Robin Edward Stubbings

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Robin Edward Stubbings, sole owner/COLP/COFA of CC Bell & Son, acted for sellers in a conveyancing transaction. He gave undertakings (via form TA13 and the Law Society Completion Code, and in correspondence) to provide RX3 and ST5 forms on completion to enable removal of a title restriction, but failed to do so for around 15 months, causing the buyers' HMLR registration to be cancelled and additional fees incurred (Allegation 1.1). He also repeatedly failed to co-operate with the SRA investigation between September 2022 and February 2024, ignoring or delaying responses to correspondence and failing to provide documents/income evidence (Allegation 1.2). The Tribunal proceeded in his absence, found both allegations proved on the balance of probabilities, and made no finding of dishonesty. Sanction: £17,500 fine plus practice restrictions.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• Report serious misconduct of others
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to comply with undertaking persisted for around 15 months
• Caused inconvenience, distress and financial harm (additional Land Registry fees) to buyers' clients and cancellation of registration
• Repeated and prolonged failure to co-operate with the regulator, only producing documents after a S44B production notice

Mitigating factors:

• Did not contest/dispute the underlying facts and acknowledged the matter took far too long
• Expressed sincere apologies and regret
• Medical condition affecting attendance/engagement