The lawyer was hit after showing clients an incompetent and “reckless neglect” over lease extensions, which was revealed.
David Gowland of DG Surieers Ltd has been ordered to pay £13,925 by the Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Disciplinary Office.
The deadline has passed
His client, Mr. Hoden, who lived in an apartment in west London, asked Go-round to process a lease extension application to the freeholder Hounslow Council.
After initially taking on the job, Go-round failed to notify Horden that he could apply to the court if an agreement with the council was not reached.
When the deadline was made in May 2021, when he applied to the court, Hoden's application was deemed to have been withdrawn and was owed to pay the council's legal fees. Gowland failed to reply to many of Hoden's requests for information, and also ignored several letters from the RIC.
Reckless ignorance
The panel said, “Exile was considered to be the only sanction available, to ensure that the public was protected from experts who had recklessly ignored the interests of the client, were unable to engage with the client and regulatory authorities, and demonstrated a level of incompetence.”
“Mr. Go-round's actions represent his clients a serious abolition of his liability, something other members of the profession would consider to be deplorable.”
result
“Finally and personally, Mr. Hoden's outcome was important,” the panel heard.
The panel took into consideration that Gowland had waived his fees and “had a relatively long career, but had no previous disciplinary history in the meantime.”
Gowland's company DG Surveyor was lured in September 2021.
Read the complete judgment here.
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