TERMS AND CONDITIONS (Download as PDF)
1. Appointment
1.1 Purchase or Rental Search
By signing this form, you appoint First Tiger (referred to as “us” or “we” below) as your agent to:
(a) carry out a search for a period of XXX weeks from the date of our signature of this agreement of the above area for properties which meet the criteria which you have expressed to us and which are for sale or rent, as the case may be;
(b) at regular intervals during that period to present to you a shortlist of those properties revealed by that search which we would, in our opinion, recommend that would suit your search requirements.
1.2 Negotiate and Close
By signing this form, you appoint First Tiger (referred to as “us” or “we” below) as your agent to:
(a) Negotiate on your behalf for the purchase or rental of a particular property which you have identified to us. We shall negotiate until the seller accepts your offer, or indicates that it is withdrawing the property from the market or has accepted another offer or until you decide to withdraw from the negotiations; and
(b) Give such other assistance to assist you to complete the purchase of your chosen property (or to take the matter to the signing of a tenancy agreement) as you and we expressly agree that we will provide. This may include:
~ introducing you to solicitors, surveyors, removals and storage firms and other professionals and suppliers of goods or services;
~ introducing you to financial advisers;
~ introducing you to agents for the sale or rental of your current home(s);
~ negotiating with, and instructing, such persons on your behalf; and
~ overseeing all the aspects of your transaction and using our wide experience to improve the services which you received from third parties or the outcome of any negotiations.
1.3 Please note that our obligations to provide services to you are governed by this contract and nothing on our website or in our other marketing material alters those obligations.
2. Liability to pay our fees and/or commission
2.1 You hereby agree to pay us £XXX as an initial non-refundable retainer for our services. You understand that we cannot commence work until we have received that fee.
2.2.1 If you have chosen the purchase search service and indicated that you wish to buy, you agree to pay our fee of £XXX less the pre paid retainer. Our fee is payable when:
(a) You exchange contracts for the purchase of, or any other dealing with, any property or land introduced by us to you in the period of our appointment; or
(b) You exchange contracts for the purchase of, or any other dealing with, any property or land with a person introduced to you by us during the period of our appointment.
2.2.2 If you have chosen the Rental Search Service and indicated that you wish to rent, you agree to pay us a fee of £XXX less the pre paid retainer fee for the relevant property at the rent agreed between you and the relevant landlord if:
(a) You enter into a tenancy agreement, lease, licence or other contract in the nature of you occupying or using, any property or land introduced by us to you in the period of our appointment; or
(b) You enter into a tenancy agreement, lease, licence or other contract in the nature of you occupying or using property or land with a person introduced to you by us during the period of our appointment.
2.3 For the avoidance of doubt, the phrase “introduced by us” where used in these terms refers to:
(i) In the context of persons introduced, any person or entity who has become aware of your interest in property in the relevant area as a result of any action taken by us, whether directly or indirectly. Such actions may include, without limiting the range of such actions:
~ Our enquiries of, discussions or negotiation with, such persons or their agents;
~ The passing of any information about you or your agents to such persons or their agents or any information about such persons or their agents to you or your agents; or
~ Any communications or correspondence (oral, written or electronic) between us and any other person or entity);
even if such actions did not cause the exchange of contracts or occupation; and
(ii) In the context of land or property introduced, any land or property or any interest in land or property which you have become aware of as a result of any action taken by us, whether directly or indirectly. Such actions may include, without limiting the range of such actions:
~ The passing or direction to you of any information about the relevant land or property; or
~ Any communications or correspondence (oral, written or electronic) between us and any other person or entity);
even if such actions did not cause the exchange of contracts or occupation.
3. Payments
Please note that:
(a) All commission and fees and any other costs and charges are subject to VAT at the prevailing rate;
(b) if contracts are exchanged and completion or occupation does not take place, you agree that we are still entitled to be paid our commission and these shall be paid within 10 days of the date that they would otherwise have been due; and
(c) If we have agreed to charge on a time, success or other basis, the payment terms will be confirmed separately in writing.
If any payment due to us is not made within 10 days of the due date we reserve the right to charge interest at 4% above the rate set from time to time by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England and, in respect of clients who are businesses or public authorities, at the highest rate which we are entitled to charge in accordance with The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. You agree to cover our costs if we use solicitors or other persons or institute legal or other proceedings to recover or realise monies due to us.
4. Accuracy of information
4.1 We have a legal duty to ensure that all information passed to you about any property is accurate and does not mislead. However, we cannot be responsible to you for the accuracy of any information provided to us by the owners or sellers of properties or their agents. We will use reasonable endeavours to highlight material inaccuracies in descriptions given if we are aware of any but, unless we have your specific instruction to do so, we will not verify any such information provided to us.
4.2 We will strive to ensure that all information given to you about an area is accurate. However, we cannot guarantee any aspects of the area, for example, the provision of services, the availability of school places or the flow of traffic.
5. Other legal and compliance matters
5.1 Data Protection Act 1998
We will retain your contact details and may contact you by mail, e-mail or telephone to let you know about services which might be of interest to you. If you do not wish your information to be used in this way, please tick this box □. You also have the right to require us to correct any inaccuracies in your information.
5.2 Money laundering
The law requires us to establish your identity. We therefore cannot undertake any work until we have seen or received the original or a certified copy of your passport and a utility bill and a copy of a utility bill establishing your identity. If we are instructed by more than one person, we will need to be satisfied about the identity of each. If you are a company or a partnership, we will need such information for each director or each partner.
6. Our services and our liability to you
You are encouraged to take all possible professional advice in connection with any purchase or other dealing with land. Apart from those services described in this agreement, we do not offer legal, surveying, financial, tax, accounting or any other services. We therefore cannot be liable to you for any losses, costs or expenses arising from matters which we are not qualified to advise on.
We accept however that, if we are negligent and such negligence causes loss to you, we will be liable for up to the sum of £XXX and the amount which you have paid to us for your direct loss only. Otherwise, we will have no liability to you and, except as specifically agreed above and without excluding any liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or death or physical injury caused by our negligence, we shall not be liable for any direct or indirect loss, loss of profits, costs, expenses, judgments, awards, fines, penalties, howsoever or whomsoever caused and of whatsoever nature, save to the extent that any such liability cannot be excluded by law. In accepting liability for direct losses, we do not accept any liability for indirect or consequential loss or for loss of profits.
7. Our agreement
By signing the copy of these terms, you and we agree that:
(a) these terms contain all the agreements and understandings between us relating to our services and replace any previous such agreement between us;
(b) in accepting these terms you are not relying on any undertaking, promise, assurance, statement, representation, warranty or understanding (whether in writing, on our website or otherwise) of any person relating to our services;
(c) these terms can only be varied with your and our express agreement in writing; and
(d) if a court decides or the law declares that any part of these terms may not apply or are invalid the terms shall continue to apply but as if the invalid or inapplicable part had been deleted from this copy of them.
8. Governing Law
Our agreement and these terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law.
E-mail: info@firsttiger.co.uk