Conveyancing terms of conditions

These are the terms and conditions on which Nest Legal Pty Ltd (ACN 619 351 398) will provide you with conveyancing services.

You confirm that the instructions that you have provided are correct to the best of your knowledge.

These terms are to be read in conjunction with our costs agreement, as agreed to by the submission of instructions via the form on our website.

How we will work

Nest Legal will primarily communicate with you by email. You agree to provide a secure password-protected email account and access it on a secure computer.

Nest Legal maintains client files and documents in digital format only. At the conclusion of our representation, we will retain the digital copy for 7 years, which will be made available to you upon request.

To enhance the efficiency of our practice, Nest Legal uses a variety of technology, including third party cloud based platforms, to store documents, communicate with clients and other activities. We have exercised due care in selecting vendors whose security and management practices meet or exceed applicable ethics requirements and engage in ongoing monitoring and oversight of their services. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed as totally secure. Although Nest Legal strives to protect such information, Nest Legal does not warrant and cannot ensure the security of any information which you transmit to it. Accordingly, any information which you transmit to Nest Legal is transmitted at your own risk. Nevertheless, once Nest Legal receives your transmission, it will take all reasonable steps to preserve the security of such information. You consent to our use of these services to store your files, communicate with you and carry out other necessary tasks related to representation. We do not sell or otherwise disclose to third parties any personal information that you provide through our website except as may be required by law.

We encourage our clients to offer feedback on review sites or refer us to others. If you’ve had a negative experience with Nest Legal, we would appreciate if you could speak with us directly so that we can try to fix the situation.

Duties

We will carry out the work required with professional skill and diligence. Please note that our advice does not extend to taxation advice, and you should seek advice from your accountant and/or financial advisor in this regard.

You will make reasonable efforts to be available to give us instructions in relation to the work to be carried out.

You will notify us of any change to your circumstances which may affect either the outcome of your matter or our earlier advice to you about any aspect of your matter.

Termination

You may terminate this agreement at any time.

Without limiting the circumstances in which we are otherwise by law entitled to terminate this agreement, we may terminate this agreement without notice and cease to act for you if you:

(a) Breach this agreement;

(b) Require us to act unlawfully or unethically;

(d) Give instructions that are deliberately false or intentionally misleading;

(e) Act in a manner which makes it impossible for the firm to have a reasonable lawyer/client relationship with you or give instructions that causes us to consider that our services are not appropriate for your legal needs;

(f) Fail to accept advice we give you;

(g) Engage another law practice to advise you on this matter without our consent;

(h) Lose legal capacity;

(i) Indicate that you have lost confidence in us; or

(j) Fail to pay our accounts or deposit monies to our trust account as required from time to time.

If the agreement is terminated either by you or by us, you will be required to pay our professional fees and disbursements up to the date of termination, as reasonably determined by us in our sole discretion.

Liability

To the extent permitted by law, we exclude liability for any consequential or indirect loss or damage which may arise in connection with this agreement. Our liability for any and all loss or damage arising from or in connection with this agreement is limited to the total value of fees payable by you to us under this agreement.

Legal costs – your right to know

Here is an important notice as to your rights. It overrides the terms of this agreement if there is, and to the extent of, any inconsistency.

You have the right to: Negotiate a costs agreement with us; Receive a bill of costs from us; Request an itemized bill of costs within 30 days after you receive a lump sum bill from us; Request written reports about the progress of your matter and the costs incurred in your matter; Apply for costs to be assessed within 12 months if you are unhappy with our costs; Apply for the costs agreement to be set aside; Make a complaint to the Legal Services Commissioner. This includes making a complaint that involves a civil dispute to the Legal Services Commissioner within 60 days after the legal costs were payable or, if an itemized bill was requested in respect of those costs, within 30 days after the request was complied with; Accept or reject any offer we make for an interstate costs law to apply to your matter; Notify us that you require an interstate costs law to apply to your matter. For more information about your rights, please read the fact sheet entitled Legal costs - your right to know. You can ask us for a copy, or obtain it from the Legal Services Commissioner (or download it from their website).

Where we are acting for more than one of you

We are allowed to act jointly for clients only when their interests are not in conflict. We will assume that each of you has authorised the other to give instructions on behalf of both of you. You will be liable for our costs individually and together.

The following will apply to our joint representation of you:

i. We will act in each of your best interests at all times and will not favour the interests of one of you over the interests of another, or allow anything to interfere with our loyalty to each of you or our judgement on your behalf. If we are unable to fulfil this, we will cease acting for both of you in the matter.

ii. If we receive information from any source that makes it clear that we are in a conflict by acting for you jointly (for example, if one of you advises us that you want to change your instructions without the other knowing), we will cease acting for both of you in the matter. We will take this course of action rather than being prevented from disclosing to each party all information relevant to the matter within our knowledge.

General

If any part of any of these terms and conditions is void, then the part that is void may be severed. Other than any local laws applicable to you that by law cannot be excluded, these terms and conditions are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia.