We aim to offer our Clients quality legal advice with a personal service at a fair cost.  We hope it is helpful to you to set out in this statement the basis on which we will provide our professional services.

Our Commitment to You

We will:

• REPRESENT your interests and keep your business confidential
• EXPLAIN to you the legal work which may be required and the prospects of a successful outcome
• MAKE SURE that you understand the likely degree of financial risk which you will be taking on
• ADVISE YOU if legal aid might be available to you
• KEEP YOU regularly informed of progress or, if there is none, when you are next likely to hear from us
• TRY to avoid using technical legal language when writing to you  – tell us when we fail in this aim!
• DEAL with your queries promptly, for example, we will always try to return your telephone calls on the same day.

Our Hours of Business

• The normal hours of opening at our offices are between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. on weekdays. However, home visits and appointments at other times can be arranged if necessary.

People Responsible for Your Work

• This firm is a partnership.
• Mr. T Creed is a Solicitor and the Senior Partner of the firm, specialising in Property Law.
• Mrs D. Brough is a Solicitor and Partner specialising in Private Client Law.
• If you need to speak to Mr T. Creed or Mrs D. Brough, please telephone our offices on 01429 273165 and ask to speak to them. If they are unavailable, their Secretary may be able to deal with your enquiries and would be pleased to take a message for you. We will try to avoid changing the people who handle your work, but if this cannot be avoided, we will tell you promptly of any change and why if may be necessary.
• The Partner of this firm with final responsibility for work done is Mr T. Creed (Property Law) and Mrs D. Brough (Private Client Law).

Communication & Complaints

Our aim is to offer all our Clients an efficient and effective service at all times. We hope that you will be pleased with the work we do for you. However, should there be any aspect of our services with which you are unhappy, please raise your concern in the first instance with the person responsible for your work.  If that does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction or you would prefer not to speak to him/her then pleases contact the firm’s Client Care Partner who is Mr T Creed at 32A Victoria Road, Hartlepool, TS26 8DD. 

We value your instructions and would not wish to think you have any reason to be unhappy with us.  It is therefore important that you immediately raise any concerns you may have as outlined above.  In the unlikely event that we are unable to resolve matters with you, we shall provide you with a copy of our complaints procedure which details how we handle complaints. This is available at 32A Victoria Road, Hartlepool TS26 8DD. 

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.  You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

Accessibility policy

We are committed to making our website as accessible as possible for all our website visitors. If you have any questions regarding the accessibility of this site, please contact us.

Cookie policy

A cookie is a small file that can be placed on your device that allows us to recognise and remember you. It is sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive or tablet or mobile device.

When you visit our site, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology. We use cookies to provide the best possible user experience as well as to track site use and behaviour in order to continue to enhance our website and its content.

We use Google Analytics to collect anonymous data to help us understand how our website is used. We also use cookies to bring to your attention relevant content across social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. No personal information is stored and data is used for historical purposes to enable us to make improvements to the website.

Data Protection & Privacy Policy

• Our firm is R Bell & Son (also trading as Kirkup Lascelles and Creed) and our head office is at 32A Victoria Road, Hartlepool, TS26 8DD.
• Our data protection officer is the senior partner of this firm Mr T. Creed or in his absence in cases of emergency the firm’s other partner Mrs D. Brough.
• We process personal data to assist you in the work we undertake for you under the contract we have with you i.e. to fulfil your work in accordance with your requirements.
• We will store your name, address and contact telephone numbers as a matter of routine. In addition, we may ask you for other information, depending upon the nature of the work we are conducting for you, such as your date of birth or National Insurance number etc.  It may be that further information will be required in relation to your family where you retain us in work involving members of your family etc eg matrimonial or probate work.
• Some of your data may be shared by us with other organisations such as HM Land Registry, the Ministry of Justice, HM Revenue and Customs, the National Crime Agency, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and any other regulatory or statutory body which has a right to receive information. Some of the information may be shared with other firms of solicitors to enable to us to carry out the work under the contract we have with you to your requirements.
• We retain paper files for a minimum period of six years (see above) but your personal data may be kept in a digital form and retained for a longer period. In some cases, some data (such as probate files) are kept indefinitely and that will almost certainly be the case as regards your name, address and contact telephone numbers.
• You have the right to request access to rectification or erasure of data held by us, including the right to object to and request the restriction of processing and transmission or portability of data processing subject to overriding statutory requirements imposed upon us (eg HM Land Registry, HM Revenue and Customs, National Crime Agency and police as regards anti-money laundering regulations and anti-terrorism regulations etc).
• You have the right to complain to the supervisory authority which in this country is the Information Commissioners Office.
• We do not use your personal data for any purposes other than the purposes of this firm carrying out its activities on your behalf or to comply with Government regulations or other laws. We do not use it for marketing purposes.
• In short, we hold your personal data to perform the contract we have with you, comply with legal obligations imposed upon us by outside agencies such as the Government, and the public interest or exercise of official authority as mentioned above.

Fraud prevention guidance for clients

Terms & conditions

Click here to view a full copy of website Terms & Conditions.