David Trevor Bowden
- Application 11591-2016
- Admitted 1990
- Hearing 5 June 2017
- Reasons 27 June 2017
The SDT ordered that the respondent should pay a fine of £7,500.
The matter was dealt with by way of the agreed outcome procedure.
The respondent had caused or permitted client monies which he had received from a third party by way of deposit payable under a rent deposit deed to be paid into his firm’s general client account, when he knew or should have known those monies were required by the deed to be held in a designated deposit account with NatWest Plc, in breach of rule 1.06 of the Solicitors Code of Conduct 2007.
The respondent had caused or permitted various transfers of the rent deposit money between ledgers held for his client AR, in breach of rule 29.1(a) of the SRA Accounts Rules 2011 and principles 4, 6 and 10 of the SRA Principles 2011.
The respondent had caused or permitted the use of rent deposit money to pay costs owed to the firm by his client AR at a time when those monies did not belong to AR, but to AR’s tenants, in breach of rule 20(1)(a) of the rules and principles 4, 5, 6 and 10.
The proposed fine of £7,500 was appropriate and proportionate in the circumstances of the respondent’s misconduct, and his age and health.
The respondent was ordered to pay costs of £13,500, not to be enforced without leave of the SDT, other than by way of a charging order.