Terms And Conditions

Standard Terms of Business

We ‘Norton Home Loans Limited’ (Norton), hereby set out the terms upon which we will accept business from you (the Broker), acting on behalf of applicants, for our first and second charge mortgage products.

You (the Broker) confirms that:

1. The Broker will at all times:
   1. Maintain in force all licences and other authorisations necessary to comply with any applicable law, rules or guidance of any relevant regulatory body (including without limit the Mortgage Conduct of Business Sourcebook (MCOB); the other requirements of the FCA Handbook; the Consumer Rights Act 2015; the Mortgage Credit Directive Order 2015; Data Protection Laws as follows: Data Protection Act 1998 (to the extent it is still in force), the GDPR, the Data Protection Bill 2018, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI20003/2426), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 200, the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Price) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/2699) and any subsequent enforcing, enacting or successor legislation; the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; and the Money Laundering Regulations (2010); all regulations made under any of the above and any later replacement or amending Act or regulations, any rules or guidance issued by the Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Steering Committee on Reciprocity (“Legal and Regulatory Requirements”).
   2. Observe the best regulatory practices in its relationship with applicants (‘applicants’) and the public (and to include without limit complying with the codes or guidance issued by the Finance and Leasing Association and the Financial Conduct Authority (including without limit its rules and guidance for credit brokers and credit intermediaries). The broker must not arrange a Mortgage on the basis of a promise or suggestion to an applicant that a cheaper Mortgage can be arranged later, or that a Mortgage is a short-term solution pending a longer-term Mortgage, unless it is appropriate to do so.
   3. Obtain all necessary consents from the applicant under Data Protection Legislation to process and disclose the applicant’s details. In the event of the broker failing to observe such good practice we will immediately terminate this Agreement.
   4. Not in any way misrepresent Norton’s terms of business.
2. Both Norton and the broker (each one a ‘Party’ and together the ‘Parties’) will at all times each comply with applicable laws, regulations, codes and sanctions relating to anti-bribery and anti-corruption including but not limited to the Bribery Act 2010, and will ensure it has adequate documented procedures and policies. Fully comply with and discharge any contractual, fiduciary or other duty or obligation it owes to applicants. In this Agreement references to any Act, statutory instrument or guidance includes any successor, amendment, update or replacement from time to time and references to any regulatory body includes any successor or replacement body carrying out the relevant functions. In the event of either party failing to comply with these requirements under the provision of this Agreement either party may terminate this Agreement immediately by written notice. We shall also be entitled to terminate this Agreement immediately by written notice should the broker fail to observe any of the provisions of this letter of our standard procedures or any laws affecting the offering or procurement of Mortgages ; if the broker’s actions might, in our opinion, adversely affect our own position with regard to any statutory licensing provisions, the enforceability of our Mortgages or our reputation; the broker ceases to trade, becomes insolvent or makes an arrangement with its creditors. Any termination is without prejudice to the liabilities arising prior to termination or for any costs, losses or liabilities after termination which relate to acts or omissions of the broker prior to termination. The broker warrants that a process is in place that to the best of their efforts, identify neither they nor any of their employees, directors or shareholders have been involved in, charges with or convicted of any offence involving fraud or dishonesty.
3. All business sent to us by the broker will be dealt with by the broker in accordance with Norton’s relevant current Procedure Notes; Underwriting Criteria and any other documents; or, amended or additional bulletins relating to the type of business concerned which Norton has notified the broker of. The broker will only use the most recently published edition of such documents as provided by us from time to time in the course of its business. The broker undertakes that every such application shall be submitted in compliance with this Agreement and that all information contained in any application is true, complete and accurate, and that no material information or circumstances which might affect our decision to make a Mortgage has been omitted. For the avoidance of doubt we are not obliged to make any Mortgage or accept any application even if it complies with our criteria at any time.
4. Where we receive applications in respect of the same customer from more than one source we may determine which application to progress. We will act in good faith in deciding this.
