Solicitor fined for client negligence

Jonathan Sara, a solicitor at Private Office Legal Services, has been fined £5,165 for failing to adequately advise over 100 clients on high-risk schemes involving the purchase and subletting of leasehold rooms in care homes. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) found that between February 2017 and March 2019, Mr Sara breached multiple principles of the SRA Code of Conduct. Although his conduct was deemed serious, it was not intentional, and he was not found to have acted dishonestly. Anca-Florina Mitrana, another solicitor at the firm, was also rebuked for similar failures in client advice.