Julian Condliffe

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Julian Condliffe, a solicitor and sole director of property company PPW, was found to have dishonestly misled three inexperienced investors into believing that a property (9 Angus Street) would be transferred into their names after they paid £30,999, when title was never transferred and no genuine option arrangement existed. She subsequently misled the SRA (Feb 2022) and the Birmingham County Court (Jan 2023) by mischaracterising the transaction as a lease option, relying on inconsistent, unsigned option agreements and a management agreement shown to be non-contemporaneous. These allegations (1.1, 1.2.1, 1.2.2) were proved with an express finding of dishonesty. Allegation 3 (admitted) concerned holding client money in a non-designated Tide platform account after Metro Bank closure, causing a 23-day delay in returning £1,099,413 to a client; breaches of the Accounts Rules and Principles were established. Allegation 4 (providing inaccurate/misleading information to the SRA on 5 September 2024) was found not proved, the Tribunal accepting incompleteness was not intent to mislead. The Tribunal struck her off the Roll and ordered costs of £47,939.48.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Proper basis for allegations
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Firm governance, systems and compliance
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Proven dishonesty
• Deliberate and repeated misleading of the Investors over a significant period
• Misled both the regulator and the court
• Exploited her professional status as a solicitor to gain trust
• Took advantage of vulnerable, inexperienced members of the Zimbabwean community
• Conduct was planned

Mitigating factors:

• 14-year unblemished regulatory history / no previous disciplinary findings (though Tribunal found no formal mitigating factors)