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NLA National Conference

Speaker profiles

Friday 20 November

Annual General Meeting

David Salusbury, Chairman, National Landlords Association

David Salusbury has been Chairman of the National Landlords Association (NLA) since 2003. After graduating from King's College London, where he read modern languages, David spent some years in the Armed Forces. In the mid 1980s he began developing a portfolio of residential property in Kingston upon Thames, London, becoming a full-time landlord in 1995. In 1998 David joined the NLA (then the Small Landlords Association), and joined the committee in 2000. From the outset he has actively promoted the aims of the NLA which are to influence public policy for the private-rented sector, provide information and benefits for member landlords to help them make a success of their lettings businesses and to raise standards in the private-rented sector. David is a member of the Institute of Directors and UK Vice-President of the International Union of Property Owners (UIPI).

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Patrick Jacobs, Director of Finance & Company Secretary, National Landlords Association

Patrick Jacobs is Director of Finance & Company Secretary of the National Landlords Association (NLA). He is part-qualified in accountancy & law with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators. He became a landlord in 1981 and continues to manage a small portfolio in South West London.  Patrick's early career was focused on internal audit and industrial management before beginning to develop a property portfolio.  He became a member of the NLA in 1982 and treasurer in 1986. He has worked full-time for the NLA since 2003 eventually joining the Board in 2006.

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Keynote Address

Ian Austin MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government

Dudley North MP Ian Austin was appointed by the Prime Minister as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Housing in June 2009. Previously an assistant Whip, he has also been a member of the Government's Regional Economic Council. Ian Austin was brought up in Dudley and has lived in the Borough most of his life. He served as a member of Dudley Council between 1991 and 1995. He has a degree in Government and Politics from Essex University.

Ian entered the House of Commons in 2005. He takes a great interest in industrial, economic, employment, training and housing issues. Before his election he worked in Government as political adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. He also served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Gordon Brown from 2007-08. Ian is the Regional Minister for the West Midlands.

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Changing the shape of letting: the big debate

Professor Tony Crook BA MPhil PhD AcSS FRTPI FRSA, Professor of Housing Studies, University of Sheffield

Professor Tony Crook is Professor of Housing Studies at the University of Sheffield and has a large research programme covering housing markets, including the supply side of the private rented sector, the use of the planning system to secure affordable housing and the role of housing associations in economic regeneration. He is also active in the world of policy and practice. 

He is a past member of the NFHA National Council, past Chair and a non executive director of a large regionally based Housing Association, Chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute Housing Panel, Chair of the RTPI Accreditation Panel, a member of the RTPI Research Committee, Chair of Connexions South Yorkshire, Chair of Sheffield Homes Ltd, and a Trustee of Shelter. His overseas experience includes research, teaching, and expert advice in China, South East Asia, and North America.  He was elected a Fellow of the RTPI in 2001 in recognition of his distinguished contribution to planning research.  In 2004 he was elected as an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences in recognition of his eminence and distinction as a social science scholar.

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Caroline Davey, Deputy Director of Communications, Policy & Campaigns, Shelter

Caroline Davey is Deputy Director of the Communications, Policy and Campaigns Division at Shelter, where she has overall responsibility for Shelter’s policy, research and public affairs programme as well as for internal communications across the organisation.

Caroline is also one of Shelter’s national media spokespeople, and is a regular speaker on housing and homelessness issues at conferences and other events. Prior to joining Shelter Caroline headed up the policy and parliamentary team at fpa (Family Planning Association). She previously worked in the Policy & Campaigns Team at Daycare Trust, the national childcare charity, and at social research specialists Opinion Leader Research.

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Simon Gordon, Head of Communications, National Landlords Association

Simon Gordon is Head of Communications for the National Landlords Association. He has been with the NLA, initially as a consultant, since 2002. A graduate of the University of Leeds, Simon was Government Relations Officer and then Head of Public Affairs at the Electricity Association between 1990 and 2000, helping establish, what was then, a new organisation. He then ran his own consultancy with a career break between 2001 and 2002 when he was working in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan-Smith MP.

Simon chaired the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Government Affairs Group from 1998 to 2002 and has lectured on public affairs to both students and civil servants. He has also stood for election to both the European Parliament and Westminster.

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Abigail Davies, Head of Policy, Chartered Institute of Housing

Abigail Davies is Head of Policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing. She leads the policy team, whose aims are to represent and support the housing profession, influence government thinking and help to shape housing and regeneration policy at national and regional level. She specialises in a range of policy areas, including regulation, planning and the private rented sector, and sits on a number of advisory groups for organisations and government.

Abigail is currently leading CIH work on repossessions, reform of council housing finance, and future directions for housing policy. She is a Fellow of the CIH and has an MA in Housing Policy and Practice.

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Growing the business of letting – making it happen

Sussanne Chambers, Director, National Landlords Association

Sussanne became an NLA Director in April 2009 and is also a business-to-business marketing consultant for a number of companies in the West Midlands. Sussanne is a business and finance graduate from the University of Coventry and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Prior to consultancy work, she was the founding director of marketing at an energy company in the West Midlands.

A landlord since 1988, Sussanne has a diverse property portfolio across the North West and West Midlands. She is passionate about being a good landlord and helping other landlords develop their lettings business. She also believes the current changes in the private-rented sector are exciting and present an opportunity for landlords, not a threat.

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Mark Long, Business Propositions Director, BDRC

Mark is employed by BDRC, the UK’s largest independent research consultancy business. Mark joined BDRC in 2005 following a career in financial services at Barclaycard and Abbey. In 2006 Mark was responsible for the design and launch of the Landlords Panel, the only regular and representative quantitative study of GB’s landlord population.

