Chester law Firm

Our pricing for licensing applications in relation to businesses

Our range of charges for:

• applications for a new premises licence under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003; and
• applications to vary a premises licence under Section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003.

are set out below and are based on current hourly rates:

• Simple application to vary a premises licence: £650 (exclusive of VAT)
• Medium complexity application to vary a premises licence: £800 (exclusive of VAT)
• High complexity application to vary a premises licence or an application for a new premises licence: £1000 (exclusive of VAT).

VAT is currently 20%.

Factors that could make a case more complex:

• whether there is a cumulative impact policy in place;
• the type and size of the premises;
• whether it is in a residential area;
• it relates to large scale public events;
• there are objections to the application;
• there are unforeseen complexities or where the way in which you ask us to proceed means additional work.

Disbursements 

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the application fee. The fee levels will depend on the type of application and the rateable value of the property.

We will pay the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Application fee (payable to licensing authority): these will range from £89 (for minor variations) to £1,905 depending on the fee band of the premises. If your premises do not have a rateable value it will fall into the lowest fee band. Also, where the capacity of the venue (i.e. number in attendance at any one time) is over 5000, there will be an additional fee on a sliding scale from 5000 capacity up to 90,000 and over (further details of which can be found on the relevant local authority’s website).

Advertising fee: usually £250 to £350 (depending on the newspaper used).

Enquiry agent fees to display public notices: varies depending on the agent used

Special delivery fee to serve the application (if applicable): varies depending on size and weight of envelope.

Printing additional copies of plans if necessary: varies depending on the size and number of copies

These fees will vary depending on the individual premises and where it is located. The fees can on occasion be higher than the ranges we have given above. We will give you an accurate figure for each item as soon as we are able to do so.

The work we will undertake

The fees set out above cover all of the work set out below:

• taking your instructions;
• advising you as to how you can promote the licensing objectives within your application;
• advising you as the type of plans you are required to submit with your application;
• completing the application form for a new premises licence (including the operating schedule) in accordance with your instructions and submitting this to the local licensing authority alongside suitable plans. You must provide suitable plans;
• providing guidance on the fee levels payable to the licensing authority;
• preparing copies of the premises licence application for disclosure to the responsible authorities and serving copies of the application on the responsible authorities;
• drafting the notices advertising the premises licence application and submitting the notice to the local newspaper;
• arranging with you for you to display the notice(s) advertising the premises licence application and advising as to where and how this should be done by you in order to comply with the requirements of the Licensing Act 2003;
• providing a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) consent form for signature by a personal licence holder proposed by yourself; and
• checking the licence once granted and correcting any errors with the licensing authority.

The fee does not include:

• obtaining suitable plans;
• attending pre-consultation meetings with the Licensing Authority or Responsible Authorities, nor their fee for this meeting;
• dealing with or advising you in relation to queries or representations received from either the responsible authorities or other interested parties;
• advising on varying the licence; or
• attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee hearing of the responsible authority. If representations are received and attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee is required then we will provide a separate fee estimate for this work which will be charged at an hourly rate.

How long will my application take? 

Application for new premises licence 

Applications for premises licences will be submitted to the licensing authority in which the premises are located. Copies must be sent to a number of responsible bodies and the application must be advertised in the local press and on the premises for a statutory period of time.

There is a 28 day consultation period for a premises licence application. If objections are during that period, the application will be considered by a licensing sub-committee of the local authority which will decide the matter having heard evidence from all parties.

Application to vary a premises licence 

This will depend on the type of variation being applied for:

• A full variation will be required if the proposed changes may negatively impact on the licensing objectives. The process is similar to a new premises licence application and will involve a 28 day consultation period and a press advert.
• A minor variation application may be made in limited circumstances – the process is simplified but will still require a 10 working day consultation period (no press advert required). If the licensing authority considers that the minor variation may adversely impact on the licensing objectives the application may be refused and there is no right of appeal against that decision. The application must then be resubmitted as a full variation application and further fees and disbursements will be payable.

The time estimates above are given on the basis of the application being relatively straightforward and you being able to provide all the necessary documents promptly. If your matter is more complex, for example, if there is substantial opposition from interested parties, or if there is a delay in receiving the documents we need, it may take longer.

Our pricing for bringing and defending claims for unfair or wrongful dismissal

For those clients on a retainer, any tribunal work is carried out on a fixed fee basis, dependant on the complexity of the case. These fees will be discussed with the retained clients in advance of instructions.

For clients wishing to instruct on an individual case basis:

• For a simple UD claim: £500 to £8000 (excluding VAT)
• Medium complexity claim: up to £12,500 (excluding VAT)
• Complex claim: up to £25,000 (excluding VAT)

VAT is currently 20%.

