Landlord Law Terms and Conditions
Terms and conditions for membership
NB These terms and conditions do not affect your statutory rights.
Your membership of the Landlord-Law service is subject to your agreement to these terms and conditions. Please read them carefully.
Parties
1. We are Landlord-Law, an online legal service provided by TJ Shepperson solicitors of PO Box 3502, Norwich, Norfolk NR7 7QH, UK. TJ Shepperson is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority No 78852.
2. You are a person either subscribing to or intending to subscribe to the Landlord Law service. People who have subscribed to Landlord Law are known as 'members'.
Our service
3. The Landlord Law Service consists of written information and legal material relating to private residential landlord and tenant related law and practice, e.g.: news; documents, letters, and forms; answers to questions asked by members and other visitors to the site; audio files in mp3 format and other multi media content; and other services with particular relevance to the needs of private residential landlords, tenants, and their advisors. Members can also purchase fixed fee and other legal services for an additional charge.
4. All content on Landlord Law relates to residential landlord and tenant law in England and Wales UK. The site is not intended for anyone who is a landlord, tenant, tenant, or advisor in another jurisdiction.
5. New services will be added to the site from time to time, and existing material amended, updated, and occasionally deleted (for example if it is rendered redundant by changes in legislation or if there proves to be little demand for it among members).
6. Members will also receive from time to time a newsletter, usually at monthly intervals, which will normally give details of new services and features on the site, and other information relating to residential landlord and tenant law.
Becoming a member
7. You become a member of Landlord Law by completing the application form and paying the relevant membership fee for the period of time you wish to subscribe - known as your membership period. There is also an additional 'multi user' membership type for companies and organisations - see section 11 below. Apart from members of a multi user membership, membership is personal to you and non transferable.
8. Landlord monthly membership can be monthly or annual. Monthly membership is only available if the member signs up to pay online, on a recurring payment basis. Landlord annual membership is available on the same basis, or members can elect to be invoiced in advance and pay by whatever method they prefer. Members electing to be invoiced in advance will be charged an administration fee of £20 pa.
9. Tenant membership is available on a monthly basis only. Membership is only available if the member signs up to pay online but this will be a ‘one off’ payment. If tenant members wish to renew they will need to authorise a further payment.
10. Standard Membership. This the 'normal' membership type and is on a per person basis. The membership fee is for access for one person only. If you put two names on the application form, the first person named will be the member. If you put a company or business name, we reserve the right to suspend your membership until we are given the name of the person who will be the member. We reserve the right to refuse to accept any application for membership at our discretion.
11. Multi user membership. Companies and organisations who will have several members or staff who will want to use the Landlord Law service can apply for multi user membership. This will operate as follows:
11.1 Companies wishing to apply for multi user membership must contact us, giving us the name and contact details of the organisation, and the number of staff or members who will be using the Landlord Law service. All proposed members will need to complete our application form, which will be provided to you
11.2. Companies are accepted as multi user members at our discretion. Note that companies with several branches or offices will need to apply for a separate multi user membership for each branch or office.
11.3. If a company is accepted for multi user membership, they will be invoiced, the invoice sum to vary according to the number of proposed members. There will also be a setup fee. The multi-user membership will be set up and activated once the invoice has been paid.
11.4. One member must be nominated as the company lead member. This member will be our main contact, and therefore must be someone with authority in the organisation. There must be a company lead member at all times.
11.5. Other members will join as standard company members at a lower membership fee. The identity of the members can be changed, for example if staff leave or join the organisations, provided all new staff complete the application form and confirm that they agree to these membership terms and conditions.
11.6. Additional members can be added during the membership year provided the relevant membership fee has been paid in advance, and the new members complete the application form and agree to our terms and conditions.
11.7. All multi user companies will have their own company area on the site, where all company members will be listed along with their membership information. Only company members and the site administrators will have access to this area.
11.8. Multi user members will be invoiced annually and membership will be terminated if the membership fee is not paid within 14 days or the end of the membership period or the date of the invoice, whichever is the later.
