A Pre-Contract Guide outliines what you should consider before committing to proceed with the Legal Quest MSC and engage us to carry out a Data Subject Access Request and review/audit the content of same, on your behalf.
Pre-Contract Guide
Pre-Contract Information
1.Legal Quest PLC (“Legal Quest”) are a firm of Professional Loss Adjusters. Camellus Law LLP is a separate legal entity with which Legal Quest PLC are Partners and who are the legal case management firm appointed by Legal Quest plc to undertake all legal aspects of the MSC. ("the Validation Team"). If instructed by you, we will conduct a formal Data Subject Access Request (DSAR), review and validate the mortgage documentation received and prepare a formal report for Camellus Law LLP on our findings. The report will allow Camellus Law to issue a legal opinion enabling you to make an informed decision regarding any further possible action regarding any errors or omissions by your lender, relative to the use or misuse of the Power of Attorney present in almost all mortgages. The report will advise regarding securitisation of the mortgage and whether the mortgage remains with the original lender or it has been sold, transferred or assigned to a third party, without any notification to you.
The service is not considered to be the basis of a claim for compensation. It is simply to correct and validate the current status of your mortgage and to whom your liability may now rest, if the mortgage was sold, assigned or transferred under mortgage securitisation processes. There MAY be some financial benefit to you resulting from the correction and validation, however, that is a matter for future review and no representation to the contrary is made by Legal Quest PLC.
This service is suitable for all mortgage holders who have a current valid mortgage with a minimum of three years remaining to maturity. Please note to qualify for our services, your mortgage needs to be up to date and not in arrears. This requirement is in order to avoid potential counter actions from your lender(s) if a dispute is raised.
We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction and our clients’ interests are of the utmost importance to us. This is why we provide all the information surrounding the potential dispute, in advance, so you are aware of the processes involved and any potential benefits and risks.
Everyone may be able to conduct the entire validation process themselves and details of the requirements to conduct a DSAR are provided on the Legal Quest website(s) free of charge to all. If, however, you choose to appoint Legal Quest PLC and our professional advisers, there is currently a retainer/contribution of £260.00 payable in advance.
This retainer includes fees and direct costs in the amount of £56.40 which you as a consumer would incur if you submit a DSAR yourself and as such are payable by us for and on your behalf and are therefore exempt from VAT, such items are identified as a disbursement on the invoice you will receive after instructing us with the balance of £203.60 shown as our legal and administrative fees inclusive of VAT. Please Note: Any promotional discount will be deducted from the legal and administration fees, as the disbursements remain constant for all clients.
You may have been introduced to us by a third party introducer. We refer to these as our "affiliates". They are able to act as your liaison with us, providing telephonic support on our behalf and for them to act as our agents in this respect. If you wish to receive assistance with the sign up process, they are available to assist.
The “Affiliates” are individually vetted and authorised external parties who are able to assist you in completing the paperwork with you and act as our agents providing point of telephone contact should you require further assistance. Any costs to provide this support is covered by Legal Quest and the Affiliates are NOT permitted to charge any additional fees for introducing you to the Legal Quest MSC. Legal Quest PLC will pay a total of £90.00 including VAT to them for providing this service, which is included in the total fixed cost of £260.00 including VAT.
As stated, the fixed contribution charge of £260.00 includes any/all disbursements and fees payable by Legal Quest plc for the DSAR, together with the costs for the provision of a legal opinion by Camellus Law LLP on the results of the data review at the end of the audit process leading to the issue of a Part 35 – Expert Witness Report Legal Quest plc carry out a significant amount of legal administration work for each DSAR Validation Audit client, with a current deferred ‘cost’ of £5,314.62 + VAT being the itemised costs in accordance with the Law Commission’s latest costs schedule under Precedent ‘S’ for a tier 3 firm, based in the North West. This deferred cost amount is only due and payable by a client if their claim is successful and, in the event the claim is lost or abandoned by the appointed law firm, having taken out ATE or similar insurance protection for adverse costs and disbursements, Legal Quest plc will be paid by the insurers, with no liability falling on the client as the insurance policy indemnifies them 100% against any such liabilities.
The DSAR Validation Audit Process
The Legal Quest PLC Affiliate, can, if you wish, assist you and help you enter your information onto our Legal Administration Review System (LARS) secure database, appointing the Validation Team and enabling the secure payment of the agreed contribution/retainer and disbursement cost of £260.00 including VAT to be made. This retainer is due and payable to the Validation Team and NOT to the Affiliate at the appointment stage, all payments are made through Legal Quest's secure payment portal.
Alternatively, you may enter your own details onto our L.A.R.S. secure database and appoint the Validation Team with the payment of the agreed retainer and disbursement cost of £260.00 including VAT which is due and payable to the Validation Team at the appointment stage. Please be aware that the Validation Team do not provide direct telephone contact, all correspondence MUST be in writing by either email or letter format. However, all our Affiliates have agreed to provide off site telephone support for us providing you with a personal contact link where any queries may be answered by their staff, or alternatively, the answer obtained from the Validation Team and provided promptly to you, to avoid any areas of concern. This is available to ALL clients and the telephone contact details are provided to you at the point of engagement.
Upon receipt of your retainer, the Legal Administration Review System (L.A.R.S.) initiates and emails a confirmation of receipt and acceptance of your instructions to you, including a copy of your initial electronic hand generated signature appointing Legal Quest PLC, a copy of the Terms & Conditions and a copy of the Retainer Receipt for providing the services detailed herein.
Immediately thereafter, usually within a period of 1 to 2 hours depending on volume of traffic and bandwidth capacity, L.A.R.S. issues notification to Camellus Law LLP, our Legal Case Managers, which initiates the preparation of your formal Welcome Pack which will be sent by registered mail to your correspondence address entered onto the L.A.R.S. portal at sign-up. The Welcome Pack will contain, in addition to various information letters/leaflets, the original Agent Authority Letter from you to Legal Quest PLC which must be signed by all individuals named on the mortgage account in BLUE ink, and returned together with a copy of Your ID and a copy of your latest mortgage statement .A pre-paid return envelope is provided by us. Simply drop the sealed envelope containing your return documents, in any Royal Mail post-box.
We will formally deal with any/all correspondence and ultimately obtain the data from your lender. This may not initially be complete and may involve several follow up letters in order to ensure compliance by the Lenders. The Validation Team will then perform a full and detailed review of all data/documentation received and ultimately provide you with a Legal Opinion letter on our findings and potential entitlements.
The Validation Team and any Affiliate work closely together in order to be able to provide accurate and professional support without fear or favour, providing a clear answer to the questions asked regarding your mortgage and whether it remains with the original lender or not.
Note: The entire DSAR Validation Audit Process takes approximately 3 to 4 months from date of appointment, taking into account the statutory 30 days (from the date of the last communication to any Lender’s query) which the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) allows the lender to investigate the request for information and respond.
At the end of the period, every client will receive confirmation in the form of a legal opinion or statement of facts from Camellus Law LLP regarding whether their particular mortgage remains with their original lender or whether it was securitised (sold, transferred or assigned to an undisclosed third party). In some cases the evidence may not be fully disclosed by the lender, however, sufficient evidence will exist to provide a reasonable doubt opinion.
If the mortgage remains with the original lender, then there is no further action justified or valid, however, if the data indicates that the mortgage was either securitised, or in many cases would appear to have been securitised, you may wish to take matters further and determine the true status of your mortgage.
YOU, as the client, will be given choices which YOU may then decide upon, including but not limited to:
a) Doing nothing further
b) Continuing with your own independent enquiries using the data obtained during the DSAR without any further advice or assistance.
c) Appoint your own Legal advisers to raise a dispute.
d) Or instruct Legal Quest plc/Camellus Law LLP on a conditional fee basis to deal with the Mortgage Securitisation Claim (MSC) for you, appointing legal professionals, with no further cost to YOU, the client(s)*.
Therefore, if a positive or probable legal opinion is received and you choose to go forward, only then may you proceed to Legal Quest PLC - Dispute Process and file a Mortgage Securitisation Claim (MSC). * There may be a requirement for filing fees, third party expert reports and counsel fees to be covered by you or under a no recourse, legal expenses funding facility, which is ONLY due and payable in the event of a successful claim with absolutely no liability if your claim is lost or abandoned by the law firm. Note: Cancellation Fees may apply once legal work has started on your claim.
The Dispute Process
The Mortgage Securitisation Claim (MSC) - Dispute Process is a separate contractual matter available ONLY to those who's mortgage qualifies for the MSC, after the DSAR Validation Audit Process has been completed.
If, following the conclusion of the Validation Process, you choose to give instructions to Legal Quest plc/Camellus Law LLP to add you to the current group or class action contingent and, if appropriate, to pass your case on to a firm of solicitors and barristers, you must advise Legal Quest PLC of your choice to be named as a primary claimant, or not.
