Terms & Conditions

W1 Virtual Office (Virtual Office & Professional Services)

1. YOUR STATUS

   By placing an order through our website or by email, you confirm that:

   (a) You are legally capable of entering into binding contracts.

   (b) You will not use any of the rights granted by these terms for any obscene, illegal, immoral or defamatory purposes and will not in any way bring us or our name into disrepute.

2. HOW THE CONTRACT IS FORMED BETWEEN YOU AND US

   2.1 All orders are subject to acceptance by us and the terms of clause 2.2, we will confirm such acceptance to you by sending you an email that confirms that your order has been accepted (the confirmation email). The contract between us (contract) will only be formed when we send you the confirmation email, a copy of these terms and conditions are also sent with the confirmation email.

   2.2 When we receive your order, we will send our account set up email which will detail the next steps required to activate your service. This will include a requirement to submit certified copies of original personal identification for all individual(s) applying for the contract along with satisfactory evidence showing all individual(s) current address information (if you have not already provided this). We will not send you a ‘confirmation email’ detailing the particulars of your service until we have received valid and satisfactory personal identification documentation.

3. SUPPLY OF SERVICES

   3.1 Services will commence on the date set out in the confirmation email (start date), unless agreed otherwise prior, and will be provided for the initial term selected by you (or on our website), and thereafter until either party provides not less than one month’s written notice to the other party of its intention to terminate the contract.

   3.2 We shall use all reasonable endeavours to meet any performance dates specified in the account set up email, but any such dates shall be estimates only and time shall not be of the essence for performance of the services.

   3.3 All fees and charges are payable in £ / GBP.

4. GENERAL TERMS

   4.1 Your obligations / You shall:

   (a) Ensure that the terms of any order and any information you provide are complete and accurate.

   (b) Co-operate with us in all matters relating to the provision of the services.

   (c) Provide us with such information and materials we may reasonably require in order to supply the services and ensure that such information is accurate in all material respects.

   (d) Co-operate and comply with all requests made by us to ensure The Anti Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 are met.

   4.2 W1 Virtual Office has a legal duty to perform due diligence checks. We will carry out identity checks on each individual, partner, director, person(s) with significant control and corporation(s). For the individual(s) involved – these checks will leave a ‘soft credit search’ that does not leave any visible footprint for lenders but is vital in establishing proof of identity. If these identity checks are failed, and the correct documentation cannot be supplied – we will be unable to activate your account. Cancellations within 14 days of an order will be issued a refund minus the non-refundable £30 administration fee to cover our costs in carrying out these identity checks. It is your full responsibility to supply to us all relevant documentation promptly, all payments will commence from the first payment made and continue each month/year, regardless of the necessary paperwork being received. Unless otherwise stated, we will go ahead and run the searches on the details that have been provided as part of the application for a virtual office service.

   4.3 Under current legislation, we are also required to monitor ongoing relationships with all clients who use our services, we will have to carry out additional checks in the following situations:

   • Should you need to update the address that we forwarded mail to.

   • Should the ownership structure of your business change (for example a new shareholder).

   • On an annual basis, we also carry out electronic spot-checks on customer accounts, should the report show any changes to the details we previously held on file, we will request new identification documents which will then need to be verified to keep your virtual office service active.

   4.4 Due to the type of services we provide any compensation claim shall be limited in total to one month’s service fee. We cannot accept any compensation claim that is the result of consequential loss to your business and, by accepting these terms you fully agree to indemnify us from any such claim.

   4.5 We are required, by current legislation, to report to the National Crime Agency (NCA) when we know or suspect that a transaction involves money laundering or terrorist financing. By instructing us to act on your behalf in accordance with our Terms of Business you give us irrevocable authority to make a disclosure to NCA if we consider it appropriate.

5. THE SERVICES

   5.1 The services will be those services set out on our website at the time you order the services from us.

   5.2 Virtual Office – Customers may use the W1 Virtual Office address (3rd Floor, 45 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4JL) solely in the capacity stated within their selected order / confirmation email only. If a registered office address and/or directors service address is offered or added to your account, upon the termination of our contract you agree to inform Companies House of the change of address within 14 days. Registered address users – The registered office service includes the forwarding of mail from Companies House and HMRC. If your company has a letter, notice or document ‘served’ at the registered office address then we will also forward this mail to you. Several government bodies will write to the address and you should always provide them with your physical address to avoid confusion. Mail from DVLA, IPO, Nominet and the Passport office is not included. We do not allow cars to be registered at our address and DVLA mail will be returned to the sender.