5. The broker will handle the processing of all applications originated through sub-brokers (“Sub-broker” means any person or body from which applications for finance are received). The broker will not delegate to them any of the tasks required by us to be performed by the broker and will ensure that all sub-brokers are correctly authorised in accordance with all relevant regulatory requirements. The broker will remain fully liable to us for all acts or omissions of such sub-brokers if they were its own acts or omissions and will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that such sub-brokers comply in full with this Agreement in the same manner as if they were a party in place of the broker. The broker will provide us with any information relating to any sub-broker and provide us with the same access to its records for audit purposes as the broker does to its records.
6. The broker will both carry on its business in accordance with the spirit as well as terms of any legislation or guidance.
7. The broker shall, immediately, on becoming aware of any material complaint about Norton Home Loans by an applicant or any breach or potential breach of any regulatory requirement notify the other party and provide such assistance and information as we may require in dealing with the matter.
8. The broker is the agent of the applicant and will not hold itself out as an agent of Norton and in particular shall not advertise in any media that it is an agent of Norton.
9. Save as provided the broker will not disclose to any person or body, other than an applicant, any information relating to our processing of applications or terms of business or any other matter we require it to keep confidential, unless we have provided consent to the broker for such disclosure. Any disclosure to applicants shall only be permitted to the extent necessary for the efficient processing of the particular application. The broker will keep the terms on which we do business with it confidential.
10. The broker will disclose to the applicant through the ESIS, the nature and amount that the broker will receive in commission from us in the event that the application proceeds and the Mortgage is granted.
11. (a) The broker will not enter into any arrangements with suppliers of goods or services for the introduction of Applicants in circumstances which would result in the applicant entering into Debtor-Creditor-Supplier agreements.
    (b) The broker will not offer to applicants requiring Mortgages from us any credit protection insurance on the understanding that we will finance the insurance premium. This does not prevent the broker and it sub-brokers from offering alternative creditor insurance from other suppliers to applicants who obtain a Mortgage from us.
12. Norton will not be liable to any person for any fees or disbursements incurred by the broker, or any person in the broker’s employment or acting as the broker’s agent unless the payment of such fees or disbursements has previously been accepted by us in writing. The broker shall not deal with any third party in such a way as to lead that party to expect payment from Norton, unless Norton has given such written agreement in advance. If, in breach of this condition, the broker or any person in the broker’s employment or acting as the broker’s agent incurs a fee or disbursement which we pay, we reserve the right to set such fee or disbursement off against any monies owed to the broker.
13. The broker will indemnify Norton against all costs or liabilities which Norton may incur as a result of any breach by the broker of any of the terms of this Agreement, our procedures or any regulatory requirement.
14. (a) The broker will be paid commission for each advance introduced by the broker, and accepted and paid out by Norton, as set out in the current commission arrangements. Where relevant, Norton will pay the broker Fee to the broker on completion of the mortgage application.
    (b) All commission paid in respect of an advance will be claimed back where a borrower’s Mortgage has, or we reasonably suspect has, been obtained by fraud.
    (c) We may vary any terms of the Agreement, our commission arrangement, or our procedures at any time upon written notice to the broker.
15. Any sums due from the broker to Norton may be set off against any commission due to the broker. If no commission is payable, whether as a result of this Agreement being terminated or otherwise, the broker will pay all sums due within seven days of request.
16. Without prejudice to the provisions above, this Agreement may be terminated by either the broker or Norton giving four weeks’ notice of such termination.
17. On termination of this Agreement the broker will return to us all our forms and other documents issued by us which it is holding. Commission will be paid in accordance with our normal terms on all cases approved and paid out before the date of termination. The right to receive Broker Fees ceases on termination of this Agreement.
18. The broker agrees that it will comply in full with any data protection, use and security requirements we notify from time to time and will include documents required by Equifax or other information services.
19. Confidentiality:
    1. Each party undertakes that it shall not at any time during this Agreement, and for a period of five years after termination of this Agreement, disclose to any person any confidential information concerning the business, affairs, customers, clients or suppliers of the other party, except as permitted by this agreement.
    2. Each party may disclose the other party’s confidential information:
       
