Terms of Use

These Terms of Use ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website at www.benaters.com (the "website"). Please read them carefully before using the website.

Important — please read: These Terms contain provisions that limit our liability to you, allocate risk to you, and require you to indemnify us in certain circumstances (see clauses 9, 10 and 11), as well as a provision explaining that your use of this website does not create an attorney–client relationship (clause 5). These provisions are drawn specifically to your attention, and by continuing to use our website you accept these Terms and acknowledge that you have read, understood, and accepted them.

1. Who we are

The website is operated by Benaters ("Benaters", "we", "us", "our"), a firm of attorneys, notaries and conveyancers conducted as a partnership. Our details, provided in accordance with section 43 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 ("ECTA"), are:

- Legal status: partnership

- Physical and postal address: 21 Scott Street, Floor 0, Waverley, Johannesburg, 2090

- Email: info@benaters.com

- Telephone: +27 72 059 7640

- Website: www.benaters.com

- Regulation: Benaters and its practising partners are admitted legal practitioners regulated by the Legal Practice Council under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, and are members of the Legal Practitioners' Fidelity Fund.

2. Acceptance of these Terms

By accessing or using the website, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the website.

We may amend these Terms from time to time in accordance with clause 15.

3. No legal advice

The information, materials and opinions contained on the website are provided for general information purposes only. They do not constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific advice relevant to your particular circumstances. You should obtain specific legal advice before taking or refraining from taking any action. Any reliance you place on information on the website is strictly at your own risk.

4. No warranty as to the website

We take reasonable measures to ensure that the website and its contents are complete, accurate and up to date, but we give no warranty, whether express or implied, that the information, content, tools or materials on the website are complete, accurate, current or appropriate for any purpose.

We give no warranty that the website, its content, our servers, or any electronic communications sent by us are free from viruses or other harmful code, or that access to the website will be uninterrupted or error-free. You are responsible for maintaining your own protection against harmful code and for backing up your own data.

5. No attorney–client relationship; unsolicited information

Your use of the website, your submission of an enquiry, or any other communication with us through the website, does not create an attorney–client relationship or a mandate between you and Benaters. An attorney–client relationship arises only once we have carried out our conflict and acceptance checks and a formal written engagement or mandate has been concluded between you and Benaters.

Please do not send us any confidential, sensitive or privileged information through the website or by email before a written engagement is in place. Any information you submit to us through the website before an engagement is accepted:

- will not be treated as confidential or subject to legal professional privilege;

- is submitted at your own risk; and

- will not, of itself, prevent us from acting for any other person, including a person whose interests are adverse to yours.

6. Relationship between these Terms and our engagement terms

These Terms govern your use of the website only. Where we are engaged to provide legal services to you, that engagement is governed by a separate engagement letter or mandate and by the applicable rules of the Legal Practice Council, and not by these Terms. Nothing in these Terms limits, excludes or modifies any obligation we owe to a client under a mandate, under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, or under any other applicable law or professional rule.

7. Acceptable use

You may use the website only for lawful purposes. You must not:

- use the website in any way that breaches any applicable law or regulation;

- interfere with, damage, or disrupt the website, its servers, or any network connected to it, including by introducing harmful code;

- attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the website or any system or network; or

- systematically extract, scrape, or reproduce content from the website except as permitted in clause 12.

8. Availability of the website

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the website at any time without notice. We do not warrant that the website will always be available or uninterrupted, and we will not be liable if the website is unavailable at any time or for any period.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Benaters and its partners, contractors and suppliers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss or damage, or for any loss of profit, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising out of or in connection with your access to, use of, or inability to use the website, or your reliance on any content on it, whether the claim is based on contract, delict, statute or otherwise.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability to the extent that it may not lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for:

- death or personal injury caused by our negligence;

- fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;

- our gross negligence or wilful misconduct; or

- any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under South African law, including the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 where it applies.

10. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify Benaters and its partners against any claim, loss, liability, cost or expense arising out of your breach of these Terms or your unlawful or unauthorised use of the website. This indemnity does not apply to the extent that the claim, loss, liability, cost or expense is caused by Benaters' own gross negligence, wilful misconduct or fraud, or arises from any liability that may not lawfully be excluded.

11. Consumer rights

Nothing in these Terms is intended to limit or exclude any right you may have that cannot be limited or excluded under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 or any other applicable law. To the extent that any provision of these Terms conflicts with a right that may not lawfully be limited or excluded, that provision applies only to the extent permitted by law, and the remainder of these Terms continues to apply.

12. Intellectual property

All information, databases, software, text, graphics and other content included on the website are the property of Benaters or its content suppliers and are protected by South African and international copyright and other intellectual property laws. The compilation (meaning the collection, arrangement and assembly) of all content on the website is the exclusive property of Benaters.

We authorise you to view, copy, download to a local drive, print and distribute the content of the website, or parts of it, provided that:

- the content is used for information purposes only;

- the content is used for non-commercial purposes, and you do not incorporate any of the material into any other work, publication or website of your own or belonging to another; and

- any reproduction of the content, or any portion of it, includes this notice in its entirety.

All other rights are reserved. © Benaters.

13. Data privacy

We collect and process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA") and our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose and protect your personal information, and forms part of your use of the website. By using the website, you acknowledge that you have read and understood our Privacy Policy.

14. Anti-money laundering

As accountable institutions, we are required by anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing legislation, including the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001, to obtain and verify formal evidence of your identity and supporting documentation before we can act, and we may conduct checks using external electronic databases for this purpose. We are obliged to report suspicions of money laundering or related activity to our Money Laundering Compliance Officer and/or the relevant authorities. We may be required to stop work on a matter and may be prohibited by law from telling you that a report has been made. We will not be liable to you for any consequence of a report made in good faith.

15. Electronic communications

You consent to receiving communications from us in electronic form, and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. A data message (as defined in ECTA) sent by you to us will be regarded as having been received by us only when we have actually acknowledged or responded to it, and not merely when it enters our information system.

16. Amendments

We may amend these Terms from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the website, or applicable law.

17. Breach, waiver and severability

If you breach these Terms, we reserve the right to pursue all remedies available to us in law. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that provision or of any other provision. If any provision of these Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

18. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by, and will be interpreted in accordance with, the laws of the Republic of South Africa. Subject to clause 11, you consent to the jurisdiction of the High Court of South Africa in respect of any dispute arising out of or in connection with the website or these Terms. Nothing in this clause deprives you of the protection of any court or forum that applicable law reserves to you.

19. Contact us

For any questions about these Terms, please contact us:

Email: info@benaters.com

Phone: +27 72 059 7640

Address: 21 Scott Street, Floor 0, Waverley, Johannesburg, 2090