Factors that could make a case more complex:

• If it is necessary to make or defend applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim
• Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person
• Making or defending a costs application
• Complex preliminary issues such as whether the claimant is disabled (if this is not agreed by the parties)
• The number of witnesses and documents
• If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim e.g. if you are dismissed after blowing the whistle on your employer
• Allegations of discrimination which are linked to the dismissal

There will be an additional charge for attending a Tribunal Hearing. We generally assist you in instructing a Barrister (‘Counsel’) to represent you as this is more cost-effective. Counsel’s fees will form part of a separate costs quotation (see Disbursements below). If we represent you at a Tribunal Hearing this will based on a fee of £1,500 (excluding VAT) for a one day hearing.

Disbursements

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as medical reports and Counsel fees. Where it becomes apparent that advice and/or representation should be sought from legal counsel, we will let you know and will obtain an estimate of those fees on your behalf (if requested to do so). There is no standardised rate that Counsel will charge and Counsel’s fees will be dependant on the complexity of the case, length of hearing and the seniority of Counsel. Counsel’s fees are typically, on average, around £1,500 (excluding VAT) per day for representation and between £700 to £1,500 (excluding VAT) for advice/opinions from Counsel. In each case, we handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Key stages

The fees set out above cover all of the work in relation to the following key stages of a claim:

• taking your initial instructions, reviewing the papers and advising you on merits and likely compensation (this is likely to be revisited throughout the matter and subject to change);
• entering into pre-claim conciliation to explore whether a settlement can be reached;
• preparing the claim or response;
• reviewing and advising on the claim or response from other party;
• exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process;
• preparing or considering a schedule of loss;
• preparing for (and attending) a Preliminary Hearing;
• exchanging documents with the other party and agreeing a bundle of documents;
• taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses;
• preparing bundle of documents;
• reviewing and advising on the other party’s witness statements;
• agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list; and
• preparation and attendance at any Preliminary or Final Hearings, including drafting and sending instructions to Counsel.

The stages set out above are an indication and if some of stages above are not required, the fee will be reduced. You may wish to handle the claim yourself and only seek our advice in relation to some of the stages. This can also be arranged on your individual needs.

Funding

For Claimant’s, some home insurance policies include Legal Expenses Insurance which may cover you in the event of a claim.

For Respondent’s, some business insurance policies include insurance which may cover legal expenses and/or compensation in the event of a claim.

How long will my matter take?

The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved and the timetable set by the Employment Tribunal. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 4 – 6 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a Final Hearing, your case is likely to take 32 weeks. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

Expertise 

Our team has over ten years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to employment law.

Our pricing for debt recovery – for businesses (undisputed debts of up to £100,000)

The below sets out the step-by-step process for collecting debts, including where a claim is issued at Court, where the claim is subject to the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales only.

If you require advice and information on insolvency please contact our Commercial Litigation Department.

The below is not intended to constitute legal advice.

The charges detailed below apply to each step and will accumulate depending on the number of steps taken.

Fees will be payable as each step is completed.

Pre-action correspondence

Our standard costs in preparing and sending a Letter Before Action (LBA) based upon undisputed outstanding invoices are £125.00 (exclusive of VAT). In addition, and as a matter of course, we carry out initial debtor enquiries which may include (but are not limited to) land registry searches at a cost of £3.00 per search (which does not attract VAT).

VAT is currently 20%

We will endeavour to get a letter sent out to the debtor on the next working day after instructions are received.

Pre-action correspondence sent to an individual (including sole traders) will fall within the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims and a response will be requested from the debtor within 30 days.

Pre-action correspondence sent to other debtors (e.g. partnerships and / or limited companies) will usually request a response from the debtor within 7 days.

Letters to debtors who are carrying on a business will seek payment of either contractual or statutory interest and statutory late payment compensation. In the event that the compensation is paid at this stage, we will take as our fee the full late payment compensation recovered from the debtor plus VAT on the same which will be payable by you (as VAT is not claimable from the debtor) and not charge our standard fee referred to above.

At this stage, if a response is received disputing the debt our fees to review the matter and thereafter advise you will be outside of this fixed fee arrangement and payable at the applicable hourly rate (**).

Issuing a Claim

If no dispute is raised and / or no payment is received and you ask us to issue a claim for recovery of the debt, the following costs will usually apply.

N.B. Interest and compensation may take the debt into a higher banding, with a higher cost.

We will endeavour to get the claim drafted and filed at Court on the next working day after instructions are received.

The claim will then be issued by the Court and we will advise you once the notice of issue has been received. We are unable to provide a timescale for the Court processing the claim.

The debtor has 14 days to respond to the claim once it has been issued and served by the Court. If the debtor files an acknowledgment of service within these 14 days, they will have a further 14 days to file and serve a defence.