11.9. If a company wishes to cancel its multi user membership this can only be done at our discretion (which will not be refused unreasonably).
Cancellations and refunds (not applicable to multi user members)
12. If after joining you decide that the service is not suitable for your needs, you can cancel your membership during the first fourteen days of your membership period by sending us a message via the internal mailing system or an email, telling us you want to cancel, and providing your membership number and information so we can identify you on our system. Your membership fee will be refunded in full within seven days (less any administration fee which may have been charged). You will also need to cancel the recurring fee if this has been set up. Note however that membership fees for returning members wishing to cancel will only be refunded at our discretion.
13. If you are signed up to renew your membership by making a recurring payment, this can be cancelled at any time via your profile in pay pal or via the cancel link you will find in your My Landlord Law area.
14. If you forget to cancel your recurring payment, you we will issue a full refund for that payment and cancel your membership if you contact us within seven days. You will also need to cancel the recurring fee.
15. You are not entitled to cancel your membership in any other circumstances, save at our discretion (but we will consider all applications to cancel and will not refuse to cancel unreasonably).
16. Landlord-Law will not be liable to refund all or part of your membership fee, other than in the circumstances described in this cancellation and refunds section or in the sections on legal case work and amendment of these terms and conditions, below.
Legal case work
17. Members will not be deemed to be clients of TJ Shepperson Solicitors unless and until after they have instructed TJ Shepperson to carry out legal services for them. If you instruct TJ Shepperson to carry out legal services offered on the Landlord Law site but TJ Shepperson (or any other solicitors who may be acting as agents for TJ Shepperson) are unable to act for you due to a conflict of interest or for any other reason, you will be entitled to a refund of one half of your membership fee.
Membership
18. Members will be provided with a user name and password to allow access to the Landlord Law Service. You agree to keep these confidential and not to allow any other person to use them to access the Landlord Law service, unless specifically authorised by us.
18. During your membership period you are entitled to use the Landlord Law service according to your membership type, and, if your membership allows you access to them, print out any of the documents and forms on the site for your own use, use our document generator software to generate tenancy agreements and download and play the audios and any other muliti media content on the site.
Termination of membership
19. Your membership and access to the site will be terminated automatically after one calendar month, or one year (depending on your membership period) unless you have paid our renewal fee. If you still wish to use the service after your membership has been terminated you will need to re-join as a new member.
20. When your membership is terminated you will no longer be able to access the saved documents in your My Documents section.
Membership fee increases
21. We reserve the right to change the membership fees from time to after giving you at least fourteen days notice. Any increased fee will only apply to you after your current membership period has expired. Any fee increase will not apply to special membership type provided to annual members who joined before 15 December 2010 and who have had a continuous membership since that time.
Data protection
22. You consent to our keeping and using personal information provided by you for our own purposes, for example for contacting you with details of information which we believe may be of interest to you, and for compiling statistics for our records. Save as set out below for the Landlord Law insurance scheme, we will not pass any information we hold about you to any organisation outside Landlord Law/TJ Shepperson Solicitors without your consent, unless we are obliged to do so by law. However, should you instruct us to do any legal work for you, you will thereby be authorising us to disclose any relevant information about you if this is required by or is a normal consequence of the work we are doing.
23. To facilitate the administration of the Landlord Law Insurance Scheme, we will provide member information to insurance brokers Alan Boswell & Co Ltd periodically so they can check the entitlement of members to participate in the Landlord Law Insurance Scheme. By joining as a member you consent to this disclosure. For the avoidance of doubt, Alan Boswell have specifically agreed that it is a condition of disclosure by us that they will only use this information for membership verification and for no other purpose
24. Under the Data Protection Act you may request details of personal information we hold about you. Please send any such requests to us at the address given above. We are entitled to charge an administration fee for this not exceeding £10.00 at our discretion. If you believe that any information we hold about you is incorrect or incomplete, please let us know and we will amend our records.
