Man's house sale in limbo as solicitor shuts

A man who was weeks away from selling his terminally ill brother's home said he had been "left high and dry" after the solicitor's firm he had been using was closed.

Ross Coates Solicitors, in Ipswich, was shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) which said it had taken action to "protect the public".

According to the company's website, clients who have any outstanding matters with the firm will now instead be "transferred" to Lester Aldridge Solicitors.

Christopher Payne, 71, said the sale of a house belonging to his 84-year-old brother, who has Alzheimer's, was "all going through nicely" but was now "all up in the air".

"I got an email from the solicitor saying they were very sorry and this would come as a shock, but the practice was closed due to an investigation," he told the BBC.

"It was disappointing and now I'm trying to salvage something out of this - it is just the uncertainty and worry of it all, it's exhausting."

Payne, whose brother is in a care home, said his broker had assured him they would retrieve his files and find him another solicitor.

"It was a shock because my brother had spent a considerable amount of money, about £1,000 with the various fees, to actually progress the sale," he added.

"And now I'm sort of left high and dry."

Details about why the regulatory body felt the need to intervene so suddenly are unclear.

According to its website, action like this can be taken when "something has gone wrong" and intervention is needed in order "to protect the public".

It also says the company's owner, Ross Coates, "failed to comply" with parts of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 and it was "necessary to intervene".

The enforced closure comes less than a year after the SRA fined the solicitor's firm £13,690 after an investigation "identified areas of concern" from 2017 to 2025.

These related to the firm's failure to establish and maintain policies, controls and procedures which "mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing".

Between 2011 and 2017, the SRA also said the firm had failed to establish and maintain "fully appropriate and risk-sensitive policies and procedures".

These, among other things, concerned procedures relating to customer due diligence measures and ongoing monitoring, reporting and record-keeping.

This, the SRA, said, also made the company susceptible to the potential risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.

Ross Coates Solicitors, Lester Aldridge Solicitors and the SRA were contacted for comment.

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