Terms & conditions

1. Definitions

These definitions apply wherever they appear on Countrywide’s Website:

Account Administrator: an Authorised User in Your Firm who administers Your Firm’s Monthly Account and accesses the account administration area within Countrywide’s Website

Authorised Users/You: Any Solicitor, Legal Executive, Licensed Conveyancer or individual acting under the supervision of a Solicitor, working on behalf of a firm authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), or registered (or in the process of being registered) as an ancillary insurance intermediary, to undertake insurance distribution business.

Countrywide/We/Our/Us: Countrywide Legal Indemnities Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm Reference Number 311764

Countrywide’s Website: A website provided by Countrywide for use by Authorised Users, including Elite

Elite: the quote engine within Countrywide’s Website for use by Authorised Users

Firm Administrator: an Authorised User in Your Firm who administers contact and office details for Your Firm on Countrywide’s Website

Legal Indemnities: A range of UK property related insurances underwritten by Countrywide on behalf of the Insurer

Monthly Account: an accounts administration procedure agreed by Countrywide, for Your Firm to pay for all Policies, upon receipt of a Monthly Statement

Monthly Statement: A statement generated by Countrywide and sent to You/Your Firm each month, detailing Policies ordered by You/Your Firm from Countrywide, and where the premium is due

Mortgagee: Any bank, building society or other similar lending institution

Policy: any policy issued by Countrywide for Legal Indemnities, following a Quotation provided

Quotation: any quotation for Legal Indemnities issued by Countrywide, either via Elite or when uploaded by Us to Countrywide’s Website

UK Law: The Law of England and Wales or Scotland or Northern Ireland

Insurer: Liberty Legal Indemnities, underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE, under the Binding Authority Contract Number RNMFP2203842 (and any subsequent contract number following renewal thereof)

You/Your Firm: refers to the professional firm or Authorised User whose details have been supplied when registering with Countrywide’s Website

These definitions apply wherever they appear on Countrywide’s Website.

2. Permission

In registering and using Countrywide’s Website you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions at all times.

We hereby give permission to any Authorised User to use Countrywide’s Website to:

  • obtain Quotations
  • view Quotations provided
  • communicate with Us on individual Quotations, including sending Us electronic messages, uploading documentation and information relevant to any individual Quotation
  • request revised Quotations, to reflect any change of circumstances for an individual Quotation
  • request Us to issue new, valid Quotations following expiry of any original Quotation
  • refer enquiries for Legal Indemnities to Countrywide
  • order Policies
  • arrange payment of premium for any individual Policy ordered

and, in addition:

where you are a Firm Administrator, to add and/or amend contact details for You/Your Firm

or where you are an Account Administrator, to arrange payment for Monthly Statements received in respect of your Monthly Account

In using Countrywide’s Website, you are acting on your client's behalf and not as our agent. You have no authority to:

  1. issue any document or make any commitment on Our behalf, other than for Quotations, Policies and Monthly Statements issued by Us
  2. reproduce Countrywide’s Website, or any part of it
  3. modify translate or adapt Countrywide’s Website, or its documentation in any manner
  4. reproduce logos or devices other than on documentation produced by Countrywide’s Website.

3. Regulatory

It is the Authorised User’s responsibility to ensure that:

  1. When obtaining a Quotation, communicating with Us on individual Quotations and ordering a Policy:
    1. You and all parties in the transaction take care to answer all questions fully and accurately.
    2. For a commercial concern, You and all parties in the transaction provide Us with a fair presentation of the risk. The presentation should be clear and accessible, disclosing all material circumstances which are known or ought to be known by conducting a reasonable search of information available, including sufficient information to put Us on notice that We need to make further enquiries in order to reveal any material circumstances. A matter is material if it would influence Our acceptance of the risk proposed, including the terms applied and premium charged. You should ensure that facts presented are substantially correct and made in good faith. If You are unsure whether a matter is material, it should be disclosed.
  2. the Quotation, including the cover outlined in the Policy, is appropriate for your client's demands and needs
  3. the correct risk details are provided for any Policy ordered by You from Countrywide’s Website
  4. the ultimate policyholder (including any interested Mortgagee) for each Policy is fully informed and aware of the content of the Policy before conclusion of the contract, including the policy summary and the Policy’s terms and conditions, specifically any applied warranties or exclusions and the application of UK Law.

