The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has fined conveyancer Robin Stubbings £17,500 and give him a temporary ban after he caused a 15-month delay to the completion of a property sale.

Stubbings, who is owner of Bedford-based legal firm CC Bell & Son (pictured), has 50 years of experience working as a solicitor.

Restriction on deeds

He was instructed to sell a property following the death of its owner. It had a restriction on it as it was registered in both the names of the deceased and her three children through a declaration of trust.

When the property was sold, Stubbings should have sent forms which removed the restriction on the property to the Land Registry either on completion of the sale or by the end of the following day.

Despite various reminders from the purchaser’s solicitors, the Tribunal was told that Stubbings did not do so until 15 months later, by which time the buyers’ application for registration had been cancelled and further fees had been incurred by the purchasers.

It also caused serious problems with the buyers’ mortgage, as the lender could not take out its usual charge on the property.

After a complaint was made, Stubbings was investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) but failed to cooperate with it.

Failed to maintain public trust in the profession.”

And when the SRA then brought the case to the Tribunal, Stubbings neither contested the charges nor, as a result of a health issue, did he attend.

The Tribunal subsequently found against him, saying that he had: “Failed to cooperate with the SRA, failed to take appropriate steps to complete or progress matters and had failed to maintain public trust in the profession.”

After taking into consideration Stubbings’ track record, which included another appearance at the Tribunal for failing to return client monies promptly and two investigations by the Legal Ombudsman, the Tribunal fined him £17,500 plus £5,500 costs and banned him from practising for a period of 18 months.

Read the full judgment here.