Our Firm’s policy encouraged by the Solicitors Regulation Authority is to explain from an early stage the terms upon which we act for you, the client. These terms are intended to apply to all works undertaken for you (now and in the future) unless otherwise agreed. In order for us to deal with your claim efficiently we would be obliged if you read the following carefully.
Objectives and Issues
We have been instructed by you to pursue a claim for recovery of sums due to you from the lender in respect of your car finance agreement (PCP/HP) As a result, you are instructing us to attempt to recover compensation for hidden commission charges, higher interest rates, additional charges to your car finance agreement and any other charges that you have been applied. We can advise that we will need to obtain documentation to substantiate the claim and if settlement of the case is not possible by negotiation, we may need to commence proceedings or submit your
complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Our Responsibilities
We shall take all reasonable steps to pursue the claim for compensation for the above, such as assist you to gather all the correct paperwork and documents to support your claim, present your claim to lender and If negotiations fail, we may then look to submit your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service. We will also be preparing any necessary correspondence and we will also review all information provided in relation to the claim.
Your Responsibilities
To co-operate fully with us in progressing the case, to provide prompt, honest and accurate instructions, to provide full disclosure of all information relevant to the case favourable or otherwise, to provide any documentation and information relevant to the case for example, all applicable documentation relating to your mis sold car finance claim return promptly any Court documents subject to your agreement duly signed and to attend any Hearings, if required to attend to give evidence. In accordance with our internal client identification and verification procedures we are required to carry out client due diligence checks. If you have not already done so you are required to provide us with a copy of your passport or driving licence and proof of your address that is less than 3 months old. This may be by way of bank statement, utility bill or equivalent as detailed within the accompanying money laundering leaflet.
People Responsible For Your Work
Mr Zegum Hussain specialising in this area will be responsible for your case and if he is not available his secretary will be happy to take any messages for you. However, he may delegate under his supervision certain aspects of your case to other members within his team during the progression of your case. Mr Ayaaz Khan (Director) will be responsible for the overall supervision of your case. We try hard to avoid changing the people who are handling your case, if this cannot be avoided, we will notify you promptly on who will be handling your case (and why the change
was necessary) and we reserve the right to allocate other staff to your case where necessary.
Charges and Expenses
Please note that you have the right to bring the claim yourself free of charge without any representation. We must advise you that we have agreed to deal with your case(s) under a Damages-Based Agreement (copy enclosed), a type of ‘no win, no fee’ agreement, whereby on your claim being successful the amount we will charge will depend on the compensation awarded as detailed on the Damages Based Agreement and below. You also pay us our Disbursements, but we shall recover the costs of these from your opponent so they won’t be taken from your compensation. . By signing these Terms and Conditions you are confirming your agreement to the enclosed Damages Based Agreement and for us to act for you on this basis. We require that you promptly pay our fee, no later than 14 days after you receive compensation (if you are paid direct) or if you have no intention of accepting the offer and we recommend that you do so, 14 days after our recommendation.
| Band | Redress awarded for a claim (£) | The maximum percentage rate of charge | The maximum total charge (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-1,499 | 30% | 420 |
| 2 | 1,500-9,999 | 28% | 2,500 |
| 3 | 10,000-24,999 | 25% | 5,000 |
| 4 | 25,000-49,999 | 20% | 7,500 |
| 5 | 50,000 or above | 15% | 10,000 |
example if you were awarded £1000 then we would charge £300 (30%). If you were awarded £1,450 then we would charge £420 because 30% of £1450 is £435 which is higher than our Maximum Total Charge.
We must advise you that you have the option to pursue your claim for compensation on a private paying basis whereby you would pay solicitors an hourly fee for the time spent on your case. However, Goldman Knightley Solicitors do not operate these types or claims on a Private paying basis. If you wish to pursue your claim on this basis you will need to instruct another firm of solicitors. Please note that Goldman Knightley solicitors do not offer any guarantee about the outcome of your case but can confirm you will not be charged should there not be a successful outcome.
By agreeing to these terms and conditions you agree not to enter into any agreement with any lender or any other party without first consulting Goldman Knightley Solicitors. In the event legal proceedings are necessary we may not be able to continue to pursue your case by way of a Damages Based Agreement. We will inform you at an appropriate interval whether we believe legal roceedings are necessary and will advise you of the other forms and methods of progressing your case at that juncture.
Disbursements
Confidentiality and External Audits
Our regulator the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), may request an audit of your file. We shall assume that you have no objections to your file being audited by any of the above parties unless you instruct us otherwise.
Equality and Diversity Limitation (Time period to make a claim)
We are committed to promoting equality and diversity in all our dealings with clients, third parties and employees and are required to produce a written equality and diversity policy which we are able to provide to you on request.
