Terms of use

Introduction

These terms of use apply between you, the User of this Website (including any sub-domains, unless expressly excluded by their own terms of use), and Valla Ltd, ("Valla") the owner and operator of this Website. Please read these terms of use carefully, as they affect your legal rights. Your agreement to comply with and be bound by these terms of use is deemed to occur upon your first use of the Website. If you do not agree to be bound by these terms of use, you should stop using the Website immediately.
In these terms of use, User or Users means any third party that accesses the Website and is not either (i) employed by Valla Ltd and acting in the course of their employment or (ii) engaged as a consultant or otherwise providing services to Valla Ltd and accessing the Website in connection with the provision of such services.
You must be at least 16 years of age to use this Website. By using the Website and agreeing to these terms of use, you represent and warrant that you are at least 16 years of age.

Legal notice - products and services

Valla is a technology platform and service offering from Valla Ltd offering a self-representation platform, coaching and support services, and some legal services from a team of in-house employees and vetted contractors. Valla is not regulated by the SRA, and we do not offer “reserved legal services” (see below for more information on what this means), immigration services, claims management services, regulated financial services activities and notarial services. If your matter involves one of these areas, please let us know and we will suggest alternative solutions to meet your needs.
Accordingly, we do not offer the following “Reserved Legal Services”:
Rights of audience: the right to appear before and address a court, including the right to call and examine witnesses.
Conduct of litigation: the issuing of proceedings before any court in England and Wales; the commencement, prosecution and defence of such proceedings, and the performance of any ancillary functions in relation to such proceedings.
Reserved instrument activities: preparing any instrument of transfer or charge for the purposes of the Land Registration Act 2002; making an application or lodging a document for registration under that Act; preparing any other instrument relating to real or personal estate for the purposes of the law of England and Wales or instrument relating to court proceedings in England and Wales.
Probate activities
Administration of oaths

Professional Indemnity Insurance and the SRA Compensation Fund

12. Valla Ltd holds professional indemnity insurance to protect our clients in case something goes wrong and our legal professionals are covered by this insurance. Full details of our insurance can be provided upon request. As we are not regulated by the SRA, we do not have to carry the same level of insurance as a regulated Law Firm (see https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/indemnity-insurance-rules/#annex-1 for more details and amounts).

13. Any claim in relation to Valla's services shall solely be against Valla Ltd and not personally against any of our staff providing services to you. You will not be able to make a claim on the SRA Compensation Fund as this is not available to clients of firms not regulated by the SRA. The fund provides compensation to people who are owed money by a regulated law firm.

14. Please let us know if you need more explanation of the above to understand the position.

Legal notice - website

15. Valla does not provide any legal, tax, financial or any other advice on our website. If seeking legal or other professional advice, you should consult with your own lawyer, other relevant professional adviser, or one of our coaches offering unreserved legal services.

16. This Website and any downloadable documents is a service that provides general legal information and helps individuals and their advisers to run their own legal case. We are not a law firm and our employees are not acting as your lawyer. The information contained in the Website should not be taken as legal advice to be applied to your specific factual situation. If you are unsure what steps to take to deal with your legal issue, or are unsure about the specific drafting of a legal document, you should take legal advice from a qualified and regulated solicitor. Using this Website does not create or constitute a lawyer-client relationship between Valla or any employee of or other person associated with Valla and a user of the Website.

17. Valla does not provide any guarantee, warranty, indemnity, representation or otherwise take any responsibility for any losses related to your use of the Website or any linked sites.

18. Valla does not endorse any content provided by any linked sites or any advertising on the Website.

19. The Website is aimed at users within the UK and is therefore not applicable to jurisdictions outside of the UK.

Intellectual property and acceptable use

20. All Content included on the Website, unless uploaded by Users, is the property of Valla Ltd, our affiliates or other relevant third parties. In these terms of use, Content means any text, graphics, images, audio, video, software, data compilations, page layout, underlying code and software and any other form of information capable of being stored in a computer that appears on or forms part of this Website, including any such content uploaded by Users. By continuing to use the Website you acknowledge that such Content is protected by copyright, trademarks, database rights and other intellectual property rights. Nothing on this site shall be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel, or otherwise, any licence or right to use any trademark, logo or service mark displayed on the site without the owner's prior written permission.

