An award-winning solicitor lauded for her rags-to-riches rise has been struck off after she misled a group of nurses over the sale of a buy-to-let property.
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she → win → property
Julie Condliffe, 48, whose firm specialised in helping people to buy or sell property at auction, led the three nurses to believe they were buying the home in the north east as an investment.
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they → specialise → investment
But Ms Condliffe, a property entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, already owned the property and it was never transferred to the nurses.
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it → own → nurses
She then tried to claim the arrangement had always been for them to lease it, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard.
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Tribunal → try → it
Condliffe, a social mobility ambassador for the Law Society, had been approached by the nurses through the Zimbabwean community, where she was said to be well-known and influential.
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she → approach → community
One of the nurses described her as 'famous amongst the Zimbabwean community'.
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One → describe → community
But she misled the 'inexperienced investors' who were led to believe they were buying the freehold.
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they → mislead → freehold
The tribunal concluded she 'clearly exploited her professional status to promote the trust and credibility arising from being a qualified solicitor'.
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she → conclude → trust
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Julie Condliffe falsely told three nurses they were buying a residential property in the northeast for which they had paid a total of £31,000
Julie Condliffe in Law Society portrait
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they → find → Society
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.
'
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she → add → women
She caused significant damage to the reputation of the legal profession.
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She → cause → profession
The harm she caused was clearly foreseeable.'
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she → cause → ?
The tribunal heard that in 2018, she brokered a deal for the three nurses to buy a three-bedroom terraced house in Peterlee, Co Durham.
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nurses → hear → Peterlee
They thought they were buying it to improve and sell on again for a quick return.
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they → think → return
But they did not know that her firm PropertyPro World Limited (PPW) owned the property and Condliffe never intended to sell it to them, regarding their money as securing only a lease with an option to purchase.
The three friends handed over £27,999, a sourcing fee of £3,000 to PPW and spent £3,720 on renovations.
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friends → know → renovations
Condliffe later sent messages suggesting the property was being transferred, including one text saying 'The property will be yours from tomorrow'.
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property → send → tomorrow
But the relationship broke down and in 2021 the investors issued county court proceedings which resulted in a settlement for £19,000.
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which → break → 19,000
One of the nurses, Pawel Jaskolski, 42, a mental health nurse who specialises in ADHD and autism assessments, said he believed she targeted nurses as they were 'compassionate people'.
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they → specialise → nurses
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.
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this → deny → investors
She submitted a 2018 letter mentioning lease option purchase.
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She → submit → purchase
But the Solicitors Regulation Authority, prosecuting, pointed out that the PPW registered office on the document was not occupied until 2020.
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office → prosecute → 2020
The tribunal said this discrepancy 'gravely damaged Ms Condliffe's credibility'.
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discrepancy → say → credibility
Two charges relating to dishonesty were found proven, although she was cleared of a third of misleading investigators at the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the body which polices the profession.
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which → relate → profession
Condliffe admitted a further charge over banking arrangements when Metro Bank closed her account, she switched to an unsuitable financial platform to hold and process clients' money.
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she → admit → money
At one time it held more than £2.5million but had withdrawal limitations that put property deals, including one £1million-plus purchase, at risk.
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that → hold → risk
Condliffe, whose portrait hung for years in the offices of the Law Society, was struck off and ordered to pay £48,000 costs.
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portrait → hang → costs
According to Condliffe, she grew up destitute in Zimbabwe, the youngest of eight children.
She never knew her father, who she claims was shot dead in the country's war of independence when she was a baby.
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she → accord → independence
Her mother moved the family to Harare, working for nothing for five years to acquire a ramshackle home.
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mother → move → home
When the family's benefactor died, they were evicted and lost everything, apparently sparking Condliffe's childhood dream to become a lawyer to fight injustice.
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they → die → injustice
Her family was said to have scraped together £500 to send her to Britain to pursue her legal dream, fuelled by watching episodes of Ally McBeal through the window of a neighbour's house, in 1998.
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family → say → 1998
According to Condliffe, she had nothing, knew no one and, at one point, slept in a phone box.
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she → accord → box
She worked in McDonald's in Watford and in care homes while studying nursing and then law at the University of Hertfordshire.
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She → work → Hertfordshire
She was first registered as a solicitor in 2012.
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She → register → 2012
Despite her childhood ordeal, she pitched herself as an eviction specialist, helping landlords get shot of stubborn tenants.
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landlords → pitch → tenants
Meanwhile, she claimed to have bought her first property in 2006 and then built up a portfolio of more than 30, worth more than £1million.
Her apparent success led to recognition from the Law Society, the body representing the legal profession.
A large, artfully shot portrait, in which she posed in profile wearing a boxing glove, was hung in its offices in London.
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she → claim → London
In 2017, she was included in a list of the most influential Christians from Zimbabwe.
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she → include → Zimbabwe
She was living with her husband and three children in a four-bed detached modern home, worth about £350,000, in Rushden, Northants.
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She → live → Rushden
Condliffe's law firm, Creative Legal Solutions, was awarded Best Boutique Auction Law Firm 2022 and Specialist Solicitor of the Year 2022 in the SME News legal awards.
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firm → award → awards
She has several thousand followers on social media, largely from the Zimbabwean community.
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She → have → community
The Law Society distanced itself from its former poster girl, saying: 'The Law Society Social Mobility Ambassador scheme ended in 2023.
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scheme → distance → 2023
…and 7 more, not listed.
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