STANDARD TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT FOR BUILDING REGULATIONS ASSOCIATES
1. Building Regulations Associates is a trading style of Borngrade Limited Company registered in England and Wales with number 07289117 whose registered office is at 19 New Road, Brighton BN1 1EY.
2. a) The instructions you give us create a contract between you and Borngrade Limited (trading as Building Regulations Associates) for the provision of services to you. Our contract with you is personal. It may be enforced by, and confers benefit on you and Borngrade Limited, but not to any third party.
b) References in these Standard Terms of Engagement to “we”, “our” and “us” shall be read as to Borngrade Limited trading as Building Regulations Associates.
c) If you accept these terms and conditions, you do so in the name of your company or company associated with you, or that engages you, or as owner of the property that we are engaged to provide services for.
3. We maintain professional indemnity insurance cover in the sum of £2million and all civil claims brought against this company are limited to that sum.
4. We will not he held liable in contract or negligence for any statement, report, plan or specification issued by us.
5. Payment may be calculated as: a) time charge of £250 plus expenses or b) a lump sum plus expenses or c) as a percentage of the building costs of the project: whichever we deem appropriate.
6. Invoicing will be on a weekly basis and will occur within the week immediately after the required work has been undertaken. If there is a different mode of payment you will be notified in correspondence. We may request some or the entire agreed fee to be paid in advance of work being undertaken. Full payment of any outstanding fees will normally become due within 14 days of the date of issue of an invoice. This may be varied subject to written consent from us.
7. The service of any invoices shall be sufficient if posted to the client at their address or any other address as may subsequently be agreed or by email to their email address.
8. Invoices remaining unpaid beyond a 14-day period shall bear compound interest, such interest to accrue from day to day at the rate of 9 percent per annum above the current base rate of Santander Bank Plc.
9. Any invoice or item on an invoice which is disputed shall be brought to our attention in writing within seven days of the date of the invoice failing which it shall be assumed no item is disputed.
10. Fees may include VAT at the rate current at the date of the invoice.
11. Our fees do not include for any disbursements or payments to third parties such as payments due to local authorities or other statutory bodies such as Planning and Building Regulation fees or other charges which will be charged in addition, unless stated to the contrary.
12. Standard charges for disbursements (travelling, printing, out of pocket expenses, etc.) can be supplied upon request. These will be charged as separate items unless no reference to them is made on the invoice.
13. Any dispute regarding the services of Building Regulations Associates will be dealt with in accordance with the rules for such matters as set out by the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) Dispute Regulation Scheme, which is run independently by the IDRS, a subsidiary of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators or at the County Court, whichever is deemed by us to be most appropriate under the circumstances.
14. Where our services involve the submission of Building Regulations Applications to the local Authority, we will use reasonable endeavours to prepare a design solution that has in our opinion a good chance of obtaining a Certificate. If subsequent to making the application we are instructed to make significant amendments to the design either in the form of amendments to the application or the submission of a fresh application to the local authority, this new design work will be subject to the payment of additional fees charged on an hourly basis of £250 per hour.
15. Should the client require additional works over and above those quoted for initially, then additional fees will be payable where those works are mutually agreed either at a rate to be determined by a second and further agreement or in the case of no written agreement, on the basis of reimbursement for additional time expended at £250 per hour, plus expenses.
16. Should it be necessary to utilise the services of a surveyor, planning supervisor, structural engineer, quantity surveyor, sound engineer or other consultant in connection with providing our services, such instruction shall be directly by us and all fees associated with this instruction shall be in addition to our fees. Should such services be required these shall be agreed between us and the client prior to any consultant being appointed.
17. When instructed on purely legal and contentious matters we will endeavour to advise and offer guidance on an initial instruction basis only concerning matters related to building disputes. This means we cannot undertake any representation in any county court or tribunal on your behalf. Where detailed advice is required, or specialist advice is required or specialist representation is required, this company will engage Solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and/or/as well as Barristers represented by The English Bar Council. Such instruction shall be directly by us and all fees associated with this instruction shall be in addition to our fees.
18. We will not be held liable in contract or negligence for damages for any statement, report or specification issued by us or any third party engaged by us.
19. Where the services of any professional or consultant utilised by us as described in clauses 14, you may not at any time during our engagement on your project and whilst it continues thereafter, bypass us and approach the consultant for engagement directly with you and you agree to pay our surcharge fee of £1000 if you do so.
20. We will make no enquiries as to the presence of any lease, restrictive covenants, easements, rights of way, or other legal burdens upon the land or building under consideration, unless specifically instructed to do so. The client should therefore satisfy themselves in respect of these areas prior to initially instructing us including but not limited to carrying out any necessary enquiries and serving any appropriate notices.
21. Prescribed building works may require compliance with The Party Wall Act 1996, or other legislative provisions; we will make no enquiries in this regard and the client should therefore satisfy themselves in respect of this including but not limited to serving appropriate notices prior to instructing us.
22. Where we are engaged on a consultancy basis to, advise, project-manage, guide and consult with, builders, tradesmen or other workers and professionals in regard to the project we are instructed upon, then we will use reasonable endeavours to fulfil such engagement.
23. Our fees for consultation and project management are set on various factors including, but not limited to: considering matters, travel, and communication with various parties including statutory bodies, professionals such as surveyors, lawyers, consultants and engineers, contractors and tradespeople, onsite attendances, operational overheads, professional expenses, contract management, administration and accounting, materials procurement, and disbursements.
24. Copyright in any drawings, schedules, specifications or other information provided by us or by third parties engaged by us is retained by us and these documents shall remain the property of Borngrade Ltd. The right of the client to utilise these documents is under a licence. An infringement of the licence will be deemed to occur if any part of our account remains unpaid and if the documents are used by a third party without first obtaining our written consent and will give rise to an action for breach of contract and licence agreement and all losses flowing therefrom.
25. Neither party to this agreement may assign any part of this agreement without the written consent of the other party.
26. The fee quotation attached to these conditions shall remain open to acceptance by the client for a period of three months from the date of the quotation. Thereafter it shall be subject to review.
27. This agreement may be terminated by us immediately by notice in writing.
28. We may amend and change any part of these terms at any time, and will give clients who have instructed us a minimum of 7days notice of such change.
29. The governing law and jurisdiction of these terms and conditions shall be that of England and Wales.