A solicitor has been fined £5,165 for failing to adequately advise clients about high risk schemes involving buying and subletting leasehold rooms in care homes.
According to a Solicitors Regulation Authority notice, Jonathan Sara, admitted in 2003, was working at Waltham Cross firm Private Office Legal Services at the time of the misconduct. Between February 2017 and March 2019, Sara failed to advise more than 100 clients ‘adequately or at all’ about the high risks in schemes involving the purchase and subsequent subletting of rooms in care homes.
The SRA found that Sara had breached Principles 4, 5 and 6 of the SRA Principles 2011 and outcomes 1.2 and 1.5 of the SRA Code of Conduct 2011.
In a published decision, the regulator said a ‘financial penalty was an appropriate and proportionate sanction’ as Sara’s conduct was deemed serious and could have caused ‘moderate harm’.
It said: ‘Mr Sara was an experienced conveyancing solicitor. He advised over 100 clients in relation to the purchase of rooms/suites in various care home developments, in circumstances where he knew, or should have known, that there were significant risks in the transactions. Mr Sara treated the transactions as ordinary conveyances, notwithstanding the unusual elements of the deal. He failed to advise his clients about the high risks involved.’
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Sara’s conduct was not intentional and did not continue after it was known to be improper, the SRA said. It was not a pattern of misconduct.
In mitigation, the SRA said Sara had not intentionally flouted his regulatory obligations, his clients were not vulnerable, and there was no suggestion he acted dishonestly or with a lack of integrity.
Sara was fined £5,165 and ordered to pay £1,350 costs.
Anca-Florina Mitrana, admitted in 2017, who also worked at Private Office Legal Services, was rebuked by the SRA for failing to advise clients adequately or at all about high risks in schemes involving the purchase and subsequent subletting of leasehold rooms and/or suites in care homes from September 2017 to November 2018.
The regulator said Mitrana’s conduct ‘constitued more than a single negligent mistake’ and ‘there was an underlying concern in the public interest’.
A more serious sanction was not considered to be proportionate, the SRA said, as Mitrana was a newly qualified solicitor working under the supervision of a more senior and experienced property lawyer. The regulator said Mitrana ‘had not acted intentionally in breach of regulatory obligations’.
