With over 150 attendees including members and key figures from the sector the 2014 FPRA Conference and AGM was an outstanding success.
The event took play in the Great Hall at Kensington Town Hall on Monday 10th November 2014.
The evening started with a welcome by Bob Smytherman, Chair of the FPRA, thanking everyone for attending and introducing the speakers for the evening.
Sebastian O’Kelly and Martin Boyd were then welcomed to the stage.
The keynote speaker for the evening was The Rt. Hon. Keith Hill. Keith spoke about Regulating the Leasehold Sector: ARMA-Q and Beyond. Having been a leaseholder once, a Member of Parliament and currently the Chair of an ALMO with over 20,000 properties, Keith has involvement in leasehold from a consumer, manager and policy aspect. The full speech from Keith is available to read here.
The conference then moved to questions from the floor, giving members the opportunity to direct a question or comment to any of the panel. Numerous hands went up when the floor was opened and the panel were able a number of questions, however with time moving on there wasn’t time for them all.
Following the speakers it was time for the AGM, and members were invited to attend this with Bob Smytherman in the chair. Minutes from the AGM will be available to view shortly.
While the AGM was taking place, other visitors were able to visit the workshop area and meet with the sponsors of the event:
- JPC Law
- News on the Block
- Lorica Insurance Brokers
- RTMF
- Bishop & Sewell Solicitors
- Flat Living
After a short refreshment break, attendees were able to attend the workshop sessions being run by Directors and Honorary Consultants of the FPRA.
- Enfranchisement & Lease Extensions – Mark Chick, Bishop & Sewell
- Service Charge & Right to Manage – Yashmin Mistry, JPC Law
- First Tier Tribunal -Cassandra Zanelli, Taylor & Emmet
- Insurance – Paul Robertson, 1st Sure
- Residents’ Associations, with Bob Smytherman, Chris Rutter and Richard Williams
There were three rounds of the workshop sessions giving members the opportunity to visit a number of sessions, and learn more about each of these areas and ask questions.
While all of the above was happening, a number of our dedicated Honorary Consultants were advising members in pre booked one to one sessions. These sessions gave members the opportunity to have an individual discussion and advice session on an area of their choice.
One to one sessions were run by:
- Bernie Wales
- Amanda Gourlay
- Dr Nick Roberts
- Simon Masters
- Khavita Bharti
- Dona Awano
- Victoria Seifert
- Richard Hards
Thank you to our speakers Sebastian, Keith and Martin to News on the Block events for organising the conference as well as all of our Honorary Consultants and Directors who were made the evening possible.