SRA Handbook

Multi-party and multi-profession issues

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Version 12 of the Handbook was published on 31/10/2014. For more information, please click 'History' Above

Rule 10: Multi-party and multi-profession issues

10.1

Where the loss has been sustained as a result of the combined activities of more than one party (e.g. a defaulting practitioner conspires with an accountant or surveyor, or is assisted by a negligent accountant or valuer), the SRA will consider the role of each contributing factor in causing the applicant's loss. The SRA will base any grant on its assessment of that portion of the loss primarily attributable to the acts of the defaulting practitioner as opposed to that portion which is primarily attributable to the acts or omissions of the other parties, or to other factors. The SRA may decide to make a grant on a pro-rata basis in accordance with its assessment of the importance of each contributing factor in the loss, or may reject an application in its entirety if it is of the opinion that the loss was primarily due to other factors rather than the defaulting practitioner's conduct.

10.2

When a solicitor, REL or RFL is practising as the manager or employee of a body authorised not by the SRA but by another approved regulator, the SRA will not consider any claim in respect of that individual's act or default, or his or her employee's act or default.

10.3

When an individual authorised not by the SRA but by another approved regulator is practising as the manager or employee of a recognised body, the SRA will in its discretion consider a claim in respect of that individual's act or default.

10.4

In the case of a defaulting licensed body, the SRA will assess the extent (if any) to which the loss is attributable to an act or default in the course of performance of a regulated activity (as opposed to an activity not regulated by the SRA or to other factors). The SRA will take that assessment into account in deciding whether to make a grant and, if so, in what amount. The SRA may refuse to make any grant in a case where it assesses that the loss was primarily attributable to an act or default in the course of performance of an activity not regulated by the SRA or to other factors.