Terms of Business for Intermediaries

Effective from 31/07/2023

These Terms of Business set out the conditions under which Family Building Society and National Counties Building Society (the ‘Society’) accept mortgage applications from you, a mortgage intermediary (‘Intermediary’). When submitting each Application to us you accept and agree to these Terms of Business.

1. INTERPRETATION

1.1 In these Terms of Business, the following definitions shall apply:

‘Applicable Regulations’: means all laws, regulations, orders and directions from Regulators and industry codes of practice applicable to the sale, marketing or variation of mortgages and related products in force in the United Kingdom from time to time, including but not limited to FSMA, the FCA Handbook, the PRA Rulebook, the Data Protection Laws, the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the Terrorism Act 2000, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Bribery Act 2010, the Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the Criminal Finances Act 2017;

‘Applicant(s)’: means a person or persons applying for any Mortgage Product, product transfer, further advance or mortgage related service offered by the Society;

‘Application(s)’: means an application for a Mortgage Product, product transfer, further advance or mortgage related service which has been completed by or on behalf of the Applicant and sent to the Society either by yourself or otherwise for assessing and processing in accordance with these Terms of Business;

‘Appointed Representative’: means a person who has a contract with a FCA or a PRA authorised person (the ‘Principal’) which permits the Appointed Representative to carry on Regulated Activities for which the Principal has accepted responsibility and has permission to carry on;

‘Cross Selling’: means selling a different product or service to an existing customer;

‘Complaint(s)’: has the same meaning given to it as noted within the FCA Handbook;

Data Protection Laws: means all laws in force in the United Kingdom from time to time relating to data protection, the processing of personal data and privacy, including:

(a) the Data Protection Act 2018;

(b) the UK GDPR; and

‘Directly Authorised Intermediary’: means a person who is directly authorised by the FCA (and the PRA, if applicable) and holds the Permissions required under the Applicable Regulations in order to submit Applications to the Society;

‘ESIS’: has the same meaning given to it as within the FCA Handbook;

‘FCA’: means the Financial Conduct Authority and any successor thereto;

‘FCA Handbook’: means the FCA’s handbook of rules and guidance made pursuant to FSMA;

‘FSMA’: means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;

‘Illustration’: has the same meaning given to it as within the FCA Handbook;

‘Intermediary’: means any person who submits an Application to the Society either (1) as a Directly Authorised Intermediary or (2) as an Appointed Representative from whom the Society accept Applications;

‘MCOB’: means the Mortgages and Home Finance: Conduct of Business sourcebook contained within the FCA Handbook;

‘Mortgage Hub’: means any online platform provided by the Society for submission of Applications by the Intermediary;

‘Mortgage Product(s)’: means a regulated mortgage contract, which has the same meaning as given to it within the FCA Handbook, offered by the Society;

‘Panel’: means any Intermediary who is registered on the Society’s panel for the purposes of submitting Applications on behalf of Applicants;

‘Permissions’: means authorisations, permissions, licences or consents required by Applicable Regulations, including but not limited to permission to carry on Regulated Activities under FSMA;

‘Personal Data’: has the same meaning as set out in the Data Protection Laws in force at the time;

‘PRA’: means the Prudential Regulation Authority and any successor thereto;

‘PRA Rulebook’: means the PRA’s rulebook of guidance and rules;

‘Regulated Activities’: has the same meaning given to it as within the FCA Handbook;

‘Regulator’: means the FCA or the PRA or any other authority or Regulator of activities carried on by you or the Society;

‘Society’: means Family Building Society (a trading name of National Counties Building Society) and / or National Counties Building Society and all references to Society in these Terms of Business shall be construed accordingly;

‘Terms of Use’: means the terms and conditions which govern access to and use of the Mortgage Hub as are applicable from time to time;

UK GDPR’: has the meaning given to it in section 3(10) (as supplemented by section 205(4)) of the Data Protection Act 2018;

‘you’, ‘your’ or ‘yourself’ means the Intemediary; and

‘us’, ‘our’ or ‘we’ means the Society.

