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1.1 We are Hamilton Oak Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 14725242, whose registered office and trading address is 21 Hanborough Road, Eynsham, Oxfordshire, OX29 4LS. In these terms, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Hamilton Oak Ltd.
1.2 You can contact us by email at info@hamiltonoak.uk. Email is our preferred method of contact for everything relating to your order.
1.3 We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZB708409.
1.4 We are a land sourcing and land appraisal business. We are not chartered surveyors, registered valuers, town planners, solicitors or regulated financial advisers, and we do not hold ourselves out as any of these.
2.1 These terms apply to every Report you order from us. They do not apply to any other service we provide.
2.2 These terms are in four parts. Part A applies to all Customers. Part B applies only if you are a Consumer. Part C applies only if you are a Business Customer. Part D contains general provisions that apply to all Customers. If anything in Part A or Part D conflicts with Part B, Part B prevails for Consumers.
2.3 You are a Consumer if you are an individual buying a Report wholly or mainly for purposes outside your trade, business, craft or profession. For example, a person buying a plot to build their own home will normally be a Consumer. You are a Business Customer if you buy for the purposes of your trade, business, craft or profession. This includes a developer, builder, investor, agent, auctioneer, broker, lender or adviser, and anyone buying land to develop for sale or to let. You must tell us on the Order Form which applies to you. If you are an individual and it is unclear, we will treat you as a Consumer.
2.4 By submitting an Order Form you confirm that you have read and agree to these terms.
2.5 We may update these terms from time to time. The version that applies to your order is the version referred to in your Order Confirmation.
In these terms the following words have these meanings:
4.1 Our brochures, sales documents, website and Price List are an invitation to order. They are not an offer.
4.2 When you submit an Order Form, you are offering to buy a Report on these terms.
4.3 The Contract is formed when we send you an Order Confirmation by email. The Order Confirmation will include or attach a copy of these terms.
4.4 We may decline an order for any lawful reason. For example, we may decline if the Site is outside the United Kingdom, if we have a conflict of interest, if we cannot identify the Site, or if we cannot complete any checks we are required by law to carry out. If we decline your order, we will tell you and refund any payment in full.
4.5 Payment is due in full in advance. We will not begin work before the Start Date.
4.6 If you are an individual, you confirm that you are at least 18 years old.
4.7 Please check your Order Confirmation carefully. If any details are wrong, especially the identification of the Site, tell us straight away.
5.1 We will prepare a Report on the Site of the type you have ordered, as described in the Product Description, and deliver it to you under clause 8.
5.2 We will provide the service with reasonable care and skill.
5.3 Official Copies. We will obtain the Official Copies for the Site and supply them with the Report, unless you supply them to us under clause 5.4. If we find, before we begin work, that the Site is wholly or mainly unregistered land, we will tell you. You may then either cancel for a full refund or ask us to continue, in which case no Official Copies will be supplied for the unregistered land.
5.4 If you already hold Official Copies for the Site, you may send them to us with your Intake Form. We will use them if they appear complete and to relate to the Site, whatever their date, unless we consider that a more recent copy is needed, in which case we will obtain one. Otherwise we may obtain our own. Supplying your own Official Copies does not change the Price unless we agree otherwise in writing. By sending them to us, you confirm that you are entitled to share them with us.
5.5 Official Copies are supplied exactly as issued by the relevant registry. We do not alter them, we do not provide a legal report on title, and we are not responsible for their contents. Your solicitor should review the title before you commit to the Site.
5.6 Clarification. During the Clarification Period you may send us one set of written questions by email about the content of the Report. We will answer in writing, normally within five Working Days. Clarification explains what the Report says. It does not include new research, updated data, analysis of any other site, or advice of any kind. Our answers form part of the Report and are subject to these terms. Clarification is an ancillary part of the service. It does not delay Delivery or the point at which the service has been fully performed.
5.7 The service does not include telephone or video calls, meetings, site visits or inspections, negotiation on your behalf, updates after the Data Date, ongoing support, or anything not described in the Product Description.
5.8 Other services. A Report may mention other services we offer, such as land sourcing or sales price guidance, or services offered by third parties. These are not part of the Contract. Any such service is provided only under separate written terms. A mention in a Report is information only and is not an offer.
5.9 Our role. In preparing a Report we act solely as a provider of information to you. We do not act as agent for you or for any seller, buyer or other party, and preparing a Report does not involve us introducing you to any other party.
6.1 The Report is information only. It is a desktop review of published data and documents about the Site, current at the Data Date, together with our commentary on what that information shows. Its purpose is to help you decide whether to investigate the Site further and which questions to ask. It is not expert advice, and it does not reach a final conclusion on the Site.
