Kim Singh Landa

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

The Respondent, an assistant solicitor, gave an undertaking on 3 January 2014 to register an AN1 to protect Mr JM's £25,000 investment interest against a property but failed to ensure registration occurred. The property was later sold and Mr JM did not receive his entitlement of £40,400. In a letter dated 2 April 2015 the Respondent provided inaccurate information to Drysdales suggesting the notice had been removed with the client's consent, when in fact no application had ever been submitted. The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 6 and 7 and Outcome 11.2 proved beyond reasonable doubt. The Applicant did not allege dishonesty, accepting the Respondent had been confused. The Tribunal fixed a fine of £5,000 and costs of £3,452.00.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Handle inadvertently received material
• Diligence and timeliness
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• A solicitor's undertaking must be able to be relied upon and is central to the conveyancing process; failure to comply was a material breach of obligations to protect the public and reputation of the profession
• Experienced solicitor with over seven years post-qualification experience
• Substantial financial loss to Mr JM

Mitigating factors:

• Previously unblemished record
• One-off mistake, did not profit
• Early and frank admissions (save for Principle 7) and cooperation
• Showed insight, regret and embarrassment
• Worked in a busy practice; some lack of supervision by others on file
• Two positive character references