1.2 A ‘person’ includes a natural person, corporate or unincorporated body (whether or not having separate legal personality) and that person’s personal representatives, successors and permitted assigns.

1.3 A reference to a statute or statutory provision shall include all subordinate legislation made from time to time under that statute or statutory provision.

1.4 A reference to ‘writing’ or ‘written’ includes fax and email.

1.5 Any words following the terms ‘including’, ‘include’, ‘in particular’ and ‘for example’ or any similar expression shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words, description, phrase or term preceding those terms.

2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INTERMEDIARY AND THE SOCIETY

2.1 When you introduce an Applicant to us, you agree to:

(i) in accordance with all Applicable Regulations and recommendations of any Regulator, professional body or trade association, carry out your activities in accordance with good industry practice in good faith and so as not to prejudice our reputation or cause us to breach any Applicable Regulations;

(ii) use all reasonable skill, care and efficiency of a diligent provider of services of a similar nature and in accordance with normal good industry practices and standards;

(iii) obtain any consents that may be required from the Applicant in order for you and us to perform our mutual obligations pursuant to these Terms of Business;

(iv) use appropriately skilled, competent, efficient, experienced and sufficient numbers of persons, whether they be employees, contractors or otherwise and at all times procure that such persons act in accordance with all Applicable Regulations; and

(v) only use up to date information and literature, application forms or any other relevant information provided by us, either electronically, in paper format, via our website or otherwise.

2.2 When you introduce Applicants to us, you are not appointed as or acting as our agent. You do not have the authority to make representations, agreements or promises to anyone on our behalf or act on our behalf in any other way other than in your capacity as an Intermediary. You must ensure the Applicant is made aware of this.

2.3 You consent to our Privacy Policy and to us completing all necessary checks to validate your suitability as a person who may submit Applications to us, whether you are acting as an Intermediary or otherwise. This includes, but is not limited to, direct contact with your employer and / or principal company, credit references and any Regulator or other professional bodies.

3. INTEMEDIARY'S OBLIGATIONS

3.1 With regard to any Application submitted to us, you undertake and agree that you will comply with clause 3 at all times:

3.2 Disclosure of Information

As part of the process of submitting Applications, you must disclose to the Applicant and to the Society certain information, as follows:

(i) provide the Applicant(s) with our “How We Use Personal Information” document (as updated from time to time before submitting the Application to us;

(ii) where applicable, make full disclosure in writing and orally to Applicants of the fact and amount of any procuration or other fee you will receive in respect of the Application;

(iii) provide the Applicant with Mortgage Product information and literature, application forms or any other relevant information provided by us and ensure that such information shall comply with the financial promotion rules contained within the FCA Handbook and any other requirement we notify you of from time to time;

(iv) verify the Applicant’s identity in accordance with all Applicable Regulations and ensure that the Application has been fully and properly completed; and

(v) with the Applicant’s consent, disclose to us any additional or special needs or circumstances, or support required applicable to the Applicant of which you are aware.

3.3 Mortgage Product

(i) You will ensure that your choice of lender, products and services is unbiased and in the best interests of the Applicant based on the information that is provided to you.

(ii) You will ensure that you understand the Mortgage Products from the information provided by us to enable you to:

(a) understand the characteristics of the Mortgage Products and understand the identified target market

(b) consider the needs, characteristics and objectives of any Applicant with characteristics of vulnerability

(d) ensure the Mortgage Products will be distributed in accordance with the needs, characteristics and objectives of the intended target market.

(iii) Where relevant, you must request additional information or clarification from us if you have any queries relating to a Mortgage Product and refrain from distributing a Mortgage Product if you do not understand it sufficiently.

3.4 Distributor Arrangements

(i) The parties acknowledge that for the purposes of PRIN 2A and Principle 12 of the FCA Handbook and the Finalised Guidance 22/5 for firms on the Consumer Duty, you are the distributor and we are the manufacturer.