6.2 The Report is not, and must not be treated as:
(a) a valuation, or any opinion of the market value, price or worth of the Site or any other property;
(b) planning advice or a planning opinion, or a prediction of whether planning permission or any other consent will be granted;
(c) a survey, an inspection or an assessment of physical condition;
(d) legal advice, a report on title, or a substitute for your solicitor’s searches and enquiries;
(e) investment, financial, tax or lending advice;
(f) an environmental, ecological, flood risk, arboricultural, heritage, highways, drainage, utilities, ground condition or contamination assessment;
(g) a recommendation to buy, bid for, sell, develop or not proceed with the Site; or
(h) a substitute for your own professional due diligence.
6.3 The Report does not contain a land value, an offer or bid figure, a residual valuation, a profit figure or a prediction of any planning outcome. Any summary ratings in the Report indicate in simple terms what the data shows at the Data Date. They are not a judgement on whether the Site is suitable for you.
6.4 A Development Intelligence Report includes indicative figures, such as evidenced sales rates, indicative scheme capacity and policy cost inputs, drawn from the sources stated in it. These are inputs for your own appraisal. They are indicative only, are not a valuation, and must be checked by your own advisers before you rely on them.
6.5 No site inspection is carried out unless the Report expressly states otherwise.
6.6 You must obtain your own independent professional advice before you commit to buy, bid for, exchange contracts on or spend significant money on the Site. Depending on the Site, this may include advice from a solicitor, a chartered surveyor or valuer, a planning consultant and other specialists.
7.1 The Report is compiled partly from Third-Party Data. We select and review Third-Party Data with reasonable care, but we do not independently verify it unless the Report expressly says so.
7.2 Third-Party Data may contain errors or omissions, or may be out of date, in ways we could not reasonably detect. We are not responsible for such errors, except to the extent that a loss is caused by our failure to use reasonable care and skill in selecting, reviewing or presenting that data.
7.3 The Report reflects the position at the Data Date. Planning policy, planning decisions, designations, market conditions and other matters change over time. We have no obligation to update the Report after Delivery.
7.4 Some Third-Party Data is supplied to us under licence by commercial data providers. We are not required to identify our data providers. You must not extract or reproduce that data except as permitted by clause 12.
7.5 We rely on the information you give us, including in the Intake Form. We are not responsible for any error in the Report caused by information from you being inaccurate or incomplete.
8.1 We will deliver the Report, with the Official Copies, as PDF documents by email to the address on the Order Form. The Report is Delivered when we send it. Please check your spam folder, and tell us if you have not received it.
8.2 Standard Service. We aim to deliver the Report within five Working Days after the Start Date. This is an estimate. Occasionally it may take longer, for example where data or documents from third parties are delayed. If we expect a delay, we will tell you.
8.3 Priority Service. If you order and pay for the Priority Service and we accept it in the Order Confirmation, we aim to deliver the Report within 48 hours after the Start Date, not counting weekends or public holidays in England. The Priority Service is subject to our availability, and we may decline it before the Contract is formed.
8.4 If we do not deliver a Report ordered with the Priority Service within the period in clause 8.3, you may ask us by email, within 14 days after Delivery, to refund the Priority Service fee. We will refund it within 14 days of your request. This does not apply where the delay was caused by you or by an event under clause D3. For Business Customers, this refund is the only remedy for missing the priority period.
8.5 If we have not delivered the Report within 20 Working Days after the Start Date, you may cancel the Contract by email at any time before Delivery, and we will refund the Price in full. This does not apply where the delay was caused by you or by an event under clause D3.
8.6 If you do not provide information we reasonably need, or provide it late, the delivery timescales are extended accordingly.
9.1 The Price is the price in our Price List at the time you order, as stated in the Order Confirmation. Once confirmed, the Price will not change for that order.
9.2 We may change our prices, or introduce, vary or withdraw launch or promotional prices, at any time. Changes do not affect orders we have already confirmed.
9.3 We are not currently registered for VAT, so no VAT is charged. If we become registered for VAT, our Price List will state whether VAT applies. Prices shown to Consumers will always include any VAT.
9.4 The Price includes the cost of the Official Copies and one round of clarification under clause 5.6. No other charges are payable unless you agree to them in writing.
9.5 You must pay using the method stated in the Order Form or payment request. We do not accept cash.
9.6 Any refund will be made using the method you used to pay, unless we agree otherwise with you.
10.1 You must:
(a) complete the Intake Form fully and accurately;
(b) identify the Site correctly, including by providing a plan if we ask for one;
(c) tell us promptly if any information you have given us changes or is wrong; and
(d) give us any other information we reasonably ask for.
