Farewell ARMA, hello ARMA Q

Fifteen years is a long time to be involved in your trade body, some might argue too long. During that time I have gone from being a property manager to a partner, then managing director and owner and now a non exec. I have experienced a massive residential boom and a huge increase in the complexity of managements followed by the worst recession in living memory. Make no mistake, ARMA has been a significant element in my career, a source of the highest calibre information and a meeting of the best brains in the industry. I will miss it greatly.

Best of all, and despite what you might hear from a decreasing minority of detractors, I have never met a more focussed, determined and engaged group. All of them want to improve the industry, all of them give freely of their time and they have in the last 20 years greatly changed for the better the way that agents and landlords operate.

My own highlights were the creation of the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) in 2002, an idea born out of the ARMA Education Committee and built on a shoestring. Now numbering 2,800 members and growing, IRPM is seen as the essential qualification for property managers, provides a direct entry route to RICS and is a valuable signifier for both employers and consumers.

The second highlight will come out of the need for independent regulation, something brought sharply into focus when I was, for a brief period, chair of the practice committee. It is right and proper that we do not sit in judgement of our peers and I believe ARMA has managed to attract the highest quality individuals to sit on the independent regulatory panel. ARMA Q must set the standards for the future and must be embraced by all in the industry – including those that, for one reason or another, choose to remain outside of the ARMA umbrella. This work has been undertaken by a dedicated secretariat headed by CEO Michelle Banks, their absolute determination to see it through has been extraordinary and I am filled with admiration.

Now comes the really tough bit, implementation of ARMA Q and making certain that it becomes the accepted standard and is endorsed at the highest level. I will follow with interest from the sidelines, shouting occasionally like a bad football dad…