(ii) You will ensure that your distribution strategy, and where relevant, the distribution strategy of any third parties appointed by you, in relation to a Mortgage Product is appropriate for the intended target market and upon request provide details of the distribution arrangements to us. The distribution arrangements must be consistent with the intended distribution strategy and the identified target market that we have notified to you.

(iii) Your distribution arrangements must:

(a) avoid causing and, where that is not practical, mitigate foreseeable harm to Applicants

(b) support management of conflicts of interest

3.5 Keeping the Society informed

(i) You will notify us immediately if you become aware of any errors or inaccuracies in respect of the Application or if you suspect any fraudulent activity or identify any harm on the part of the Applicant.

(ii) Where appropriate, you must inform us and other relevant parties in the distribution chain if you take any remedial action following a review of your distribution arrangements.

(iii) You will also promptly notify us and other relevant parties in the distribution chain if you identify an actual or potential issue giving rise to actual or potential consumer harm in relation to the Mortgage Product(s) including communication produced by another party in the distribution chain that is not delivering good outcomes and where necessary cooperate with us to rectify the issue.

3.6 Monitoring

(i) You must regularly review the customer outcome and experience and consider at least the following criteria:

(a) whether your distribution arrangements are appropriate and up to date

(b) whether the Mortgage Product(s) have been distributed to Applicants in the identified target market

(ii) Upon request, you shall provide us with assistance and adequate information to us or obtain such information from other distributors in the distribution chain to enable us to perform a review of our Mortgage Products and services. Such information shall be provided within 10 business days or such period agreed by the parties after such request and may include but is not limited to:

(a) mortgage application figures

(b) cancellation figures and reasons for cancellation

(d) issues with the distribution arrangements and distribution strategy

(e) if any, issues and information from other parties in the distribution chain

(f) issues in relation to the identified target

(g) applications outside the target market and issues giving rise to actual or foreseeable harm

(h) issues affecting or experienced by Applicants with characteristics of vulnerability

(i) issues with Mortgage Products

(j) where a Mortgage Product is generally expected to be held for at least 5 years and there is a lack of oversight on the full distribution chain or end customer, information on the proportion of customers holding the Mortgage Product for less than one year or more than one year but less than five years

(k) information on the regular review of the distribution chain

(iii) Where issues are identified from the review, the parties shall cooperate to implement appropriate remedial measures to mitigate the situation or prevent the issue or any further harm from occurring or such other remedial action that is necessary.

3.7 Applications

(i) With regard to each Application, you will:

(a) provide the Applicant with all documentation required by and in accordance with MCOB. We will only accept Applications when you are providing Applicants with an advised sales service and providing adequate explanations to the Applicant in accordance with MCOB and you will not submit to us any execution-only or rejected advice Applications. It is your responsibility in this regard to ensure that all FCA rules on advised sales are complied with; and

(b) not make any statements or representations to any Applicant which is inconsistent with the terms of our Mortgage Products or any documentation issued by us or issued on our behalf. This includes, without limitation, any Illustration or ESIS. To the extent that you breach this clause you will keep us indemnified in accordance with clause 11 (Indemnity) of this agreement.

(ii) We reserve the right at our sole discretion to decline all or any Applications and we are not required to give a reason for doing so, unless Applicable Regulations require otherwise.

(iii) We will arrange all processing and administration of Applications.

(iv) All Applications must be submitted promptly with any relevant monies.

(v) You will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the information the Application contains is complete, accurate, correct and not misleading and forward to us any relevant documentation we require, as we may notify to you from time to time.

(vi) We will not accept liability for delays caused by incomplete or inaccurate information provided by you and / or the Applicant. Prior to submission, you must have taken reasonable steps to ensure the Application meets our current lending criteria (where applicable).

(vii) If you submit an Application which we reasonably suspect to be fraudulent, we will temporarily remove you from our Panel, until an investigation into the matter has been concluded. If following the investigation, it is found that you knowingly submitted the fraudulent Application, we will permanently remove you from our Panel and immediately inform the relevant Regulator and other relevant authorities.

(viii) You will maintain proper records of all Applications and transactions.

(ix) You will comply with the Terms of Use.