10.2 If the Site you identified is wrong, or you ask for a report on a different site after we have started work, a report on the correct or different site is a new order. If we identified the Site wrongly despite correct information from you, we will correct the Report at no charge.
10.3 You are responsible for your own decisions about the Site, and for obtaining the professional advice referred to in clause 6.6.
10.4 You must not use the Report for any unlawful purpose.
11.1 The Report is prepared solely for you and solely for the Permitted Purpose in relation to the Site.
11.2 No one other than you may rely on the Report. We owe no duty of care, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, to any other person. This includes any lender, funder, investor, business partner, co-purchaser not named on the Order Form, seller, buyer, bidder, agent or adviser.
11.3 You may show the Report to your own professional advisers, and to any genuine prospective lender, funder or co-purchaser, solely to help you evaluate the Site, provided you tell them that they may not rely on it.
11.4 Any other person may rely on the Report only if a director of Hamilton Oak Ltd has agreed to this in a separate signed reliance letter. We may charge a fee and set terms for any reliance letter.
11.5 The Report is based on information current at the Data Date. You should not rely on it for any decision made more than three months after the Data Date without checking whether anything has changed.
11.6 A reliance statement to the same effect appears in every Report.
12.1 We, or our licensors, own all intellectual property rights in the Report. This does not include the Official Copies or other Third-Party Data owned by others.
12.2 Once you have paid in full, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free licence to use the Report for the Permitted Purpose and to share it as permitted by clause 11.3 and, for a Vendor-Commissioned Report, clause 13.3.
12.3 You must not, without our prior written consent:
(a) sell, resell, license or give away the Report or any part of it;
(b) publish the Report, post it online, or include it in sales particulars, marketing material, an auction legal pack or a data room;
(c) copy, extract or reuse any data or content from the Report to create a database or any other report or product;
(d) alter or edit the Report, or remove our name, the reliance statement or any other notice from it; or
(e) present the Report as your own work, or as independent verification of any matter.
12.4 The Official Copies supplied with the Report are issued by HM Land Registry and remain subject to its conditions of use and to Crown copyright. You may keep them, use them in connection with the Site, and pass them to your advisers, your lender and other parties involved in a transaction relating to the Site, in accordance with those conditions. You must not alter them, and you must not present them as anything other than official copies issued by HM Land Registry on the date shown on them.
12.5 We may use anonymised material from the Report, from which neither you nor the Site can reasonably be identified, for training, quality control and as sample or marketing material. We will not publish the Site address or your identity without your consent.
13.1 Orders on behalf of others. Where a Business Customer, such as an agent, auctioneer, finance broker or adviser, orders a Report for a client, the Business Customer is the Customer. It is responsible for payment and for complying with these terms, and it must give its client a copy of the reliance statement. The client may rely on the Report only if it is named on the Order Form as a joint Customer, or under a reliance letter under clause 11.4.
13.2 Vendor-Commissioned Reports. A Vendor-Commissioned Report is a Report ordered by or for a seller of the Site, including through the seller’s agent or an auction house, to make available to prospective buyers or bidders. The Order Form must state that the Report is to be a Vendor-Commissioned Report. If it does not, clause 12.3(b) applies in full.
13.3 For a Vendor-Commissioned Report:
(a) the Customer may make the complete, unaltered Report available to prospective buyers and bidders, including in the sales particulars or auction legal pack, for information only;
(b) prospective buyers and bidders may not rely on the Report, and must make their own enquiries and take their own advice;
(c) the Report is prepared from published data. It is not a statement or representation by the seller about the Site, and it must not be described as one, or as replies to enquiries, or as independent verification of any matter;
(d) the Customer must include our vendor-commissioned notice with the Report, and must withdraw the Report from circulation if we ask on reasonable grounds, for example if we identify an error; and
(e) a buyer or successful bidder may ask us for a reliance letter under clause 11.4.
13.4 We do not act for the seller or for any buyer in any sale for which a Vendor-Commissioned Report is prepared. We take no part in marketing the Site, negotiating or introducing parties.
13.5 White-label and co-branded Reports are available only under a separate written agreement.
14.1 We will keep your Intake Form, the fact of your order and the Report confidential, except that we may disclose them:
(a) to our staff, contractors, insurers and professional advisers who need to know and who are bound by duties of confidentiality;
(b) where required by law, by a regulator or supervisory authority, or by a court;
(c) to data providers, only so far as necessary to prepare the Report, for example by entering the Site address into a data platform; and
(d) with your consent.