Access to the Landlord Law service
25. It is your responsibility to ensure that your computer equipment and software are capable of receiving and using the Landlord Law service. We cannot be responsible for any problems you may encounter using the system.
26. Due to the nature of interactive Internet services, we cannot guarantee that your use of the Landlord Law online service will be free from interruption or errors.
27. We will not be responsible for any failure to provide the Landlord Law service if this failure is due to 'force majeure'. This means events beyond the control of Landlord Law such as (but not limited to): war (declared or undeclared), acts of god, terrorism, earthquake, accident, explosion, fire, flood, civil commotion, abnormal weather conditions, acts of government or other agencies, industrial disputes, and non availability of material.
Liability
28. We will always try to ensure that all material on the Landlord Law site is as accurate and valid as we can make it. However you should note that the content of the Landlord Law site is for general information only and we cannot guarantee that the information and advice given will always apply to a specific situation, or that the documents and forms provided will always be the most suitable for your particular situation. The use you make of the information and services provided on site is your responsibility and we cannot accept liability for any problems resulting from your use of the Landlord Law service.
29. Likewise any comments made or guidance given on the Landlord Law forum or comments sections should not be taken to be a complete answer, as they can only be based on the information given by you in your post or comment, which may not contain all material facts. Any comments or suggestions provided by us or any other Landlord Law members should not therefore be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified lawyer regarding any actual legal issue or dispute.
Copyright
30. You acknowledge that the ownership and legal title and all intellectual property rights for all material on the Landlord Law site are either vested in us or are as described in the individual document or article.
31. You agree that you will not alter or remove from any Landlord Law material, any copyright information or Landlord-Law logo or any other identification or information regarding the authorship of any part of the Landlord Law service.
32. The information and files on the Landlord-Law site are for your personal use only. Reproduction and publication of any material on the Landlord-Law web-site to third parties can only be done with our permission. If permission is granted this will be on the basis that you acknowledge our authorship of the material concerned. For the avoidance of doubt, we confirm that this clause does not affect your right, while you remain a member, to use the forms on the site for their normal purposes, or to download and listen to the audios, provided your membership type allows you access.
Responsible use of our service
33. You agree that you will use the Landlord-Law service responsibly and in good faith, and that we may terminate your membership without notice if you do not. We would draw your attention in particular to the following situations which could result in your membership being terminated forthwith:
33.1. If your membership fee is not paid by your bank or credit card company
33.2. If you allow other unauthorised people to use your user-name and password to access and use the Landlord-Law service
33.3. If you copy or otherwise reproduce the material on-site for the use of non-members, particularly if you publish this for payment and/or if it results in misleading, derogatory or inaccurate representation of Landlord-Law material
33.4. If you post any defamatory or offensive material on the members' forums or comments sections
Contact with you
34. We will communicate with you via the Landlord Law messaging service or via email or (if we are unable to contact you via email) by post, at the addresses (including email addresses) provided to us by you. It is your responsibility to ensure that we are kept informed of any changes in your postal and email address.
Amendment of these terms and conditions
35. We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions from time to time, and you will be notified of any changes via the internal Landlord Law mail system and/or the Landlord Law Newsletter. You will bound by the new terms and conditions after you have been advised of any changes, unless you contact us within seven days of the date of the letter or email, requesting us to cancel your membership. You will then be entitled to a refund of a proportionate part of your membership fee. Note if we have specifically agreed with you a variation to these terms and conditions, then this variation will continue to apply to your membership after amendment of the standard terms and conditions.
Complaints
36. If you have any complaint about our service, please contact Tessa Shepperson via the Landlord Law internal mail system or by email at info@landlordlaw.co.uk. We will endeavour to respond to complaints within five working days.
General
37. You agree that these terms and conditions replace any previous terms and conditions which may have been agreed between us.
38. Your agreement with Landlord Law and these terms and conditions shall be subject to and governed by the law of England and Wales.
13 October 2011
