A lawyer who abused her position and status to mislead a vulnerable group of nurses seeking to invest in property has been struck off the roll.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Julie Condliffe, admitted in 2012, falsely told syndicate members that they were buying a residential property in the northeast for which they had paid a total of £31,000.
No property was ever transferred. Subsequently, Condliffe misleadingly characterised the arrangement as a residential purchase lease option – and did so again to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and to the court when the investors brought a civil claim against her.
Condliffe, who has spoken at conferences and on podcasts and has had four books published, had been approached through the Zimbabwean community, where she was well-known and influential.
The tribunal concluded that she ‘clearly exploited her professional status to promote the trust and credibility arising from being a qualified solicitor’. It added: ‘Ms Condliffe’s misconduct had a significant impact on the wider community and, in particular, on the Zimbabwean women she claimed to be empowering. She caused significant damage to the reputation of the legal profession. The harm she caused was clearly foreseeable.’
Condliffe, 48, was sole director of a company called PropertyPro World Limited (PPW) at the time of the alleged behaviour. She later owned London firm Creative Legal Solutions before it was shut down by the SRA in 2025.
The three potential investors had entered into arrangements with Condliffe in 2018 not knowing at the time that PPW owned the property they thought they were buying. One of the group later told the tribunal they thought she was representing them after having brokered the investment.
Condliffe emailed to say she would handle the matter herself as a specialist solicitor and later sent messages suggesting the property was being transferred, including one text saying ‘The property will be yours from tomorrow’.
The relationship broke down and in 2021 the investors issued county court proceedings which resulted in a settlement for £19,000.
Condliffe denied knowingly misleading the investors, saying she genuinely believed the property was a lease option purchase and that this had been an honest misunderstanding.
A key part of her defence was a first-option agreement purportedly sent to one of the investors in 2018, which mentioned a purchase lease. But the SRA, prosecuting, pointed out that the PPW registered office on the document was not occupied until 2020. The tribunal said this discrepancy ‘gravely damaged Ms Condliffe’s credibility’.
Condliffe was struck off and ordered to pay £48,000 costs.
