Terms

1. Who we are

Mortgage Capacity Opinion is a trading name of Jonathon Mark Turner, trading as a sole trader. Our address for service of documents and place of business is 30 Great Underbank, Stockport, SK1 1NB, United Kingdom. You can contact us at jon@mortgagecapacityopinion.co.uk.

In these terms, “we” and “us” means Mortgage Capacity Opinion; “you” means the person or firm using this website or contacting us.

2. What we do, and what we do not do

We prepare an impartial written opinion on the level of mortgage borrowing a party may in principle be able to raise, for use in family law proceedings.

Mortgage Capacity Opinion is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not provide regulated mortgage advice. We do not recommend mortgage products or individual lenders, arrange mortgages, submit mortgage applications, obtain decisions or agreements in principle, or introduce the subject of a report to a broker or lender as part of our service.

Mortgage Capacity Opinion assesses potential borrowing capacity by reference to lending criteria and affordability methodologies across the mortgage market. Individual lenders and mortgage products are not identified or recommended. This maintains a clear distinction between an assessment of mortgage capacity and regulated mortgage advice.

A capacity figure is a professional assessment and opinion. It is not a mortgage offer, not a decision or agreement in principle, not a guarantee that any lender will lend, not a property valuation and not legal advice. No lender is bound by it.

3. This website

The content of this website is general information about our service and about how borrowing capacity is assessed and used in family proceedings. It is not advice, and it is not a substitute for taking advice on a particular case.

Nothing on this website is an offer capable of acceptance, and submitting the enquiry form does not create a contract or oblige either of us to proceed.

We take reasonable care over the accuracy of the content, but lending criteria and court practice change. Where a page refers to a rule or a practice direction, read the rule itself before relying on it.

Copyright in this website and in our reports belongs to us. You may print or save pages for your own professional use.

4. How an instruction is accepted

The enquiry form and our email address are a route to a conversation. When you contact us we will confirm in writing the scope, the fee, the evidence we need and how it should be sent to us securely.

An instruction is accepted only when we have confirmed those matters in writing and you have confirmed that you wish to proceed. Until then, no contract exists and no work is carried out.

The terms of that engagement — including scope, timescales, payment and the extent of our liability — are set out in that written confirmation. They are not on this page, because they depend on the instruction.

We may decline an instruction, and will do so where we would have a conflict of interest, where the questions asked fall outside our competence, or where the timescale requested cannot be met properly.

5. Fees

Our published fees are £295 for a standard single-party report and £495 for a joint report covering both parties. Where the court has given permission for expert evidence, or we are proposed as a single joint expert, the fee is agreed in writing for the scope before work begins. See our fees page.

There is no surcharge for turnaround. Where work would materially exceed the scope quoted, we tell you before doing it and agree any additional fee in writing first.

We are not registered for VAT and no VAT is charged on our fees.

No payment is taken through this website.

6. Documents and evidence

Please do not send financial evidence through this website. The enquiry form is for contact and instruction details only. Once an instruction is confirmed we will send a single itemised evidence request and agree a secure method of delivery with you.

7. Use of a report

A report is prepared for the instructing party or parties, for use in the proceedings identified in the instruction. It may be filed at court and disclosed to the other party and the court in those proceedings.

It may not be relied on by a lender, by any third party, or for any other transaction or purpose, and we accept no responsibility to anyone who does so.

A report reflects lending criteria and market conditions at the date of the analysis, and should not be relied on more than six months after that date without being brought up to date.

8. Expert appointments

Where the court gives permission for expert evidence on borrowing capacity, including on a single joint expert appointment, the report is prepared in accordance with Practice Direction 25B. In that event our duty to the court overrides any duty to the party instructing or paying us, and these terms are read subject to that duty and to any order of the court.

9. Liability

We do not exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

Subject to that, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, for loss of profit, or for the outcome of any negotiation or proceedings. The extent of our liability in relation to a particular instruction is set out in the written confirmation for that instruction.

We accept no liability for reliance on the general information on this website.

10. Confidentiality and personal data

We keep enquiries and any material supplied to us confidential, save as required to provide the service, as described in our privacy notice, or as required by law or the court.

11. Complaints

Our complaints procedure explains how to raise a concern. The Financial Ombudsman Service is not available in respect of our work, and it is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

12. Law and jurisdiction

Contracts are governed by the law of England and Wales and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

13. Changes

We may update this page. The terms that apply to an instruction are those confirmed in writing when that instruction is accepted.