Richard Chan

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

Richard Chan, a solicitor, declared to HMRC purchase prices far below what he actually paid for a house (£525,000 declared as £165,000) and an office (£763,750 declared as £100,000), avoiding SDLT and incurring HMRC penalties. The Tribunal found dishonesty proved beyond reasonable doubt under the Twinsectra test for both transactions (Allegation 1), breaching Principles 2 and 6. He failed to report the HMRC penalty to the SRA (Allegation 2, Principle 7) and failed to comply with two section 44B notices (Allegation 4, Principle 7). Allegation 3 (promoting SDLT avoidance schemes) was found not proved for lack of evidence. He did not attend and the hearing proceeded in his absence. He was struck off the Roll. Note: the body of the judgment fixed costs at £18,020.40, but the operative Statement of Full Order recorded costs of £15,000.00.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Honesty
• Cooperate openly with regulators

Aggravating factors:

• Express findings of dishonesty on two separate transactions
• Motivation was personal financial gain
• Misconduct planned, deliberate, calculated and repeated over time
• Active concealment of wrongdoing from the SRA, including application to Tax Tribunal to prevent publication
• Attempted to shift blame onto his firm/'agent'
• Experienced practitioner (15 years PQE) specialising in property
• Previous disciplinary matter (3-year suspension imposed April 2016)
• Lack of insight and failure to engage with proceedings

Mitigating factors:

• Eventually paid the outstanding SDLT, penalties and interest (though only under protest and after argument with HMRC)