Law Society-v-George Raymond Morton

Edinburgh 23 November 2015.  The Tribunal having considered the Complaint dated 20 November 2015 at the instance of the Council of the Law Society of Scotland against George Raymond Morton, Solicitor, formerly of Marshall Wilson Law Group Limited, 2 High Street, Falkirk and Morton Pacitti LLP, 5 Newmarket Street, Falkirk; Find the Respondent guilty of professional misconduct in respect of his failures arising out of a large conveyancing transaction involving the purchase of 48 flats, in particular, (1) his failure to inform the lenders in relation to the purchase of the flats of the following material facts – (a) that the purchase price being paid for each of the properties was substantially less than the £200,000 being the price upon which the lenders had based the amount which they were prepared to lend on the individual properties; (b) that the loan funds being received for each of these properties exceeded the actual purchase price being paid for each of the individual properties; (c) that part of the funds being provided for the purchase of designated individual properties by the individual lenders were also being utilised for the purchases of  9 of the flats; (d) that the borrowers were contributing £150,000 or less towards the total transaction price of £5,500,000; (e) that the rents being paid by the sitting tenants were substantially below the levels stipulated in the respective loan instructions; (2) his failure to comply with the obligations contained in the CML handbook et separatim Loan Instructions in respect of the requirement to advise the lenders of material facts in the transaction as detailed in (a) to (e) above; (3) that whilst acting for both the purchasers and various lenders in relation to the abovementioned transaction he failed to comply with his professional duty to act with the utmost propriety towards all of his clients; (4) his failure to comply with his professional duty not to withhold relevant information from clients and (5) his failure to continuously act diligently and with the utmost propriety to retain the trust of lenders during the course of the said transaction; Strike the name of the Respondent, George Raymond Morton, from the Roll of Solicitors in Scotland; Find the Respondent liable in the expenses of the Complainers and of the Tribunal including expenses of the Clerk, chargeable on a time and line basis as the same may be taxed by the Auditor of the Court of Session on an agent and client, client paying basis in terms of Chapter Three of the last published Law Society’s Table of Fees for general business with a unit rate of £14.00; and Direct that publicity will be given to this decision and that this publicity should include the name of the Respondent and may but has no need to include the names of anyone other than the Respondent but such publicity will be deferred until the conclusion of any criminal proceedings which might be brought against the Respondent or intimation that no criminal proceedings are to be brought.

Alistair Cockburn

  Chairman

NOTE:

The Tribunal agreed on 1 August 2019 that this decision could be published.