14.2 You must keep the Report confidential, except as permitted by clauses 11, 12 and 13.
15.1 We are the controller of the personal data you give us. Our privacy policy, at https://hamiltonoak.uk/privacy-policy/, explains how we use it.
15.2 We use your personal data to perform the Contract, to comply with our legal obligations, and for our legitimate interests in running and protecting our business, including keeping records so that we can deal with queries, complaints and claims.
15.3 We keep order records, Intake Forms, Reports and working papers for six years after Delivery and then delete them securely, unless a longer period is required by law or by an ongoing matter.
15.4 We will send you marketing emails only if you have separately opted in when ordering or on the Intake Form. Opting in is never a condition of buying a Report. You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by emailing us.
15.5 You have rights over your personal data, including the right to access it and to ask us to correct it. You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with how we use it.
This Part applies only if you are a Consumer.
B1.1 We are under a legal duty to supply the Report in conformity with the Contract. Nothing in these terms affects your legal rights. For detailed information about your rights, you can contact Citizens Advice.
B1.2 We must perform the service with reasonable care and skill. If we do not, you can ask us to put it right, for example by correcting or re-doing the affected part of the Report, at no cost to you. If we cannot do so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you, you may be entitled to a price reduction, which may be up to the full Price.
B2.1 You have the right to cancel the Contract within 14 days, without giving a reason. The cancellation period ends 14 days after the day the Contract is formed, which is the date of the Order Confirmation.
B2.2 We begin work straight away. We start preparing your Report as soon as we have your payment and your Intake Form, normally within one working day. Because that is within the cancellation period, you are asked to confirm, when you order, that this is what you want. Your confirmation is given by agreeing to this statement: “I ask Hamilton Oak to begin work on my Report straight away, and I understand that I will lose my right to cancel once the Report has been delivered to me.” We will not begin work until we have that confirmation.
B2.3 Once the Report has been Delivered, the service has been fully performed and your right to cancel comes to an end.
B2.4 If you cancel after we have begun work but before Delivery, you must pay for the service we have provided up to the time you tell us you are cancelling, and we will refund the rest. So that this is clear and predictable, we apply the following scale, which reflects the proportion of the work done at each stage:
Stage reached |
Refund Level |
|
We have not yet begun work |
Full refund |
|
We have obtained the Official Copies and the site data, but have not begun drafting |
70% of the Price, and we will send you the Official Copies we obtained |
|
We have begun drafting the Report |
25% of the Price, and we will send you the Official Copies we obtained |
|
The Report has been Delivered |
No right to cancel (clause B2.3) |
B2.5 If you cancel before Delivery, any Priority Service fee you have paid is refunded in full.
B2.6 The clarification round under clause 5.6 is an ancillary part of the service. The service is fully performed on Delivery, and the Clarification Period does not extend the cancellation period.
B2.7 How to cancel. To cancel, email info@hamiltonoak.uk as soon as possible, quoting your order reference, with a clear statement that you wish to cancel. There is no form to complete. It is enough that you send your cancellation before the cancellation period ends. Please tell us promptly, because the refund due depends on how much work has been done when we receive your email.
B2.8 We will make any refund due to you within 14 days after the day we are told of your cancellation, using the same payment method you used, unless you expressly agree otherwise. You will not pay any fee for the refund.
B3.1 If we fail to comply with these terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking the Contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it is obvious that it will happen, or if, at the time the Contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen.
B3.2 The Report is for the Permitted Purpose for your own private use. If you use it for any business purpose, including developing land for sale or letting, we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption or loss of business opportunity.
B3.3 The scope of the Report is limited as described in clause 6. We are not responsible for matters outside that scope, for example the physical condition of the Site, the terms of the title, or whether planning permission will be granted, which the Report tells you to check with your own advisers. This does not limit our responsibility for failing to use reasonable care and skill in preparing the content the Report does contain.
B3.4 Subject to clause B3.5, our total liability to you arising under or in connection with the Contract is limited to the Price you paid.
B3.5 We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and for breach of your legal rights in relation to the service, including your right to a price reduction of up to the full Price.
B4.1 Our complaints procedure is in clause D1. If you remain unhappy after our final response, clause D1.4 explains alternative dispute resolution.
B4.2 You may bring legal proceedings in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland; if you live in Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland.
This Part applies only if you are a Business Customer. Please read it carefully, because it limits our liability to you.
C1.1 You have no right to cancel the Contract once it has been formed, except under clause 8.5 or clause D3, or where we agree in writing. If we agree to cancellation before Delivery, we may deduct from any refund the costs we have incurred and a charge that is in proportion to the work we have done.
