Mortgages: Solicitor breached Lender’s Handbook requirements
A solicitor who acted for lenders in conveyancing transactions without telling them he was also acting for himself and family members has been fined £12,500.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) said Mark Robert Westwood had “erred significantly in acting in conveyancing transactions where there were conflicts of interest”, but there had been no dishonesty and he had “demonstrated genuine remorse and insight into his failings”.
The SDT heard that the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) agreed to withdraw allegations of lack of integrity and recklessness, both denied by Mr Westwood.
In a statement of agreed facts and proposed outcome with the regulator, the solicitor admitted acting in five conveyancing transactions over the space of four years where there was a conflict of interest or significant risk of one.
He also admitted failing to disclose to the lender “material information concerning his relationship to his borrower client”, who was either “an immediate relative or himself”.
Mr Westwood, admitted in 1985, worked as a consultant at Cavendish Legal Group (CLG) from October 2014 until February 2020, when it was acquired by O’Neill Patient Solicitors (ONP). Based in Hove, he was a supervisor dealing with property matters.
The SRA said Mr Westwood continued as a consultant at ONP until his employment was terminated in January 2022. Since then, he has worked as a consultant at Engleharts.
The SRA became involved in November 2021, when legal counsel for Clydesdale Bank reported that a certificate of title signed in October 2020, relating to a property it was lending on, had been signed by one of the borrowers, Mr Westwood.
“They complained that this was a breach of the bank’s instructions, a breach of all normal rules of conveyancing, and a significant conflict of interest.”
The SRA launched an investigation in May 2022. ONP provided a list of eight matters in which CLG or ONP had acted for Mr Westwood or members of his family as the borrower; in all but one of them the firm had also acted for the borrower.
Two of the files had been destroyed, but the other five had all been opened in Mr Westwood’s name as the fee-earner. The lender client had not been advised of the family ties.
The Lenders Handbook prohibits law firms from acting for lenders “if the partner or fee-earner dealing with the transaction or a member of his immediate family is the borrower”, unless the lender says the firm can act and a separate fee-earner of no less standing, or a partner, acts.
In mitigation, the solicitor said that “no loss has been caused to anyone” and no advantage “was sought, or gained” by him in acting as he did – all were genuine transactions.
Approving the agreed outcome, the SDT said “considerable steps” had been taken by Mr Westwood to “address the mistakes he had made and to understand the significance of the lenders’ requirements at the point of instruction”, including taking courses on the issue.
He was fined £12,500 and ordered to pay costs of £19,670.
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