4. SOCIETY'S COMMITMENT TO INTERMEDIARIES

4.1 As part of our commitment to consistently provide you with an outstanding level of service, the Society undertakes to do the following:

(i) to provide relevant information about its Mortgage Products to you including:

(a) the characteristics of the Mortgage Product

(b) the identified target market

(d) the intended distribution strategy

(e) information to ensure the Mortgage Product will be distributed in accordance with the target market

(ii) to process all documents received both promptly and thoroughly;

(iii) to pay your procuration fee on time and without undue delay; and

(iv) to not cross sell, in conjunction with clause 6.2 of these Terms of Business.

4.2 Where we identify any circumstances related to one or more of our Mortgage Products that may adversely affect Applicants, we will, where appropriate, inform you and other relevant parties of the circumstances and the action taken to remedy or mitigate the situation.

5. COMPLIANCE

5.1 You must either be a Directly Authorised Intermediary or an Appointed Representative and hold (either directly or through your relationship with your Principal) all necessary Permissions, including but not limited to advising on and arranging mortgages, which are required for you to perform and lawfully fulfil your obligations under or in connection with these Terms of Business and to carry out all activities required in introducing Applicants to us and in your dealings with Applicants. You must be able to provide (where relevant) the following:

(i) registration under the Data Protection Laws in force at the time; and

(ii) any other licences, registrations, authorisations, and powers that allow you to enter into these Terms of Business and comply with its terms.

5.2 You must notify us immediately in writing if:

(i) any of your Permissions are withdrawn;

(ii) you are investigated for any breach of the FSMA;

(iii) your Permissions with the FCA (and the PRA if applicable) are withdrawn, suspended or terminated;

(iv) you are investigated by any Regulator or subject to any regulatory sanction;

(v) you have ever been de-registered or removed from a lender panel / network or mortgage club / Packager Firm; or

(vi) you have ever been subject to any disciplinary action of a nature that might impair your integrity as a broker / intermediary / introducer / Appointed Representative.

5.3 You shall ensure that the FCA’s principles of acting to deliver good outcomes for retail customers will be followed and upheld at all times.

5.4 You shall be responsible for all your advertisements and other publicity and must ensure that such advertisements and other publicity are compliant with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

5.5 You must have our written approval before using our logo, or distributing any advertising, press release or business/marketing literature that refers to us. If we provide you with our written approval for the aforementioned usage, it is your responsibility to check that your usage falls within the Applicable Regulations in force at the time of usage.

5.6 In relation to all business you refer to us, you agree to:

(i) comply with the latest UK Money Laundering Regulations (and any subsequent amendment, substitution or addition to these Regulations);

(ii) not engage in any activity, practice or conduct which would constitute an offence under sections 1, 2 or 6 of the Bribery Act 2010 if such activity has been carried out in the UK;

(iii) promptly report to us any request or demand for any undue financial or other advantage of any kind received by you in connection with these Terms of Business; and

(iv) comply with all applicable anti-slavery and human trafficking laws, statutes, regulations and codes from time to time in force including but not limited to the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

5.7 You represent and warrant that neither you nor any person employed by you has been convicted of any offence involving slavery and human trafficking.

5.8 You will, at all times, ensure that you have in place reasonable prevention processes and controls so as not to cause us in any way to be in breach of the offences contained in the Criminal Offences Act 2017 concerning failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion.

6. DATA PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS

6.1 You must at all times comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Laws as well as any guidance or codes of practice issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You must ensure that you have the Applicant’s authority to disclose their personal details to us in any format and that we may lawfully use this data for the purposes of assessing and processing their Application. Your duties under this clause shall survive any termination of these Terms of Business or your membership of our Panel.

6.2 Personal Data on Applicants gathered by you and passed to us, shall be separately owned by each party. For the avoidance of doubt, each party may use the data for such sales and marketing purposes as it considers appropriate. However, we will not use the data to market general insurance and protection products specifically to the Applicants though they may receive marketing promotions for these products as part of marketing activities directed to our customer base as a whole. Both parties will comply at all times with the provisions of the Data Protection Laws with regard to the data, including maintaining appropriate registrations / notifications with the ICO.

