Real Estate & Property Law
Up to 60 Lawyers Targeted in U.K. Bar Group’s Mortgage Fraud Probe
Posted Mar 7, 2008, 07:59 pm CST
By Martha Neil
The Solicitors Regulation Authority reportedly has launched an investigation of 40 to 60 unnamed lawyers in the United Kingdom for possible mortgage fraud.
Four law firms have also been searched as part of a different mortgage fraud investigation of attorneys and non-attorneys by the government's Serious Fraud Office, according to the Lawyer. Under a separate initiative, notices apparently will be sent next week to all solicitors regulated by the SRA, offering tips about how avoid mortgage fraud, according to Legal Week.
The probes follow a rapid rise in complaints against solicitors.
"The complaints center around organized mortgage fraud that took place in the early 1990s leading to U.K. lenders losing an estimated 700 million pounds last year," the Lawyer writes. "The grievances include the over-valuation of new buildings and deliberate inflation of commercial real estate prices."
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