Report from the floor at the ARLA Conference & Exhibition

The Annual ARLA Propertymark Conference and Exhibition is the largest and most attended event in the private rental sector. The occasion gives registered ARLA members an opportunity to discuss and keep abreast of changing legislation.

Nick van Klaveren (Director) and Ian Wiggett (Managing Director) attended this years’ conference to find out the latest.

Key takeaways from the ARLA Conference

This years’ conference was a complete sell out following what has been another busy but also challenging year for the residential lettings industry here in the UK. The conference included guest speakers such as Robert Peston (ITV Political Editor), William Hague and ALRA’s Managing Director, David Cox, to name but a few. The conference got off to an early start with a presentation given by David Cox, summarising the previous twelve months and highlighting several legislative changes that have both come into force already and are due to come into force shortly.

Numerous topics were covered, including the proposed tenant fee ban, Client Money Protection changes, EPC rating standards (click to learn more about the upcoming changes), Right to Rent checks, Brexit and of course, the rebranding of ARLA and the introduction of ‘Propertymark’; we’ve discussed a few of these in more detail below.

Proposed Tenant Fee Ban

The conference played host to a live debate which was primarily to discuss the proposed tenant fee ban and the impact that it may have on the industry. A panel of individuals from varying political, industry and editorial backgrounds took to the stage to discuss their arguments both for and against on a small selection of hot topics.

There are still many unanswered questions regarding the proposed tenant fee ban, particularly the Governments’ need to carefully consider how it goes about implementing such a huge change.

Clamping down on Right to Rent

The conference also referred to the tightening of rules surrounding Right to Rent checks, which became mandatory for all letting agents/landlords to undertake back in February 2016.  However, as of 1st December 2016, failing to carry out these necessary checks is not only a criminal offense but could well result in a substantial fine or, in extreme cases, a prison sentence for those who fail to comply. These checks are an absolute must and having a reputable, but also diligent, agent conducting these for you is now more important than ever.

Client Money Protection now mandatory

Finally, the last major piece of news to come out of the day was the Government’s decision to make Client Money Protection mandatory for all letting agents. As a business which has always taken its responsibility in this regard very seriously and has out of choice signed up to Client Money Protection for the benefit of our landlord clients and tenants for many years, we were delighted to hear of this change and welcome the new enforcement across the industry.

More information about the conference (including all topics discussed) can be found here. Alternatively, contact Nick van Klaveren or Ian Wiggett, who will gladly answer any specific questions that you may have.