C2.1 We will perform the service with reasonable care and skill. Except as expressly set out in these terms, all warranties, conditions and other terms implied by statute or common law are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
C3.1 Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.
C4.1 Subject to clause C3, we will not be liable to you, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, misrepresentation or otherwise, for any:
(a) loss of profit, revenue or anticipated savings;
(b) loss of business, contracts or opportunity;
(c) loss of goodwill or damage to reputation;
(d) loss arising from the price paid for the Site, from any offer or bid made for it, or from any decision to buy, bid for, fund, lend on, invest in or develop the Site, or not to do so;
(e) reduction in the value of any land or property;
(f) wasted expenditure; or
(g) indirect or consequential loss.
C5.1 Subject to clause C3, our total liability to you arising under or in connection with the Contract, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, misrepresentation, restitution or otherwise, is limited to the Price paid for the Report concerned.
C6.1 You may not bring any claim against us unless you notify us in writing of the claim, with reasonable details, within 12 months after Delivery, and you begin legal proceedings within two years after Delivery.
C7.1 You acknowledge that:
(a) the Report is a low-cost desktop information product prepared partly from Third-Party Data;
(b) the Price reflects the allocation of risk set out in this Part C;
(c) you are able to obtain, and are expected to obtain, your own professional advice and your own insurance; and
(d) you had the opportunity to review these terms before ordering.
C8.1 You will indemnify us against all losses, claims and reasonable legal costs arising from any claim by a third party that results from your breach of clause 11, 12 or 13.
C9.1 The Contract is the entire agreement between you and us about its subject matter. You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise or representation that is not set out in the Contract. Nothing in this clause limits liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
C10.1 The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with the Contract, including non-contractual disputes or claims.
D1.1 If you are unhappy with our service, please email info@hamiltonoak.uk with “Complaint” in the subject line, your order reference and details of your concern.
D1.2 We will acknowledge your complaint within five Working Days and aim to send you a full written response within 20 Working Days. If your complaint needs longer to investigate, we will tell you why and when to expect our response, which will in any event be within eight weeks of receiving your complaint.
D1.3 Our response will be issued by a director of Hamilton Oak Ltd.
D1.4 If you are a Consumer and you remain unhappy after our final response, our final response will tell you whether we are willing to use an alternative dispute resolution provider to resolve the matter and, if so, which one. Using our complaints procedure does not affect your right to take the matter to court.
D2.1 We may transfer our rights and obligations under the Contract to another organisation. We will tell you in writing if this happens. If you are a Consumer and you are unhappy with the transfer, you may end the Contract and receive a refund for any part of the service not yet provided.
D2.2 You may not transfer your rights or obligations under the Contract without our written consent.
D3.1 We are not responsible for delay or failure in performing the Contract caused by events outside our reasonable control. These include the failure or unavailability of data providers, public registries or planning portals, failure of IT systems or communications, serious illness, extreme weather and similar events.
D3.2 If such an event happens, we will tell you as soon as reasonably possible. If it delays Delivery by more than 20 Working Days, either you or we may cancel the Contract by email, and we will refund the Price for any part of the service not yet provided.
D4.1 Notices under the Contract must be in writing and may be sent by email: to us at info@hamiltonoak.uk, and to you at the email address on the Order Form. An email is treated as received when sent if sent before 5pm on a Working Day, and otherwise at 9am on the next Working Day.
D5.1 No change to the Contract is effective unless it is agreed in writing, which includes email, by you and by a director of Hamilton Oak Ltd.
D6.1 Each clause of these terms operates separately. If any court or authority decides that any clause, or part of a clause, is unlawful or unenforceable, the remaining clauses and parts remain in full force.
D7.1 If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do, or we delay taking action against you, that does not mean you do not have to do it, and it does not prevent us from taking action later.
D8.1 No person other than you and us has any right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of the Contract.
D9.1 The Contract is made in English, and all communications about it will be in English.
D10.1 The Contract, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with it, including non-contractual disputes or claims, is governed by the law of England and Wales. Jurisdiction is dealt with in clause B4.2 for Consumers and clause C10.1 for Business Customers. If you are a Consumer, this does not deprive you of any mandatory protection given to you by the law of the place where you live.
D11.1 Clauses 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, Part B clause B3, Part C clauses C3 to C10 and this Part D continue to apply after the Contract ends.
Prices are set out in our Price List and are not part of this Schedule.
A written desktop information report on a single site in the United Kingdom, which normally covers:
Everything in a Site Intelligence Report, together with:
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