With regards to debtors who are carrying on a business, in the event that the debtor pays the entire claimed amount following the issuing of proceedings, we will take as our fee whichever is the greater between:

• the sum of the full late payment compensation and the fixed costs referred to above (which will have been paid by the debtor) plus VAT on the same which will be payable by you (as VAT is not claimable from the debtor); or
• our standard fee referred to above.

If following the issue of your claim, the other party files and serves a defence, our fees will be outside of this fixed fee arrangement and any further advice will be payable at the applicable hourly rate (**).

Entry of Judgment

If the debtor does not respond or defend the claim we will notify you on the due date of the relevant step and request instructions to seek judgment (CCJ). If you ask us to apply to the court to enter judgment on your behalf, the following costs will usually apply.

We will endeavour to draft the relevant documentation and file it at Court on the next working day after instructions are received.

The Court will normally then provide a sealed judgment for enforcement. We are unable to provide a timescale for the Court processing the request for judgment.

Enforcement

We will endeavour to write to the debtor demanding payment of the judgment within 7 days, the next working day after receiving the judgment. We will not charge a fee for this letter.

With regards to debtors who are carrying on a business, in the event that the debtor pays the judgment sum following the demand for payment, we will take as our fee whichever is the greater between:

• the sum of the full late payment compensation and the fixed costs referred to above (which will have been paid by the debtor) plus VAT on the same which will be payable by you (as VAT is not claimable from the debtor); or
• our standard fees referred to above regarding issuing the claim and requesting judgment.

If the judgment is not paid, we will then provide advice and take your instructions on enforcement action.

There are various methods of enforcement the appropriateness of which will vary dependent upon the information you hold on the debtor and the circumstances of the debtor.

Indicative fees, where enforcement is required, are as follows:

Debt under £600.00 – Fee for County Court bailiff £110.00 and our hourly rates will apply (**).

Debt over £600.00 – Fee for High Court Enforcement Officer (“HCEO”) £66.00 and our hourly rates will apply (**). If the HCEO is unable to recover the debt, they will raise an additional abortive fee of £75.00 plus VAT. If the HCEO does recover the debt, its fees (including the £66.00 referred to above) will be recovered from and paid by the debtor.

Charging Order – if the debtor owns property solely or jointly and we are instructed to seek a charging order against that property our hourly rates will apply (**) together with the Court fee of £110.00, land registry search fee £3.00, land registry fee for registering charge £42.00.

Attachment of Earnings Order – our hourly rates will apply (**) together with the Court fee of £110.00.

Third Party Debt Order – our hourly rates will apply (**) together with the Court fee of £100.00.

Order for Questioning – our hourly rates will apply (**) together with the Court fees of £55.00 for issue and £110.00 for the bailiff to personally serve the Order.

Our expertise

Our Litigation and Dispute Resolution team is headed by Richard Moose. Richard was called to the Bar in 1999 and has a broad experience in civil and commercial litigation and dispute resolution, acting on behalf of clients in respect of contract disputes, professional negligence, partnership disputes and claims relating to land with a particular interest in shareholder and company disputes. Richard’s current hourly rate is £295 plus VAT.

Lindsey Jenkins is an Associate Solicitor in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution department. Lindsey qualified in 2016 but benefits from an additional four years’ experience in a legal context working at city firms. Lindsey’s current hourly rate is £250 plus VAT.

Rachel Shone is an Associate Solicitor in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution department. Rachel qualified in 2015 but benefits from an additional six years’ experience in a legal context as a paralegal with national and international law firms. Rachel’s current hourly rate is £250 plus VAT.

Chloe Murphy is a solicitor in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution department. Chloe qualified in 2023 and her current hourly rate is £185 plus VAT.

Our pricing for residential property transactions

We do not want you to have any unwanted surprises during the course of your transaction so we will give you an estimate of likely costs and disbursements before you decide to instruct us.

Broadly speaking, we will agree a fixed fee with you but if your matter is more complex or it is difficult to know what will be involved, we may agree an hourly rate with you.

We know that every transaction is unique, so we will keep you informed if we identify any additional work which will need to be done in order to successfully conclude your matter.

Who will act for me?

We will ensure that your transaction is dealt with by an appropriately experienced and qualified member of the conveyancing team.

You can find out more about our Residential Conveyancing team here.  We have expertise in all areas, so you can be confident that you are always in safe hands. Regardless of who is acting on your behalf, they will be supervised by Jason Thomas, who is a partner at the firm and the Head of our Residential Property department.

Our pricing on different types of residential property transactions can be found here:

Costs involved with the sale of a freehold property

Costs involved with the sale of a leasehold property

Costs involved with the purchase of a freehold property

Costs involved with the purchase of a leasehold property

Costs involved in the remortgage of a freehold property

Our pricing for applying for a Grant of Probate

The costs of applying for a Grant of Probate can vary considerably depending on a number of factors including the value and composition of the estate, the complexity of any Will, the number and location of beneficiaries and whether there are any contentious issues.  All costs shown below are exclusive of VAT which will be charged at the applicable rate in force at the time.  Currently that is 20%.