   5.3 Post/Mail – Incoming post/mail will be handled as per your selection during sign up. The post forwarding service is based on a fair usage policy. Under this policy, if at any time, we deem you exceed the level of use reasonably expected from someone using this service, then we reserve the right to suspend your virtual office service. In such an event we will contact you in an effort to establish a reasonable usage charge that will permit you to continue to use the virtual office service. We also reserve the right to open any items before collection or forwarding that may be suspected of containing dangerous or illegal objects/substances or to provide information to the police or other investigative bodies where it is our belief that our services are being or have been used for criminal or fraudulent purposes.

   5.4 Mail forwarding – All mail delivered to you at the virtual office address will be forwarded by first class Royal Mail to the address (United Kingdom only) specified by you during the sign-up process, or otherwise as directed by you, as soon as reasonably possible after receipt at the Virtual Office address. In the event that post delivered to you at the virtual office address is not addressed in such a way that we are able to verify from the outside packaging that it is addressed to you, we reserve the right to open such mail to determine for whom it is intended. W1 Virtual Office does not guarantee or assume responsibility for any mail forwarded on behalf of the client.

   5.5 Parcels – We discourage the delivery of parcels at our locations. Maximum parcel size accepted is 50 x 50 x 50cm = 5Kg. We will not accept any items exceeding this or if they contain any dangerous, live or perishable goods. Due to the nature of parcel delivery companies, in that there is no set or expected delivery times, we will not accept responsibility (however infrequent) for parcels that fail to be delivered due to a member of staff not being available to accept the delivery. Outgoing parcels are charged at Royal Mail’s current rates plus a 20% admin charge. You agree for these fees to be included in your invoice for that calendar month, to be collected in line with your billing cycle.

   5.6 Telephone Answering – Our telephone answering service enables calls to a telephone number designated by W1 Virtual Office to be answered in the company name specified by the client. Calls will be handled according to instructions specified by the client. Telephone answering service customers will receive an additional contract of services detailing service levels and ongoing fees within their account set up and/or confirmation email.

   5.7 Telephone Number Service – You will be assigned either a local geographic or national telephone number according to your request after signing up to our services. You need to specify whether your number is to be diverted to either a mobile or a landline number. Diversion charges are subject to change and we will give 30 days’ notice of any such changes should they occur.

6. PRICE AND PAYMENT

   6.1 Prices are as quoted on our website, except in cases of obvious error, and exclude VAT.

   6.2 W1 Virtual Office fees are invoiced and collected in line with your original start date, and every year thereafter. All fees and charges are collected by either debit/credit card or our GoCardless direct debit service, all future renewals will be re charged according to the original purchase method or by electronic transfer.

   6.3 If your debit/credit card cannot be charged for any reason, we will retry your payment method after notifying you by email of the payment failure. If after three attempts to collect outstanding fees no payment is received, we reserve the right to either suspend or terminate your subscription. In addition, if a reoccurring direct debit payment is returned unpaid, we reserve the right to either suspend or terminate your subscription.

   6.4 Payment for any additional services, such as additional telephone calls over your package allowance, parcel forwarding, and telephone numbers diversion charges are invoiced a month in arrears.

   6.5 Automatic annual renewals: When signing up for our annually billed services, you agree that your services will be automatically renewed at the expiration of your initial term. If you do not wish to renew, you must provide us with written notice at least one month prior to this renewal. Failure to give notice in the required timeframe will result in you being liable for the renewal fees which will be collected from your debit/credit card or via our GoCardless direct debit service.

7. CANCELLATION

   7.1 You can give notice to cancel your subscription at any time by

   Phone: +44 (0)20 3858 0704

   Email: info@w1virtualoffice.com

   Post: W1 Virtual Office, 3rd Floor, 45 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4JL. Cancellation terms are 30 days from your subscription renewal date, a service invoice will be raised to cover your notice period on the day your cancellation request is received.

   7.2 Change of address following cancellation:

   Within 14 days of your account cancellation date, you shall notify your change of address to all relevant parties and update all online and offline media.

   Failure to update your address within this time will result in your services being reactivated with an additional £30 reactivation fee added to your account. Within this 14 day timeframe, we will check your website, Companies House (for registered address clients) and Google My Business, and if the evidence is found that our address is still in use, your account will be reactivated. Reactivation fees will be taken from the credit/debit card we hold on file or via our GoCardless direct debit service. Should your account be reactivated, cancellation terms are 30 days from your subscription reactivation date.

   Any postal mail or telephone calls received after termination of the Contract will not be forwarded and postal mail will be returned to the sender.

   Please see the links below for guidance on changing your address:

   HMRC (Registered Addresses)

   https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/companies-house-forms-file-a-change-of-address

   Google My Business

   https://support.google.com/business/answer/3039617?hl=en-GB

   Should you not update your address, you will be liable for the charges as referenced above.