You will be required to agree and sign the Damages Based/Conditional Fee Agreement which will stipulate a No Win – No Fee* amount equal to a stated % inc VAT of any successful settlement. (See example CFA for specimen fee amounts and their calculation) * There may be a requirement for filing fees, third party expert reports and counsel fees to be covered by you or under a no recourse, legal expenses funding facility, which is ONLY due and payable in the event of a successful claim with absolutely no liability if your claim is lost or abandoned by the law firm. Note: Cancellation Fees may apply once legal work has started on your claim.
NOTE: If the appointed legal professionals do not recover any award, costs, or there is no direct/indirect benefit to you, you will not pay anything further.
Cancellation
The client has a 14 day cooling off period from the date the Validation Team receive the £260.00 retainer, during which our fees will be refunded in full without deductions. If the client wishes to cancel our appointment, this can be done by contacting Legal Quest PLC/Camellus Law, on 0161 393 8028 or in writing to Legal Quest PLC DSAR Operations Center, Unit 4 Olympic Court, Whitehills Business Park, Blackpool FY4 5GU; or by email to info@legalquest.co.uk.
If the client wishes to cancel the appointment after the 14 day cooling off period has expired, they will not receive a full refund due to the fact that the DSAR process will have been initiated. As a result, the costs incurred up to that date will be deducted from any refund, the labour element being capped at a maximum of 4 hours, charged at £20.00 + VAT per hour.
Warnings
The Legal Quest Mortgage Securitisation Claim (MSC) has not yet been tested and proven in a court of law within the United Kingdom, at this time.
There is ample documentation and legal case precedents which exist in other jurisdictions and two Court of Appeal cases in the UK, the first (Neutral Citation [2013] NICh14 ref: Dee8994 Santander (UK) plc v Carlin/Hughes - ‘it is essential that the court is making an order in favour of the correct party who has the right to enforce the legal charge’) which supports Legal Quest’s position that there appear to be errors and omissions which should be rectified. More recently, in Alexander v West Bromwich Mortgage Company Ltd. [2016] EWCA Civ 498 the Court of Appeal reversed a High Court decision in favour of a group of Buy to Let landlords (Property 118 Group) whose interest rates had been unlawfully increased, contrary to the original mortgage T&C's and as a result of securitisation, which again supports Legal Quest's position that the contract may materially change if the mortgage is securitised and this may adversely affect the borrower and be unenforceable.
Any and all Legal Quest MSC matters may be subject to further review by the Courts and opinion unless a settlement agreement is reached with each particular Lender, however, from review of related judgments and current legislation, the separation of legal and equitable rights to land and property is not clear and, in our opinion, the potential breaches of s27(3)(a) of the Land Registration Act (2002) is the definitive matter which we believe takes precedence and opens up the valid cause of action.
CLIENT SPECIFIC RULE 11 – Former Claim Management Regulators (‘CMR’) Client Specific Rule 11, we have to make you aware that you have the right to seek further advice elsewhere before committing to using our services. You should fully acquaint yourself with the terms and conditions and warnings before proceeding.
You also have the option to file a request or dispute yourself directly with your lender & if dissatisfied with the outcome, to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service for further help and advice.
Complaints
We aim to provide a highly professional service and have vigorous internal procedures for handling complaints fairly.
Should a complaint arise please contact our Compliance Officer by writing to Legal Quest PLC, at their Operations Center, Unit 4 Olympic Court, Whitehills Business Park, Blackpool FY4 5GU; or by email to complaints@legalquest.co.uk., or via telephone to 0161 393 8027.
If you remain dissatisfied you may refer your complaint by writing to the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ or by email to enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. Our full complaints procedure is available on the website legalquest.org/lq and attached to your welcome email, along with a further copy of our Terms and Conditions.
Regulation
Legal Quest PLC are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in respect of Regulated Claims Management Activities (FCA No 831198). https://register.fca.org.uk. Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) No 634028. All regulated activities are carried out by our Legal Director, Martin D. Block LL.B (Hons), a practicing solicitor (SRA No 118413). Details can be found on the Law Society website, https:// solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk “search for a solicitor”. This should be deleted and on the Camellus LLP website
We are authorised and regulated by the Claims Management Regulator in respect of Regulated Claims Management Activities (CMR No 42379).
We are also a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorised firm (FRN No 739402) in respect to the Mediation of Insurance Business. https://register.fca.org.uk.
And, for data protection, Legal Quest PLC and our affiliates adhere strictly to the rules and regulations in accordance with the Data Protection Act {2018} and are registered with the Information Commissioners office No ZA085182. You can be assured that all details provided about you will be kept safe and secure and we do not share your information with unconnected outside parties. https://ico.org.uk/esdwebpages/search.