6.3 You must take reasonable steps to ensure all documents containing the Applicant’s details are kept secure, including Applications submitted to us electronically.

6.4 You will comply with applicable requirements of the Data Protection Laws and competition laws when sharing information we provide to you or which you provide to us. Where relevant, data should be anonymised or aggregated and parties should avoid sharing data on individual Applicants.

6.5 We will process your Personal Data which you provide when you apply for membership of our Panel or which we acquire subsequently from you or a third party as is necessary to appoint you to our Panel, process Applications, and comply with our obligations to share data with fraud prevention agencies and others. You have certain rights in respect of your Personal Data as described in our Privacy Notice. A copy of the Privacy Notice is available on our website.

6.6 You consent to the Society providing third parties (including mortgage clubs, networks and packagers) with details of you and Applications introduced by you including, Applicant surname, mortgage type, amount of mortgage, completion date and procuration fee and any such other information as agreed between the Society and the third party from time to time, subject to any restrictions under the Data Protection Laws and subject to any agreement between the Society and the third party.

7. PROCURATION FEES

7.1 A procuration fee will be paid following completion of a mortgage transaction in accordance with the scale and application submission route published on our website and as amended from time to time unless a separate agreement exists for payment at a different rate.

7.2 We will cease making payments to you or your appointed agent (i.e. Packager Partner Firm(s) or Mortgage Club(s)) if we are notified by you or your appointed agent in writing or it is reasonable to infer that you are no longer validly acting on behalf of the Applicant.

7.3 You or your appointed agent will reimburse us forthwith upon demand for any payments made:

(i) by us to you or your appointed agent in error (and you or your appointed agent shall promptly notify us once you become aware of this); or

(ii) by us which relates to any Application in respect of which you or your appointed agent are materially in breach of these Terms of Business or where the Application is fraudulent.

7.4 We reserve the right to vary our procuration fee structure at any time and without notice to you.

7.5 Where relevant, you must disclose to us all fees received by or payable to you in connection with an Application, in accordance with MCOB and any other Applicable Regulations and general law.

7.6 We shall not be liable to pay the procuration fee to you where you have failed to disclose your entitlement to the procuration fee to the Applicant. We shall be entitled to set-off any outstanding procuration fee(s) against any debt owed by you to us.

8. ASSESSING FAIR VALUE

8.1 Each party must provide to the other party, upon request, relevant information to enable the other party to consider the cumulative impact of the fees in the distribution chain on the overall fair value of the Mortgage Product. Where relevant, the parties must consider any third party fees in the distribution chain and how the distribution arrangements would affect the fair value of the Mortgage Product and related services.

8.2 Where we identify in our review that a Mortgage Product no longer provides fair value, we will take appropriate remedial action and notify you of this fact and any changes made by us.

8.3 In the event you identify a Mortgage Product no longer provides fair value due to aspects of the Mortgage Product or the distribution strategy, you will take appropriate remedial action and notify us and other distributors in the chain of the concern and any action taken to address the concern.

9. TERMINATION

9.1 Either party may terminate these Terms of Business by giving one month’s written notice to the other.

9.2 Without limiting our other rights or remedies, we may terminate these Terms of Business with immediate effect by giving notice to you if:

(i) there is any misconduct by you, any of your directors or partners, or any person or body for which you are responsible which is or could reasonable be viewed as prejudicial to our business or reputation;

(ii) you cease to hold the necessary Permissions for the purposes of these Terms of Business;

(iii) you commit a material or persistent breach of these Terms of Business and you (if such a breach is remediable) fail to remedy that breach within 14 days of receipt of notice of the breach;

(iv) you do not place any new Applications with us during any 12 month period;

(v) you cease to be appropriately insured (or fail to provide us with evidence of annual renewal upon request);

(vi) you are declared bankrupt or subject to a financial arrangement with your creditors that we are of the view compromises these Terms of Business;

(vii) we become aware that your regulated status with the FCA / PRA has been ended (for whatever reason) or if you become subject to regulatory sanction;

(viii) you breach the Terms of Use of our Mortgage Hub;

(ix) you or any person or body for which you are responsible or that is acting on your behalf, fail to comply with clause 5.6, clause 5.7 or clause 5.8;

(x) we consider that you have abused the privilege of being our Intermediary; or

(xi) we have any other business reason to cancel any or all Intermediary registrations.