       (i) to its employees, officers, representatives or advisers who need to know such information for the purposes of carrying out the party’s obligations under this Agreement. Each party shall procure that its employees, officers, representatives or advisers to whom it discloses the other party’s confidential information comply with this clause 19; and
       (ii) as may be required by law, a court of competent jurisdiction or any governmental or regulatory authority.
    3. No party shall use other party’s confidential information for any purpose other than to perform its obligations under this Agreement.
20. Any variation of this agreement must be in writing and signed by us or confirmed by our signature.
21. You must obtain and hold (and you must procure that any sub-broker obtains and holds) all regulatory permissions, approvals and licenses required to carry out your business (or that of the sub-broker as applicable), including in particular the activities contemplated by this Agreement. Without limiting this obligation, for the avoidance of doubt:
    1. It is a mandatory requirement that you (or, as applicable, any sub-broker) are suitably authorised (whether by way of interim permission or full authorisation) by the Financial Conduct Authority for the activity of Regulated First or Second Charge mortgages;
    2. If it is found that you, or your sub-broker, have been in breach of this requirement, without limiting any other rights under this Agreement or otherwise, you will indemnify us in full against all losses, costs (including legal costs) liabilities or expenses incurred by us as a result of this.
22. Modern Slavery and International Trafficking: We expect all our third parties to do business in a fair and ethical way. You warrant to us and we warrant to you that: each shall notify the other as soon as practicable of any breach of any of the undertakings it shall comply with (and shall not by any act or omission put any company in the other party’s group of companies in breach of) all (or any) applicable laws, statutes, regulations and codes from time to time in force relating to anti-slavery and human trafficking, including (without limitation) the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and it shall implement due diligence procedures for its own suppliers, subcontractors and other participants in its supply chains, with a view to ensuring that there is no slavery or human trafficking in its supply chains.
23. This Agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enactment (May 25th 2018).

The broker agrees to the following:

1. Process Personal Data in compliance with Data Protection Laws.
2. Comply with its obligations under Data Protection Laws in respect of all Personal Data Processed pursuant to this Agreement.
3. Process Lender Personal Data only for the purpose of providing the services during the term of the Agreement on documented instructions that Norton Home Loans Limited may give to the broker from time to time concerning such processing.
4. Warrant that it has implemented and shall maintain appropriate technical and organisational security measures, processes, systems and controls to safeguard all Lender Personal Data against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, disclosure or destruction of, or damage to, that Lender Personal Data in such a way as to comply with Data Protection Laws and to guard against any act or omission that would put Norton Home Loans Limited in breach of Data Protection Laws, including without limitation:
   1. Measures which ensure the confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of the systems Processing that Lender Personal Data;
   2. Measures which enable the broker to restore the availability of and access to Norton Home Loans Limited Personal Data in a timely manner in the event of an incident which affects such availability and/or access;
   3. A process for regularly (and at least on an annual basis) testing, assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of such technical and organisational measures for ensuring the security of the processing;
   4. Maintain a standard of information security that is in keeping with Good Industry Practice;
   5. Ensure that its personnel who access Lender Personal Data are trustworthy and suitable for their role, comply with Good Industry Practice, do so only to the extent necessary for their role, are subject to a duty of confidence which covers all Lender Personal Data Processed under this Agreement and receive reasonable data protection and privacy compliance training (including a knowledge assessment) at least once per year (unless otherwise agreed in writing by Norton Home Loans Limited).
5. Data Subject Rights
   The broker shall provide Norton Home Loans Limited with such assistance, as Norton Home Loans Limited reasonably requests, in order to comply with its obligations and fulfil Data Subjects' rights under Data Protection Laws, including without limitation:
1. responding to requests or queries from Data Subjects in respect of their Personal Data (including the provision of Portable Copies);
2. cooperating with an investigation in connection with Norton Home Loans Limited Personal Data by a regulatory body
   The broker shall:
3. immediately comply with any request made by Norton Home Loans Limited in relation to one or more identified Data Subjects to: provide information about the categories of Personal Data Processed by ‘The broker ’ in respect of such Data Subject along with any other reasonable information requested by Norton Home loans Limited in respect of such Processing;
4. Deliver up a copy of all Lender Personal Data Processed by the broker in respect of one or more identified Data Subjects;
5. Rectify the identified Lender Personal Data;
6. Transfer the identified Lender Personal Data to a specific third party or to the Data Subject to whom the Personal Data relates; and/or
7. Cease certain types of Processing in respect of the identified Lender Personal Data (including Profiling (as defined in the GDPR)).

