1989 Ed.]
Legal Practitioners
[CAP. 159
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PART VI
REMUNERATION OF SOLICITORS
Non-contentious Business
56. Agreement for remuneration for
non-contentious business
(1) Whether or not any rules made under section 74 are in force, a solicitor and his client may, either before or after or in the course of the transaction of any non-contentious business by the solicitor, make an agreement as to the remuneration of the solicitor in respect thereof.
(2) The agreement may provide for the remuneration of the solicitor by a gross sum, or by commission or percentage or by salary, or otherwise, and it may be made on the terms that the amount of the remuneration therein stipulated for either shall or shall not include all or any disbursements made by the solicitor in respect of searches, plans, travelling, stamps, fees or other matters.
(3) The agreement shall be in writing and signed by the person to be bound thereby or his agent in that behalf.
(4) The agreement may be sued and recovered on or set aside in the like manner and on the like grounds as an agreement not relating to the remuneration of a solicitor:
Provided that if on any taxation of costs the agreement is relied on by the solicitor and objected to by the client as unfair or unreasonable, the taxing officer may inquire into the facts and certify them to the Court, and if on that certificate it appears just to the Court that the agreement should be cancelled, or the amount payable thereunder reduced, the Court may order the agreement to be cancelled, or the amount payable thereunder to be reduced, and may give such consequential directions as it thinks fit.
57. Remuneration of a solicitor who is a mortgagee
[cf. 1957 c. 27 s. 57 U.K.]
(1) If a mortgage is made to a solicitor, either alone or jointly with any other person, he, or the firm of which he is a member, shall be entitled to recover from the mortgagor in respect of all business transacted and acts done by him or them in negotiating the loan, deducing and investigating the title to the property, and preparing and completing the mortgage, such usual costs as he or they would have been entitled to receive if the mortgage had been made to a person who was not a solicitor and that person had retained and employed him or them to transact that business and do those acts.
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