Our new CEO, Andrew Bulmer FIRPM, FRICS, MARLA took the reins at the end of October. Andrew, a Chartered Surveyor and Fellow of IRPM, has a background on both leasehold block management and the private rented sector, having built up his own practice over 16 years before selling in 2011. He has spent the last 3 years as UK Residential Director at RICS, where he oversaw the delivery of the RICS Service Charge (Residential) Management Code 3^rd edition and the 2014 PRS Code of Practice for the 17-strong stakeholder coalition.

Under his mantra of “relevant, useful and good value”, Andrew is charged with driving up standards in industry and continuing the growth of IRPM, building on the remarkable success of predecessor Joint-CEOs Janie Strange and Jeff Platt. The organisation, which is already experiencing double-digit % membership growth year-on-year, is launching its new and innovative Build-to-Rent sector qualification and delivering new apprenticeships across the residential property management landscape. 

“It is a privilege to lead an organisation that is dynamic and growing as a direct result of its relevance to market. Well over half of the 4.2m leasehold properties are thought to be managed by IRPM qualified professionals and demand for our qualifications has never been higher. It is no coincidence that management standards have risen significantly since IRPM was born in 2002 – a terrific vindication of the great work done by my predecessors Janie and Jeff, who are staying involved in IRPM for some time yet. The industry is clearly experiencing a “flight to quality” and we are seeing more members studying for our top Level 4 “Member” status. Industry is hungry for our new Build-to-Rent qualification, and our first apprentices start at the same time in January. These are exciting times for industry and IRPM members and we will be there to deliver for them both.”