Rahand Raza

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

The Respondent solicitor was convicted at South East London Magistrates' Court of dishonestly sub-letting his social housing flat without the Landlord's consent under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013, receiving 12 weeks' imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to pay £3,496 compensation. The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6, with the conviction involving dishonesty (which the Respondent admitted). Despite personal mitigation including serious health conditions, character references and self-reporting, the Tribunal found no exceptional circumstances under Sharma/James to justify a lesser sanction. The Respondent was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,471.90.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Conduct involved dishonesty (criminal conviction under Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013)
• Deliberate and calculated actions from which he personally benefitted
• Protracted course of conduct over 2-3 years, not momentary
• Concealed sub-letting from the Landlord
• Personal financial gain (received £11,295 in rent)
• High culpability and high harm to wider society

Mitigating factors:

• Pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court, apparently against legal advice
• Self-reported conviction to the Regulator promptly
• Paid compensation of £3,496 to the Landlord
• No previous disciplinary findings
• Genuine insight and apology
• Serious life-threatening health conditions during relevant period
• 6 positive character references