estate management. See certificate here

The RICS Client Money Protection for Residential Agents scheme has been approved by Government under the The Client Money Protection Schemes for Property Agents (Approval and Designation of Schemes) Regulations 2018. This means that RICS registered firms holding money in the areas covered by the regulations, will have met the requirements under The Client Money Protection Scheme for Property Agents Regulations (2008) to belong to an approved scheme.
Our VAT number is 585 7493 81.

Our contact details

The full name of our company is Townsend Chartered Surveyors.

Our registered address is Matford Centre, Matford Park Road, Exeter EX2 8FD.
Tel: 01392 823935. Fax: 01392 823938. Email: office@townsendcharteredsurveyors.co.uk.

Accessibility

Townsend Chartered Surveyors have taken reasonable steps to ensure this website is compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Web Accessibility regulations.