Timescale
Each individual case is different and it’s difficult for us to be able to tell you exactly when your claim will be settled as this very much depends on the attitude adopted by the opponent towards your case. If your claim is a complicated case, there is the potential that it can take longer than a year for it to be settled. Currently the FCA have advised the lenders to respond to any complaints until after 4 December 2025 at the earliest. However, you can rest assured that we will keep you updated along the way
Limitation (Time period to make a claim)
Under English law a claimant usually has a fixed amount of time to bring a claim, after which their claim will expire – this is known as the ‘limitation date’. This date can be extended indefinitely by issuing court proceedings.
The law relating to mis-sold motor finance is still very much new and developing and it is therefore uncertain exactly how much time a claimant has to bring their claim. However, based on the law as it currently stands, we believe that some things you could claim for would need to be brought within 6 years of the start of your agreement and others must be brought within 6 years of the end of the agreement. Please note that we will not be issuing court proceedings for the purposes of extending the limitation period. If you are concerned about this you must issue court proceedings yourself.
Privacy and Data Protection
The privacy and security of your personal information is very important to us. Any personal information submitted to us will be subject to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) and any legislation enforced within the UK in order to comply with GDPR, unless required to do so by law or a professional body, we will not disclose any personal data to any other person or organisation without the required consent. We want to assure you that the claimant information will be properly managed, protected and respected. You can be assured any information you provide us will be used strictly in accordance with the terms laid out in this statement. This privacy statement explains how we collect and use the claimant personal
information, what choices they have and other important information. You can find our full privacy on our website www.goldmanknightley.co.uk
Advertising and Marketing Agency
We note that your case has not been referred by a marketing company as you have completed our online sign up via digital marketing. However please note there are occasions whereby Goldman Knightley Solicitors enter into marketing agreements with Marketing Companies to pay them a marketing fee per month. We must stress that this is not in addition to the fee that a client has agreed to pay us and this fee will vary month by month but it is not relevant for your case. If your claim has been introduced/generated by a marketing company we will of course make you aware.
Complaints Procedure
Whilst we expect that you will be satisfied with our work, if you feel that you have cause for criticism or complaint in respect of any aspect of the service provided by this firm to include a complaint about our bill, you are entitled to complain, and we would invite you to address your complaint initially, in writing, to Mr. Ayaaz Khan, (a Director) or by telephone for immediate consideration so that any appropriate action can be taken without delay. On receipt of your complaint we shall automatically invoke the firm’s Complaints Procedure which includes writing to you to notify you of how the complaint will be handled and within what timescales you will be given an initial or substantive response and thereafter we shall conduct an internal investigation
handled by a senior member of the firm resulting in a full written response to you in compliance with the firm’s Complaints Procedure. On occasions, we may invite you to attend a meeting to explain the outcome of our investigation in more detail, in an effort to ensure that you will receive an adequate summary of the steps taken to resolve any problems. On concluding our investigations into your complaint, if you remain dissatisfied with the outcome, you have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman so long as the complaint is made within 6 months of you receiving our final response to your complaint and in any event within 12 months from when your complaint was first raised with us. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman via their website at
www.legalombudsman.org.uk or by e-mail to enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or in writing to Edward House, Quay Place, Birmingham, B1 2RA. . A copy of the firm’s Complaints Procedure is available upon request from our offices and we shall handle any complaint promptly, fairly and effectively in accordance with the firm’s Complaints Procedure.
Legal Expenses Insurance Cover
You may have a legal expenses insurance policy which can be used by you to pursue your claim for recovery of sums due to you from the lender. This may be under a motor insurance policy/home insurance policy or any other relevant insurance policy you may have. Although you have advised us you have no such insurance policy in place, we would advise you to re-confirm this to be the case. If you do have the benefit of such an insurance policy, you should contact us immediately prior to signing and returning these terms and conditions as a Damages Based Agreement may not be the appropriate method of funding your case.
Your Authority For Us To Make Deductions From Your Compensation
By agreeing to be bound by these terms and conditions of business, you authorise the lender or their representatives against whom your claim is successful to release to us any compensation recovered on your behalf. You further authorise Goldman Knightley Solicitors on successfully pursuing your claim for compensation to deduct from your damages (“compensation”) sent to us the amount payable to us as referred to above in respect of the Damages Based Agreement.
Cancellation
You can cancel this contract within 14 days without any charge. If you do decide to cancel you can do this by confirmation in writing, either by letter or email to info@goldmanknightley.co.uk or by telephone on 01204 563 533. A cancellation form should you wish to use it can be requested by phone or email or downloaded from our website.
If this agreement is cancelled when a reasonable offer of payment has been made, we will enforce our charges if necessary.. Any disbursements that have been incurred after 14 days of the date of this contract will remain your liability.