   7.3 Upon a cancellation request being received, one final service invoice will be raised to cover your notice period, we may raise one further invoice for services billed in arrears – post forwarding charges within your final month for example (after your account has been cancelled).

   7.4 We reserve the right to terminate the service without notice or refund if any of our terms have been breached or if we believe that the service is being used with fraudulent or criminal intent. Additionally, we may at any time terminate a contract with immediate effect by giving written notice to you if:

   (a) You fail to pay any amount due under a contract on the due date for payment; or

   (b) You commit a breach of any material term of a contract and (if such breach is remediable) fail to remedy that breach within a period of 14 days after being notified to do so; or

   (c) You become insolvent or go into liquidation; or

   (d) You suspend the payment of your debts or are unable to pay your debts as they fall due; or

   (e) You enter into any compromise or arrangement (CVA) with your creditors to reschedule any of your debts; or

   (f) Any action is taken for or in connection with your winding up; or

   (g) An administrator is appointed over you; or

   (h) You are the subject of a bankruptcy petition or order; or

   (i) We are no longer confident in the address you have provided for mail forwarding purposes i.e. forwarded mail is returned to sender

   (j) You or someone you have authorised act in a manner that is deemed threatening or abusive towards employees; or

   (k) You act in a manner which is or may be detrimental to our business reputation

   (l) We have chosen not to renew your contract with W1 Virtual Office.

8. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

   All intellectual property rights, which include but are not limited to all patents, copyright and related rights, trademarks, domain names, rights in goodwill or to sue for passing off, rights in designs, database rights, rights in confidential information (including know-how and trade secrets) and any other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered, registrable or not and including all similar or equivalent rights in any part of the world, subsisting in the website shall be owned by us.

9. CONFIDENTIALITY

   A party (receiving party) shall keep in strict confidence all technical or commercial know-how, specifications, processes or initiatives which are of a confidential nature and have been disclosed to the receiving party by the other party (disclosing party), its employees, agents or subcontractors, and any other confidential information concerning the disclosing party’s business or its products or its services which the receiving party may obtain (confidential information). The receiving party shall restrict disclosure of the confidential information to such of its employees, agents or subcontractors as need to know it for the purpose of discharging the receiving party’s obligations under the contract, and shall ensure that such employees, agents or subcontractors are subject to obligations of confidentiality corresponding to those which bind the receiving party. The receiving party shall only use the confidential information for the purposes for which it was disclosed to it and shall under no circumstances use or disclose the confidential information after the expiry of the contract. This clause 9 shall survive termination of the contract.

10. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS

    Applicable laws require that some of the information or communications we send to you should be in writing. When using our site, you accept that communication with us will be mainly electronic. We will contact you by e-mail or provide you with information by posting notices on our website. For contractual purposes, you agree to this electronic means of communication and you acknowledge that all contracts, notices, information and other communications that we provide to you electronically comply with any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

11. NOTICES

    All notices given by you to us must be by recorded delivery post to W1 Virtual Office, 3rd Floor, 45 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4JL. We may give notice to you at either the e-mail or postal address you provide to us when placing an order.

12. DUE DILIGENCE

    Provisions controlling mail forwarding businesses are contained in section 75 of the London Local Authorities Act 2007 and the Money Laundering Legislation 2007. The legislation requires all mail forwarding business to register with the local authority and keep records of all clients who use their services. In order that we comply with the legislation, we are required to obtain the information outlined above and keep records for at least a year after the end of an agreement. This information will be made available for inspection to the police or any authorised officer on request. It is a criminal offence for a person to fail to comply with the provisions of section 75 or to furnish false information. In relation to the investigation of an offence, Trading Standards Officers have the power to enter premises and inspect and seize goods and documents. The maximum penalty for committing an offence is a fine not exceeding £5000 on summary conviction. We carry out checks to make sure that documents have been fully completed and signed but we do not have the statutory power or capability to verify the accuracy of the information that corporate entities send to us. We accept all information that such entities deliver to us in good faith and place it on our record.

    12.3 Original documents:

    We usually require original documents, but alternatively you can send certified copies of the original. To certify your documents, this must be done by a person that works in (or be retired from) a recognised profession or be ‘a person of good standing in their community’ – The person certifying the documents should state “I hereby certify that this document is a true and accurate copy of the original”, sign, date and provide the job title, plus full contact details including telephone number, on each document.

    12.4 Who can certify your documents?

    If you are providing copies of the required identification documents, then these must be signed by someone else (counter signatories) to prove their authenticity. Counter signatories must work in (or be retired from) a recognised profession.

    Examples: accountant · assurance agent of recognised company · bank / building society official · barrister · commissioner of oaths · councilor (local or county).