21. You may, for your own personal, non-commercial use only, do the following

21.1. retrieve, display and view the Content on a computer screen
21.2. download and store the Content in electronic form on a disk (but not on any server or other storage device connected to a network)
21.3. with respect to any documents you have created through the Website, we hereby grant you a non- exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable licence to use such documents only for personal use for the running of your legal case or your client’s legal case. Commercial use of the documents or questionnaires on the Website is prohibited. You must not use or reproduce the materials, Content or documentation displayed or created using the Website for any other purposes other than the specific case of the individual Claimant who has subscribed to the Website.

22. You must not otherwise reproduce, modify, copy, distribute or use for commercial purposes any Content without the written permission of Valla Ltd.

23. You acknowledge that you are responsible for any Content you may submit via the Website, including the legality, reliability, appropriateness, originality and copyright of any such Content. You may not upload to, distribute or otherwise publish through the Website any Content that (i) is proprietary, false, fraudulent, libellous, defamatory, obscene, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, infringing on intellectual property rights, abusive, illegal or otherwise objectionable; (ii) may constitute or encourage a criminal offence, violate the rights of any party or otherwise give rise to liability or violate any law; or (iii) may contain software viruses, political campaigning, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of "spam." You may not use a false email address or other identifying information, impersonate any person or entity or otherwise mislead as to the origin of any content. You may not upload commercial content onto the Website.

24. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all the rights to the Content you post; that the Content is accurate; that use of the Content you supply does not violate any provision of these terms of use and will not cause injury to any person; and that you will indemnify Valla Ltd for all claims resulting from Content you supply.

Confidential information

25. Both Valla Ltd and you understand that the other party has disclosed or may disclose business, technical, financial or other confidential, sensitive or proprietary information (Confidential Information). Confidential Information includes the information you upload to the Valla platform, including any documentation, and any other non-public information which, based on the circumstances under which it was disclosed, a reasonable person would believe to be confidential. Both of us agree:

25.1. to take reasonable precautions to protect such Confidential Information; and
25.2. not to use (except in the performance of Valla’s services or as otherwise permitted herein) or divulge to any third person any such Confidential Information.

26. Paragraph 25 will not apply with respect to any information that any of us can prove:

26.1. is or becomes generally available to the public;
26.2. was in its possession or known by it prior to receipt from the other party;
26.3. was rightfully disclosed to it without restriction by a third party;
26.4. was independently developed without use of any Confidential Information owned by the other party; or
26.5. is required to be disclosed by law.

Prohibited use

27. You may not use the Website for any of the following purposes:

27.1. in any way which causes, or may cause, damage to the Website or interferes with any other person's use or enjoyment of the Website;
27.2. in any way which is harmful, unlawful, illegal, abusive, harassing, threatening or otherwise objectionable or in breach of any applicable law, regulation, governmental order;
27.3. making, transmitting or storing electronic copies of Content protected by copyright without the permission of the owner.

Registration

28. You must ensure that the details provided by you on registration or at any time are correct and complete.

29. You must inform us immediately of any changes to the information that you provide when registering by updating your personal details to ensure we can communicate with you effectively.

30. We may suspend or cancel your registration with immediate effect for any reasonable purposes or if you breach these terms of use.

31 .You may cancel your registration at any time by informing us in writing to the address at the end of these terms of use. If you do so, you must immediately stop using the Website. Cancellation or suspension of your registration does not affect any statutory rights.

Password and security

32.When you register on this Website, you will be asked to create a password, which you should keep confidential and not disclose or share with anyone.

33.If we have reason to believe that there is or is likely to be any misuse of the Website or breach of security, we may require you to change your password or suspend your account.

Links to other websites

34. This Website may contain links to other sites. Unless expressly stated, these sites are not under the control of Valla Ltd or that of our affiliates.