By way of indication only, our charges for applying for a Grant of Probate and administering an estate are likely to be within the following ranges :

• Simple Case: We anticipate that this will take between 4 – 10 hours work to obtain the grant of probate at the relevant fee-earners’ standard rates of £195 / £270 (plus VAT) per hour.
• Medium Complexity Case: We anticipate that this will take between 11 – 25 hours work to obtain the grant of probate at £195 / £270 (plus VAT) per hour.
• High Complexity Case: We anticipate that this will take between 25 – 50 hours work to obtain the grant of probate at £195 / £270 (plus VAT) per hour.

These examples are for guidance only and the exact costs will vary depending on the nature and extent of work required.  For example, if there is only one beneficiary and a small number of assets then the cost is likely to be at the lower end of the range.  If there are multiple beneficiaries, a complex Will and numerous assets of differing types then the cost will be at the higher end.

Some of the factors which could make an application for a Grant of Probate more complicated, and so more time consuming and expensive, are:

• a large portfolio of shareholdings;
• multiple properties;
• there is an inheritance tax liability;
• there are income tax or capital gains tax issues to consider;
• advice in relation to trusts is required;
• there is a requirement to correspond with third parties;
• there are disputes between executors or beneficiaries;
• there are claims against the estate;
• a deed of variation is required;
• there is an overseas asset or other foreign element.

In addition to our hourly rates, we may also charge a fee based on the overall value of the estate.  This is known as a “value element” and varies depending on whether or not partners in this firm act as executors.

Where one or more partners act as executors then the value element will typically be:

• 5% of the gross value of the estate excluding the deceased’s residence (plus VAT); and
• 75% of the gross value of the deceased’s residence (plus VAT).

Where we do not act as executors then the value element will typically be :

• 1% of the gross value of the estate excluding the deceased’s residence (plus VAT); and
• 5% of the gross value of the deceased’s residence (plus VAT).

For large estates, in excess of £1m, the percentage charged on the gross estate will reduce as follows (plus VAT in all cases) :

• 1 ½% of the first £1 million (plus VAT)
• ½% of the next £1 – £4 million
• 1/16% of the next £4 to £8 million
• 1/12% of the next £8 to £12 million
• 1/24% of anything in excess of £12 million

Expenses (also called Disbursements) 

In addition to our charges, a number of other expenses may be incurred in making your application.  We will be able to provide full details in each individual case but in general these will include :

Probate Court Application Fee                           £273

Additional copies of the Grant of Probate           £1.50 each

Bankruptcy searches                                         £2 per beneficiary

Statutory Advertisements for creditors               £275 plus VAT

How long will it take? 

The application process can take considerable time.

There is a legal concept called the Executors’ Year which provides a minimum timescale of 12 months from death in which the executors should deal with the estate administration.  However, large and/or complex estates can take longer than this.

It would not be unusual for the process of obtaining details of the estate in order to prepare an application for a Grant of Probate to take at least 3 months.

Once the application is submitted the Probate registry will typically take up to a further 16 weeks to process the application.  If Inheritance Tax is payable then a further month is likely to be required in order to pay any tax and obtain confirmation of receipt from HMRC.

Once the Grant of Probate has been issued, a further 3 – 6 months might be required in order to collect in the deceased’s assets, pay any liabilities, prepare accounts and effect distributions.

What work will we do?

We will:

• provide you with a dedicated and experienced solicitor or probate practitioner to work on your matter;
• identify the legally appointed executors or administrators and beneficiaries;
• accurately identify the type of probate application you will require;
• obtain the relevant documents required to make the application;
• complete the probate application and the relevant HMRC forms;
• draft a legal statement oath for you to complete; and
• make the application to the Probate Court on your behalf.

Work undertaken after obtaining the Grant of Probate

Our costs estimate above does not include any further work once the Grant of Probate has been obtained. If you instruct us to deal with collecting in and distributing the assets we will provide you with a further estimate of costs. This costs estimate will be based on the hourly rate of the applicable fee earner.

We can provide you with a time estimate for collection or transfer of the assets and distribution to the beneficiaries.

The merits of each case will be different and the estimate of costs will be tailored to each individual case.

What is not included? 

Our costs for applying for the Grant of Probate and/or administering an estate do not include any costs associated with the sale of the deceased’s residential or other property.

Should such work be required then we will be able to provide you with a separate estimate for the conveyancing work required.

The above costs are indicative for a non-contentious matter.  Should the Will or estate administration become contested in any way then we will need to provide you with a separate estimate for the additional work required.