All to often we receive enquiries from clients who ask for a quotation for a service because someone, possibly an agent or their solicitor has told them they need one. In many situations we find that the client may not actually know or understand what they are asking for but are simply following up on the advise they received.
We pride ourselves in ensuring we deliver the services our clients need and take time to make sure we understand our clients position and advise them of what they actually need. We have no desire to sell a client a service just because they ask us for it when we know it is not what they require or will not be of value to them. Clients do not appreciate receiving a bill for a service they instructed that they subsequently realise they did not need.
We recently received an enquiry from a client looking to take a sub-lease of a office suite from the existing tenant and who was told by the agents dealing with the transaction that they needed a schedule of condition prepared on the office. The agents had provided a quote to prepare a schedule of condition and the client approached us for an alternative price. We sought to understand the purpose of the schedule of condition which, as we had expected, we were told was to limit their future end of lease dilapidation’s liabilities. This was understood but further questioning relating to those potential liabilities uncovered the fact that the terms of the proposed sub-lease included that the client was liable for a percentage of the dilapidation’s claim made on the tenant from the freeholder of the building at the end of the head lease. We highlighted the fact that if they were agreeing to pay a percentage of a claim made on the tenant, then that would potentially negate the benefit or value of a schedule of condition as it would not have a bearing on the cost that they would liable for. Although we may have advised our client out of giving us an instruction there is no desire to prepare a schedule of condition that we could not see may not be of benefit to our client. Our client was very appreciative of our honesty and advice and went to discuss this further with their solicitor.
Providing our clients with clear information and guidance is critical for them to understand which services they actually need whilst ensuring we deliver the correct and appropriate professional advice. We are always happy to discuss clients instructions to ensure the high quality service we deliver is one which our clients need, expect and deserve.