4. Payment

You/Your Firm are responsible for payment of all insurance premiums (including Insurance Premium Tax payable) for Policies purchased through Countrywide’s Website and, if you have a Monthly Account, for all Policies included on Your Firm’s Monthly Statement.

Premiums may be co-mingled prior to transmission to Countrywide either: -

  1. in a client statutory or non-statutory trust account established and operated in accordance with the CASS rules, with other client money or other insurers’ money or
  2. in a non-regulated insurer trust account with other insurers’ money.

The following is dependent on whether You/Your Firm:

  1. pays for each individual Policy ordered from Countrywide’s Website, or
  2. has been provided with a Monthly Account facility for all Policies ordered from Countrywide.

a. Individual policy

Payment should be made either electronically (by Faster Payment or CHAPS) direct into our bank account, or by cheque. Payment should be sent to CLI within 10 working days of the date of ordering the Policy from Countrywide’s Website. Full details on how to pay are included on the documentation for each Quotation.

b. Monthly Account

A Monthly Statement will be emailed to You/Your Firm by Countrywide at the end of each month, detailing Policies ordered and where the premium is due.

Payment should be sent to Countrywide for the premium stated on each Monthly Statement within 14 days of the end of the previous month. In ordinary circumstances, payment should be for all Policies ordered during the previous month. For example - payment for all Policies ordered during June, should be sent to Countrywide on or before the 14 July. Any extraordinary circumstances delaying payment should be brought to the attention of Countrywide at the earliest opportunity.

Your most recent Monthly Statement detailing Policies ordered and the premium due (including Insurance Premium Tax), can be accessed by Your Firm’s Accounts Administrator, via the ‘Accounts Administration’ area of Countrywide’s Website. Payment should be made electronically (by Faster Payment or CHAPS) direct into Countrywide’s bank account, or by cheque. Full details on how to pay are included on each Monthly Statement.

In the event that the insurance premium for any Policy ordered is not paid in full within 30 days of the due date as detailed in 4(a) and 4(b) above, we reserve the right to cancel the insurance

5. Risk Transfer

We acknowledge and agree that, where You are receiving, holding and paying money, You do so as the agent of and on behalf of Us and the Insurer, in accordance with the Risk Transfer Agreement, provided that:

  1. such permission is only in respect of Legal Indemnities
  2. such permission to act on behalf of the Insurer with regard to money does not override Your duty to place the interests of Your Client before all other considerations, or override any legal or regulatory requirements (whether obligatory or advisory) which may apply to You or Us
  3. You act as the agent of Your Client except in relation to the handling of such money on behalf of the Insurer
  4. You do not delegate such permission to any other person and/or entity
  5. payment of any monies held by You is only to or from Us and in accordance with the instructions of Countrywide or the Insurer.

6. General

  1. We reserve the right to amend, suspend, withdraw or cancel Countrywide’s Website facility at any time
  2. We reserve the right to request further information from any ‘Authorised User’ for auditing purposes
  3. Due to the nature of the channels of representation, ‘in-house’ solicitors are unable to issue policies using Countrywide’s Website. If you are an ‘in-house’ solicitor and would like to arrange a Legal Indemnity policy, please call us on 01603 617617 where one of our underwriters will be happy to help
  4. You are responsible for using adequate security measures to prevent unauthorised access to Countrywide’s Website and shall notify us promptly if you become aware of such access. You will protect us against any loss caused by unauthorised use of Countrywide’s Website by Your Firm
  5. We reserve the right to amend these conditions at any time. Notification of any changes will be by email so that you can confirm whether or not you agree to the current Terms and Conditions before further using Countrywide’s Website
  6. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by UK Law
  7. Countrywide’s Website allows others from Your Firm to register, using some of the contact details added by a previous registrant. To enable this, we will display a limited amount of Your Firm’s details during the registration process
  8. By continuing to use this website, you agree to the use of cookies.

7. Complaints

If you have any enquiries or complaints about Countrywide’s website, please contact:

The Underwriting Manager, Countrywide Legal Indemnities, 3 St James Court, Whitefriars, Norwich, NR3 1RJ

Telephone 01603 617617

If you wish to register a complaint you can also email us at complaints@cli.co.uk

On receipt of a complaint, we will send you a copy of our full complaints procedure (which can also be viewed by clicking on Complaints). If you cannot settle your complaint with us, you may be entitled to refer to the Financial Ombudsman Service.