ZIMBABWEAN-BORN LAWYER DEREGISTERED IN UK OVER £31,000 PROPERTY SCAM
UK BASED Zim nurses duped £31 000 in property scam
A Zimbabwean-born lawyer who abused her position to mislead a vulnerable group of nurses seeking to invest in property has been struck off the roll in the United Kingdom.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Julie Condliffe, 48, admitted in 2012, falsely told syndicate members they were buying a residential property in the northeast for which they had paid a total of £31,000.
No property was ever transferred. Condliffe subsequently misrepresented the arrangement as a “residential purchase lease option” — a claim she repeated 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 authored four books, was 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.’
At the time of the alleged misconduct, Condliffe was sole director of PropertyPro World Limited (PPW). She later owned London firm Creative Legal Solutions before it was shut down by the SRA in 2025.
The three investors entered into arrangements with Condliffe in 2018, unaware that PPW owned the property they believed they were buying. One later told the tribunal she thought Condliffe was representing her after brokering the investment.
Condliffe emailed the group saying she would handle the matter herself as a specialist solicitor, and later sent messages suggesting the transfer was underway, including a text stating: ‘The property will be yours from tomorrow’.
The relationship broke down and in 2021 the investors issued county court proceedings, which resulted in a £19,000 settlement.
Condliffe denied knowingly misleading the investors, saying she genuinely believed it was a lease-option purchase and that the confusion was an honest misunderstanding.
A key part of her defence was a first-option agreement sent to one investor in 2018 referring to a purchase lease. But the SRA noted that the PPW registered office address on the document was not occupied until 2020. The tribunal said the discrepancy ‘gravely damaged Ms Condliffe’s credibility’.
Condliffe was struck off and ordered to pay £48,000 in costs. – Law Society Gazette UK