Important:

If you have approached us directly for insurance or we are dealing with you direct then please read this document; however if you are dealing with us through your own Insurance Broker or Financial Adviser, please disregard this document and refer to the Initial Disclosure Document and/or Terms of Business provided by them.

Status:

Berkeley Alexander Ltd, Temple House, 25-26 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2SD, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. You can check this on the FSA's Register by visiting the website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting the FSA on 0845 606 1234. Our permitted activities include arranging insurance cover; dealing as agent and assisting with the administration and performance of policies – all in connection with general insurance.

Service:

Please be aware that we will not provide advice or recommendations. You are responsible for deciding if a policy meets your insurance requirements. We will however ask questions to narrow down the selection of products applicable to you and provide you with details about the product and cover. You will then need to make your own choice about how to proceed.

Insurance:

Which insurance companies do we use? This depends on how you have bought (or are going to buy) your policy. If you have bought your insurance using one of our direct to consumer internet sites, then we will not have selected insurers from a "fair analysis" of the market. Instead, we will have offered quotations and cover from a single provider, as follows;

- For residential buy to let insurance, we only offer products from Great Lakes Reinsurance UK PLC

- For domestic Home buildings &/or contents insurance, we only offer products from Great Lakes Reinsurance UK PLC

- For home legal expenses & identity theft insurance, we only offer products from Lawshield

If you have bought (or are intending to buy) your policy from us using any other method, again we do not select insurers from a "fair analysis" of the market. Instead, we will usually provide you with information from a limited number of selected insurance companies. On request, we will give you a list of those insurers available to us. However,

- For commercial legal expenses insurance, we only offer products from DAS

- For motor legal expenses insurance, we only offer products from Countrywide Assistance

- For home legal expenses & identity theft insurance, we only offer products from Lawshield

Please note that irrespective of how you access our products, we are not under a contractual obligation to select and recommend products in this way.

Your Duty of Disclosure:

Your insurance is based upon the information provided to the insurance company and you must ensure that all such information is complete and accurate, and that any facts that may influence the insurer's decision to accept and pay a valid claim are disclosed. Failure to disclose material information may invalidate your insurance cover and could mean that part or all of a claim may not be paid.

Data Protection:

All personal information about you will be treated as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer), except where the disclosure is made at your request, with your consent, in relation to administering your insurance or where law requires us.

As part of the FSA's duties, we may be asked to provide them with access to our customer records in order that they may carry out a review of our activities. Some or all of the information you supply to us in connection with your insurance proposal will be held on computer and may be passed to other insurance companies for underwriting and claims purposes.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have a right of access to see personal information about you that is held in our records, whether electronically or manually. If you have any queries, please write to the Managing Director at the above address.

Payment of Premiums:

Our premium payment terms are specified as follows:

For new policies, immediate payment of premiums must be made on or before the inception date of the policy. For mid-term alterations to existing policies, immediate payment is required on the effective date of the change. On a renewal of an existing policy payment of the full premium is required on or before the renewal date of the policy unless we receive your instructions to lapse the policy before the renewal date. If we do not hear from you prior to the renewal date, we will assume that the renewal is not required and cover will cease from the original renewal date.

For your protection, any premiums received by us will be deemed to have been received by the insurer under risk transfer arrangements.

However, if you pay your premium by Direct Debit and we do not hear from you, we have the right (but not an obligation) to assume cover is still required and instruct renewal of your policy, in which case monthly payments will continue to be taken.

Fees:

The quotation we provide for you will include the cost of each insurance product we are offering. In addition to the premiums charged by the insurers, we make a charge of up to and including £25 for consumer and £30 for commercial customers to cover the administration of your insurance in the following circumstances:

- Issue, alteration or renewal of policy documentation

- Replacement/duplication of lost documentation

- Cancellation of a policy prior to the renewal date

- Return from the bank of unpaid cheques

Please note that this administration fee is separate to any charge that you may incur from your insurance company. If you wish to pay your premium by credit card, we make a charge of 4% of the total premium. There is no charge for debit cards. If you have not taken out an Uninsured Loss Recovery Insurance and request we recover uninsured losses on your behalf, we will make a charge by negotiation. Where any other fee or charge is payable, you will be advised before you commit to the service. We offer the use of credit facilities to our clients to help with their premiums. The companies we use to supply this service provide us with an enhanced rate of commission for using their credit facilities. In addition, some insurers offer us enhanced commission terms.

Commercial Clients:

If you deal with us as a commercial client, you may at anytime, including at each renewal, request information on the amount of commission that we receive for dealing with your policy. We may also earn a "profit-share", management or other payments from insurers. We are unable to disclose to you exactly how much your policy contributed to any "profit-share" payment we might receive. Ordinarily, it is a small proportion of the commission. We may earn fees on other activities including arranging premium financing. Interest received on monies held on your behalf will be retained by us.

Changing your Mind:

If you are a Consumer (i.e. you have purchased insurance for purposes outside your trade, business or profession) you may cancel your policy within the first 14 days, or 30 days for a protection policy, without incurring a charge, over and above the £25 administration fee. Please see your insurers documentation for a full description of your rights.

Complaints and Compensation:

It is our intention to provide a high level of service at all times. If, however, you have reason to make a complaint about our service you should contact the Managing Director in the first instance either by telephone – 0845 355 1166 or in writing - Berkeley Alexander Ltd, Temple House, 25-26 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2SD. You may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Further information is available from the FOS at: http://www.fos.org.uk/

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the first £2,000 and 90% of the remainder of the claim, without any upper limit. For compulsory classes of insurance, insurance advising and arranging is covered for 100% of the claim, without any upper limit. Further information about compensation scheme arrangements is available from the FSCS at: http://www.fscs.org.uk/

Law to be Applied:

The parties are free to choose the law applicable to a contract of insurance. Unless specifically agreed to the contrary, all contracts arranged through our Agency are subject to the Law of England and Wales.

Berkeley Alexander Limited

Temple House, 25 - 26 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2SD
Telephone: 0845 355 1166 Fax: 0845 355 1167 info@baonline.co.uk