9.3 Any termination of these Terms of Business will not affect any accrued rights and liabilities of either party and clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 22 shall continue to apply notwithstanding the termination of these Terms of Business. In the event of termination, you shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that all pending Applications and matters in progress resulting from the submission of Applications are immediately transferred back to us or to such other party as we may specify.

10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

10.1 Nothing in these Terms of Business shall exclude or limit our liability, where such exclusion or limitation would not be lawful, for;

(i) death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; and / or

(ii) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

10.2 Subject to clause 10.1 above, neither party shall be liable to the other for any indirect or consequential loss or damage which arises out of or in connection with these Terms of Business.

10.3 Subject to clauses 10.1 and 10.2 above, we shall not be liable to you for:

(i) any losses incurred by you due to your relationship with any Applicant;

(ii) any losses which may be incurred by you not as a direct result of our acts or omissions; and / or

(iii) any loss or damage which may be incurred by you as a result of:

(a) any reliance placed by you on the completeness, accuracy or existence of any information about our Mortgage Products issued by us from time to time;

(b) any changes which we may make to the products or services offered to Applicants;

(c) the deletion, corruption or failure to store any content and other communications data maintained or transmitted by or through your use of the Society electronic systems (included but not limited to our database, website and any other Society electronic system)

(d) your failure to provide us with complete and accurate information; and / or

(e) your failure to keep your or our information where it relates to a mortgage application, secure and confidential.

10.4 The limitations on our liability to you in clause 10.3 above shall apply whether or not we have been advised of or should have been aware of the possibility of any such losses arising.

10.5 Subject to clauses 10.1 - 10.4 our total liability to you in respect of any and all losses arising under or in connection with these Terms of Business shall not exceed the amount of the procuration fees paid by us to you under these Terms of Business in connection with the submission of Applications.

11. REVIEW AND AUDITING

11.1 In order to review your compliance with these Terms of Business or to facilitate the meeting of our obligations under the Applicable Regulations, you shall:

(i) be readily available for meetings with us as reasonably requested;

(ii) give us access to any records, files, tapes, computer systems and any other relevant information which are within your possession, knowledge or control and provide any facilities which we may reasonably request;

(iii) provide us with and permit us to copy specified documents, files, tapes, computer data or other material in your possession or control as reasonably requested; and

(iv) print information in your possession or control which is held on computer or on microfilm or otherwise convert it into a readily legible document or any other record which we may reasonably request;

(v) permit us and / or persons appointed by us to have access during reasonable business hours to any of your business premises; and

(vi) ensure that our auditors, upon reasonable notice, have a right of access at all times to your records and are entitled to require from you such information and explanations as the auditors reasonably consider necessary for the performance of their duties as auditors.

12. INDEMNITY

You shall keep us indemnified in full against all costs, expenses, damages and losses (whether direct or indirect) including any interest, fines, legal and other professional fees and expenses awarded against or incurred or paid by us or any of our respective directors, officers, agents, employees, members and successors in interest as a result of or in connection with any negligence, fraud or breach by you, your employees, your agents or your subcontractors of these Terms of Business.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY

13.1 Subject to these Terms of Business, a party ('Receiving Party') shall keep in strict confidence all technical or commercial know-how, specifications, customer information, financial information, risk information, processes or initiatives which are of a confidential nature and have been disclosed to or otherwise obtained by the Receiving Party by the other party ('Disclosing Party'), its employees, agents or subcontractors. This includes any other confidential information concerning the Disclosing Party’s business or its products and / or its services which the Receiving Party may obtain. The Receiving Party shall restrict disclosure of such confidential information to such of its employees, agents or subcontractors solely and specifically for the purpose of discharging the Receiving Party’s obligations under these Terms of Business. In addition the Disclosing Party shall ensure that such employees, agents or subcontractors are subject to obligations of confidentiality corresponding to those which bind the Receiving Party. This confidentiality clause shall survive termination of these Terms of Business.