35. We assume no responsibility for the content of such Websites and disclaim liability for any and all forms of loss or damage arising out of the use of them.

36. The inclusion of a link to another site on this Website does not imply any endorsement of the sites themselves or of those in control of them.

Privacy Policy

37. Use of the Website is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these terms of use by this reference. View the privacy policy here.

Availability of the Website and disclaimers

38. Any online facilities, tools, services or information that Valla Ltd makes available through the Website (the Service) is provided "as is" and on an "as available" basis. We give no warranty that the Service will be free of defects and/or faults. To the maximum extent permitted by the law, we provide no warranties (express or implied) of fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy of information, compatibility and satisfactory quality. Valla Ltd is under no obligation to update information on the Website.

39. Whilst Valla Ltd uses reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Website is secure and free of errors, viruses and other malware, we give no warranty or guaranty in that regard and all Users take responsibility for their own security, that of their personal details and their computers.

40. Valla Ltd accepts no liability for any disruption or non-availability of the Website.

41. Valla Ltd reserves the right to alter, suspend or discontinue any part (or the whole of) the Website including, but not limited to, any products and/or services available. These terms of use shall continue to apply to any modified version of the Website unless it is expressly stated otherwise.

Limitation of liability

42. Nothing in these terms of use will: (a) limit or exclude our or your liability for death or personal injury resulting from our or your negligence, as applicable; (b) limit or exclude our or your liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or (c) limit or exclude any of our or your liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law.

43. We will not be liable to you in respect of any losses arising out of events beyond our reasonable control.

44. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Valla Ltd accepts no liability for any of the following:

44.1. any business losses, such as loss of profits, income, revenue, anticipated savings, business, contracts, goodwill or commercial opportunities;
44.2. loss or corruption of any data, database or software;
44.3.any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage.

General

45. You may not transfer any of your rights under these terms of use to any other person. We may transfer our rights under these terms of use where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected.

46. These terms of use may be varied by us from time to time. Such revised terms will apply to the Website from the date of publication. Users should check the terms of use regularly to ensure familiarity with the then current version.

47. These terms of use together with the Privacy Policy contain the whole agreement between the parties relating to its subject matter and supersede all prior discussions, arrangements or agreements that might have taken place in relation to the terms of use.

48. The Contract (Third Party Rights) (Scotland) Act 2017 shall not apply to these terms of use and no third party will have any right to enforce or rely on any provision of these terms of use.

49. If any court or competent authority finds that any provision of these terms of use (or part of any provision) is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision or part-provision will, to the extent required, be deemed to be deleted, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of these terms of use will not be affected.

50. Unless otherwise agreed, no delay, act or omission by a party in exercising any right or remedy will be deemed a waiver of that, or any other, right or remedy.

51. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted according to the law of Scotland and all disputes arising under the Agreement (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.

Valla Ltd details

52. Valla Ltd is a company incorporated in Scotland with registered number SC658140 whose registered address is 6th Floor Gordon Chambers, 90 Mitchell Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G1 3NQ and it operates the Website https://valla.uk/.

53. You can contact Valla Ltd by email on [email protected].

Termination of the service

54. You may terminate your Valla account at any time by requesting this via our inbuilt chat feature. We may suspend your Valla account or terminate the service if you violate any of these terms.

Complaints

55. We want you to have a great experience when using Valla, so if you feel our service has not met the high standards which we set for ourselves, we want to hear from you so that we can put things right.

56. We hope that most matters can be resolved through contacting us via our inbuilt chat support, which will be monitored on a regular basis by members of the team.

57. However, if you need to make a complaint, we will try to find a solution as quickly as we can. Please email [email protected] with the subject line “Complaint” and set out your issue there. Please set out as much detail as you can about your complaint. We will respond with an acknowledgement as soon as we can (as soon as possible, and usually within a few days) and then a senior member of the company will review the complaint and will respond in due course, again as soon as possible.

Attribution

58. These terms of use were created using a document from Rocket Lawyer (https://www.rocketlawyer.co.uk).