Notification Requirements

6. Promptly (and in any event within two Business Days) of receiving any complaint, an exercise of a right under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 or any of Articles 15-18 or Articles 20-22 of the General Data Protection Regulation (as applicable), or other request (such as from any applicable government, agency or regulator) in respect of Lender Personal Data, except where doing so would breach Applicable Law;
7. Promptly if, in ‘The broker ’'s opinion, any instruction given by or on behalf of Norton Home loans limited breaches Applicable Law;
8. If ‘The broker’ becomes aware of or suspects a Personal Data Breach, without undue delay (having regard to the nature of the Personal Data and the scope and context of the Personal Data Breach (or suspected Personal Data Breach) and the likelihood and severity of the risks to Data Subjects presented by the Personal Data Breach (or suspected Personal Data Breach)). The notification shall be made no longer than 24 hours of ‘The broker’ becoming aware of the Personal Data Breach. The notification shall include:
1. A description of the nature of the Personal Data Breach (or suspected Personal Data Breach), including without limitation:
   1. a description of the Personal Data Breach;
   2. an explanation of how the Personal Data Breach occurred;
   3. the date and time of the Personal Data Breach;
   4. the date and time when the broker became aware of the Personal Data Breach;
   5. a description of how the broker became aware of the Personal Data Breach;
   6. the type(s) of Personal Data affected by the Personal Data Breach; and
   7. the categories and approximate number of Data Subjects concerned;
   8. a description of the likely consequences of the Personal Data Breach (or suspected Personal Data Breach) including without limitation damage to reputation, the risk of harm, financial loss and/or prejudice to a criminal investigation;
   9. the broker's recommended measures to address the Personal Data Breach (or suspected Personal Data Breach), including, where appropriate, to mitigate its possible adverse effects; and
   10. the steps it intends to take to mitigate the risk of any similar Personal Data Breach (or suspected Personal Data Breach) occurring in the future;
   11. the broker shall co-operate with Norton Home Loans Limited's investigation into the Personal Data Breach and carry out its own investigation in accordance with Norton Home Loans Limited's instructions and shall take all reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of any similar Personal Data Breach occurring in the future, along with all further reasonable steps that it may be reasonably instructed to take by Norton Home loans Limited and notify Norton Home Loans Limited within 48 hours of any steps taken.

2. Any notifications which the broker is required to make shall be provided to the broker's usual contact point with Norton Home loans Limited DPO@norton-finance.co.uk

3. The broker shall not disclose any information about, or in connection with, any Personal Data Breach, other than:

   1. To Norton Home Loans Limited
   2. With Norton Home loans Limited's express prior written approval; or
   3. As required to be disclosed by Applicable Law or by a regulatory authority (including without limitation any relevant securities exchange), or by court order, but only to the extent that and for the purpose for which such disclosure is required and provided that ‘The broker’ shall provide Norton Home Loans Limited with as much notice of any such disclosure as is lawful and reasonable in the circumstances (if any), specifying details of the circumstances and content of the required disclosure.
9. The broker shall provide all assistance requested by Norton Home Loans Limited from time to time in undertaking any data protection impact assessments, and any cooperation and consultation with a regulator that Norton Home Loans Limited may reasonably decide to undertake, or require the broker to undertake.
10. The broker shall ensure that its personnel, to the extent that they are involved in the Processing of Lender Personal Data in connection with this Agreement, shall be subject to appropriate binding obligations to protect the confidentiality of such Lender Personal Data.
11. The broker shall maintain in place throughout the term of this Agreement a data protection officer to the extent that it is required to do so by Article 37 of the General Data Protection Regulation and shall keep Norton Home Loans Limited updated in the event of any changes to the identity of ‘The broker's’ Data Protection Officer.

Nothing in this agreement relives the broker from any of its own direct responsibilities and liabilities under the Data Protection Laws.