14. INSURANCE COVER

You must hold and maintain professional indemnity insurance cover of an amount equal to that which is required by the FCA Handbook. This is intended to cover any liability you may incur under these Terms of Business. On our request, you shall produce both the insurance certificate giving details of cover and the receipt for the current year’s premium in respect of such insurance.

15. NON-EXISTENCE OF PARTNERSHIP, AGENCY OR JOINT VENTURE

Nothing in these Terms of Business is intended to or shall be deemed to establish any partnership or joint venture between any of the parties, constitute any party the agent of another party or authorise any party to make or enter into any commitments for or on behalf of any other party.

16. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

These Terms of Business constitute the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes and extinguishes all previous agreements, promises, assurances, warranties, representations and understandings between them, whether written or oral.

17. WAIVER RIGHTS

No failure or delay by a party to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Terms of Business or by law shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy. No single or partial exercise of such right or remedy shall prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.

18. SEVERANCE

If any provision or part-provision of these Terms of Business is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, it shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid, legal and enforceable. If such modification is not possible, the relevant provision or part-provision shall be deemed deleted. Any modification to or deletion of a provision or part-provision under this clause shall not affect the validity and enforceability of these Terms of Business.

19.VARIATION OF TERMS

We may alter these Terms of Business at any time by posting an amended copy of these Terms of Business on our intermediary website(s) without prior notification to the Intermediary. By submitting business to us, the Intermediary accepts the most recent version of these Terms of Business as available on our intermediary website(s).

20. THIRD PARTY RIGHTS

A person who is not a party to these Terms of Business shall not have any rights, under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, to enforce any term of these Terms of Business.

21. FORCE MAJEURE

Neither party shall be in breach of these Terms of Business nor liable for delay in performing or failure to perform any of its obligations under these Terms of Business if such delay or failure result from events, circumstances or causes beyond its reasonable control.

22. NOTICES

22.1 Any notice given to a party under or in connection with these Terms of Business shall be in writing and shall be:

(i) delivered by hand or first / second-class post or other next working day delivery service at its registered office (if a company) or its principal place of business (in any other case); or

(ii) sent by e-mail to the e-mail address as notified by one party to the other party from time to time.

23. ASSIGNMENT/TRANSFER AND ASSOCIATED MATTERS

23.1 You shall not assign, transfer, mortgage, charge, subcontract, declare a trust over or deal in any other manner with any of your rights and obligations under these Terms of Business.

23.2 We may at any time assign, transfer, mortgage, charge or deal in any other manner with any or all of our rights and obligations under these Terms of Business.

24. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

These Terms of Business and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law and the parties irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

MORTGAGE HUB TERMS OF USE

1. WHO CAN USE THE MORTGAGE HUB

1.1 The Mortgage Hub is for use by you and your authorised employees only (“Users”). By using the Mortgage Hub Users are accepting and agreeing to comply with these Terms of Use.

1.2 The Mortgage Hub is only available to Users residing in the United Kingdom.

2. ACCESSING THE MORTGAGE HUB

2.1 Whilst it is designed to be used with a range of internet browsers and equipment, it is the User’s responsibility to provide compatible equipment and software to access the Mortgage Hub. In order to continue to use the Mortgage Hub, the User must ensure their equipment and software remains fully operational and must take all reasonable steps to keep it free from viruses, bugs, other malicious code and harmful components.

2.2 We do not guarantee that the Mortgage Hub will be available at all times. Users may occasionally not be able to access the Mortgage Hub – for example, when we carry out updates or maintenance or we need to suspend access to our website or the Mortgage Hub for technical or security reasons. We will try to give Users reasonable notice of any suspension, where it is appropriate to do so.

