Annual Seminar & AGM

This years event was held on Wednesday 19th October at The Law Society in London. We received overwhelming demand for the event so thank you to those that attended and sorry to those that missed a spot. Be sure to book in 2012!

Members please click here to login to view the Official Notice, Nomination of Directors, Proxy form and Accounts for 2011.  

Click here to view the brochure. 

Review of IRPM Seminar & AGM 2011 by Helen Christie MIRPM 

This year’s annual seminar and AGM, organised by The Institute of Residential Property Management, has focused even more on enhancing knowledge within the sector with presentations from key players in the world of educational and institutional property ownership and investment.

As the IRPM continues to grow with membership now exceeding the magical 2,000, the IRPM Annual Seminar and AGM held on 19^th October 2011 at the Law Society, sponsored again by Sky, and was without doubt the biggest to date with over 250 delegates in attendance.

The day started with the AGM where all recommendations for reappointment and new Governors were approved. Newly appointed to the Board of Governors was David Clarke, Principle of Mainstay and ARMA Council member who will ensure a continuation of IRPM’s close ties with The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), Michael Meschini of Cluttons who will take the lead within the Qualifications Working Group in developing a service charge accountant route to AIRPM and Andrew Croft of Oakland Residential Management.

Delegates heard of many positives during the year including finances continuing to be prudent putting an end to ‘boom’ or ‘bust’, increased membership including applications from the Social Housing Sector, new logo and website, AssocRICS and increased numbers taking the Part I and II exams. The Part I exam for the first time was electronically marked while Part II is being reviewed to provide an exam that covers general property management and additional sections to cover different roles within the sector such as property managers, support staff and accounting staff.

Before the main conference commenced, delegates were provided with lunch and an opportunity for some all important networking. Liam O’Connell, the Chair, then welcomed everyone and within seconds had delegates on their feet with a resounding ‘you are gorgeous’ being shouted around the room before presentations from two key players in the world of commercial property ownership and investment got underway.

Nick Jopling who joined Grainger plc in September 2010 as Executive Director of Property gave delegates an interesting and insightful view into the future of institutional investment both in terms of Grainger and the wider industry and looked at the roles that institutional and foreign investors are likely to play in residential property management in the coming years. Delegates were told of Grainger’s new venture with Bouygues, a French construction company building purposely for rent with single ownership and single management. The presentation was concluded by drawing parallels to the Cinderella story, encouraging agents and landlords not to be seen as the ugly sisters within institutional investment but as Cinderella; providing increased customer service, greater reporting standards, more robust processes and procedures, greater use of technology and professionalism by way of branding and qualifications.

Ian Fletcher, Director of Policy at British Property Federation, echoed the potential for managing agents to work within the build to rent market identifying it as a serious prospect for residential managing agents to manage this stock. It was reiterated to delegates the increasing relationship between residential and commercial which is now more prudent and requires a greater need of interaction between the two as we have seen a steady increase in mixed use developments generated from policy and business strategy. Referring back to Cinderella, delegates were advised that property management is not a Cinderella business and sometimes BPF members think managing agents are not as efficient as they could be but most positively, the platform provided by IRPM will encourage more people into property management as a career choice.

Before a short break there was time to recognise the achievements of those within the industry with the BPF and Brethertons Awards presentations. The highest scoring candidate in the Part II exam award went to Darren Winter of DJW with a score of 98%. Dorothy Newman of Rendall and Rittner was the highest scoring candidate of the legal question in the Part II exam with a score of 97%. A one-off award was also presented to Sara Hehir of HML Andertons who achieved 97% in the Part II exam.

The Liam O’Connell experience then got underway which from start to finish was interactive and had delegates in stitches, and rubber ducks being thrown around the room. The overriding message being ‘Don’t feed the ducks… Inspire your people’. The session was real from someone who has himself worked on the customer service front line inspiring delegates to create great organisations and deliver fantastic customer service.

The findings of Brethertons Property Management ‘State of the Nation’ 2011 Survey results were then presented to delegates by Alison McCormack, Head of Department Property Management at Brethertons. The headlines from the survey were that the sector is bigger than we think and continuing to grow, it is stable and profitable but also fractured and insular in terms of information technology, has a need for greater regulation and shows a shift in the market from a reliance on commercial to residential properties. The survey concluded that the industry, although diverse, appears to be strong and healthy, with growth experienced across the board.

Rounding off the presentations was Chris Rutter, Regional Sales Manager South at BSkyB who provided the background rational behind the digital switchover before outlining the services and assistance they can offer to property managers, landlords and Resident Management Companies to meet the requirements of the switchover.

After yet another successful, positive and inspiring day, we look forward to next years event which promises to be one not to be missed as membership continues to grow and exciting plans for the institute in 2012 come to fruition.

Special thanks to our sponsor who returned for a second year. 

Click here for a review of last years event in 2010. 

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