2.3 We will not be liable for any loss or damage Users may suffer as a result of our failure to provide all or part of the functionality and features of the Mortgage Hub when we carry out maintenance or updates or if any abnormal or unforeseeable circumstance occurs that is beyond our reasonable control and which we could not reasonably have prevented, such as failure or interruption of the internet.

2.4 The User shall not use their equipment or software to access or retrieve any data through the Mortgage Hub which the User is not entitled to access.

2.5 We reserve the right to terminate the User’s access to the Mortgage Hub if the User breaches these Terms of Use.

3. SECURITY

3.1 Each User accessing the Mortgage Hub must have their own individual username and password.

3.2 The User is responsible for the security and confidentiality of any usernames, passwords or other information needed to access or use the Mortgage Hub. The User must not allow any other person to access the Mortgage Hub or any services via the User’s log in details or password.

3.3 The User must notify us as soon as possible by calling our Mortgage Desk on 01372 744155 if they know or suspect that another person knows their log in details or password.

4. USE OF MORTGAGE HUB MATERIAL

4.1 The trade marks, copyright, database rights and other intellectual property rights in the Mortgage Hub, and the information, content, material or data that we display on the Mortgage Hub belongs to us or our licensors and all such rights are reserved.

4.2 The User may view, download, copy or print materials on the Mortgage Hub for use in connection with the submission of Applications only and provided the User does change or delete any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notices on such content.

4.3 The User must not use any part of the content on the Mortgage Hub for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors (which will be at the sole discretion of us or our licensors).

4.4 If the User accesses or uses any part of the Mortgage Hub or prints off, copies or downloads any contents on the Mortgage Hub in breach of these Terms of Use, the User’s rights to use the Mortgage Hub will cease immediately and the User must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials the User has made.

5. RELIANCE ON INFORMATION ON THE MORTGAGE HUB

5.1 The content on the Mortgage Hub is intended for general information only and it is not intended to amount to advice. Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on the Mortgage Hub, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, either express or implied, that the content on the Mortgage Hub is accurate, complete or up to date.

6. UPLOADING INFORMATION TO THE MORTGAGE HUB

6.1 Users must not transmit across or submit to the Mortgage Hub any material, data or information that infringes the intellectual property rights of any person, that is obscene, offensive, defamatory, discriminatory, hateful or inflammatory or that breaches any statute, regulation or rule of law.

7. INDEMNITY

7.1 The User agrees to indemnify us against all actions, claims and demands (including the cost of defending or settling any action, claim or demand) which may be instituted against us arising out of a failure by the User or any person using the User’s log in details or password (whether or not the User has authorised that person to use their log in details and password) to comply with these Terms of Use.

8. LIABILITY FOR LOSS

8.1 This disclaimer does not attempt or purport to exclude liability arising under statute if, and to the extent, such liability cannot be lawfully excluded. In particular, nothing in these Terms of Use purports to limit or exclude any liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury caused by a person’s negligence.

8.2 We accept no responsibility for loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which any person may directly or indirectly suffer in connection with or arising from a User’s use of the Mortgage Hub or a User’s use of or reliance on information contained on or accessed through the Mortgage Hub. To the extent permitted by law, any condition or warranty which would otherwise be implied into these Terms of Use is hereby excluded.

8.3 We accept no responsibility for loss or damage arising from links in the Mortgage Hub to any other third party sites. Any such links are provided for information only. We have not approved the content or security of such sites.

9. CHARGES

9.1 We currently make no charge to Users for using the Mortgage Hub but we reserve the right to introduce and / or vary a charge in the future. Users are responsible for the costs and charges they incur in providing the equipment, software and communication services they use to access the Mortgage Hub.

10. CHANGES TO THE TERMS OF USE

10.1 We may alter these Terms of Use at any time by posting an amended copy of the Terms of Use on our intermediary website(s) without prior notification to Users. Users should ensure that they check these Terms of Use each time they use the Mortgage Hub so that they are aware of the terms which apply at that time.

Family Building Society is a trading name of National Counties Building Society, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Firm Reference number 206080 register.fca.org.uk).