Subscribers to this study include lenders, policy makers and others with an interest in the dynamics of the Private Rental Sector. Mark has also been involved in a range of other research projects focussed on the BTL sector, including a review of the European market in 2007.

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Ian Potter FARLA, Operations Manager, Association of Residential Letting Agents

ARLA Operations Manager having spent 16 years as a letting agent working as a partner in a single office firm before joining a national group of agents. Was a National Council Member for ARLA from 1993 to 2006. Had responsibility at various times for finance and compliance matters as well as being involved with the conception of Buy to Let.

A member of various working parties and stakeholder groups with interest in the Private rented Sector. Has a keen understanding of the problems faced by landlords and agents added to knowledge of tenant demand, area of the market place where landlord supply does not always come up to satisfying tenant demand. Worked in Banking for over 20 years and has and is aware of the problems of the current credit crunch and the changes being made by lenders. Represents ARLA on various bodies with interest in Tenancy Deposit Protection.

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Rob Thomas
Senior policy adviser
Council of Mortgage Lenders

After gaining undergraduate and masters degrees in economics, Rob Thomas joined the Bank of England as an economist, focusing first on international economies then on the UK, specialising in housing and mortgage markets.

In 1994 he joined investment bank UBS as Head of Housing and Building Society Research working with both the debt and equity divisions. In 2001 Abbey National recruited him to manage a pan-European mortgage funding project, where he brought in some of Europe's largest banks. The project ended in 2005 and he took up the position of Senior Policy Advisor for the Council of Mortgage Lenders. He works extensively with lenders, government and other bodies on issues that affect the UK mortgage market.

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Saturday 21 November 2009

Breakout sessions

Practical possession proceedings
Mary Latham, portfolio landlord, NLA Trainer and NLA Regional Representative

Mary has been a landlord for over 30 years, and a member of the NLA for the past 15 years. Before becoming an advertisement manager for Birmingham Post & Mail, Mary was a training officer, which influenced her to always insist on training and professional development all the way through her career. Now a full-time landlord and landlord representative, she has applied this approach to the private-rented sector: "My feeling is that landlords who do a bad job do it out of ignorance rather than malice. That is why I am keen to get out as much information as possible to landlords." Mary's rental properties are mostly in the Midlands. She has high-standard properties which are let out mostly to young professionals and finds managing her portfolio does not take up much of her time. Having played an active role in advocating the needs of the private-rented sector at the national level for over 10 years, she is often invited to participate in government consultation groups as well as local meetings in the Midlands. She says it is her passion, and as a mother of 2 daughters now in their twenties, says she has learned to be an "effective multi-tasker".

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Portfolio planning and how to add value to your property
Lee Cecil Portfolio landlord, property developer and NLA Wales Representative

Professional Property Investor, Developer and Financier. Worked for over 16 years in the City in various CEO, Managing Director and Director Roles. Specialised in Acquisitions and Disposals, Financial Strategies and Windows of Opportunity. Returned to Wales 7 years ago for quality of life reasons. The main one, to see his daughter grow up. Currently Regional Co- Ordinator Wales for the National Landlords Association and Chair of NLA Cardiff. On seven Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) task & finish groups. Sits on the Welsh Housing Ministers housing panel and was recently elected, with WAG approval to be the Wales wide Chair of the PRS Delivery Team. Elected as director of CiH Cymru. In his NLA Wales role he regularly meets with and has dialogue with the Welsh Assembly Government, Welsh local authorities, WLGA, Shelter Cymru, CHC. Landlords and other partners from the private sector.

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Inventories, deposits and how to avoid disputes
Malcolm Pither, portfolio landlord, NLA Trainer and NLA Regional Representative

Malcolm is an experienced landlord with properties in Eastbourne, Hailsham and Brighton.  He has a portfolio of family houses, flats and HMOs. He became a full-time landlord in 1999 after a career as an IT manager. Although only appointed as NLA Regional Representative in 2008, he was chairman of the Eastbourne & Wealden branch of the National Federation for Residential Landlords for many years. In that role he organised quarterly landlord forums, and met regularly with Eastbourne Borough Council and Wealden District Council to discuss housing policy and tackling homelessness. As the NLA’s representative he continues to organise these meetings, and plans to involve more Councils in the East Sussex area over the coming months. “My aim is to encourage best practice amongst landlords and good housing initiatives by local authorities – that way we will all contribute to improving society through more sustainable housing solutions.”

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Managing your managing agent
John Socha, portfolio landlord, agent, NLA Regional Representative and NLA Vice Chairman

John Socha is Vice-Chairman of the National Landlords Association (NLA) and owns a property management company managing over 1,000 apartments on 55 sites. John worked in sales positions for three international companies and in 1995 an unexpected conversation with his solicitor gave him the start of a lettings business.
Starting in Moulton, John relocated the business to bigger premises three times over the next eight years finally locating on a main business street in Northampton. The office was owned and custom-designed specifically for lettings. Within six months of starting the lettings agency, John started purchasing his own rental properties. During the next ten years he built a portfolio of 21 properties. John has been Vice-Chairman of the NLA since 2003 and a member for over 12 years.

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Understanding Local Housing Allowance
Marion Money, portfolio landlord, NLA Trainer and NLA Regional Representative

Marion Money has been a private landlord since 1974 and still has a number of properties with regulated tenants protected by the Rent Act 1977. Her portfolio has grown over the years and includes licensed and non-licensable HMO’s, flats and family homes. She has a mixture of professional tenants and those in receipt of Housing Benefit and has always actively managed her properties herself. Marion has direct experience of tenants in receipt of Local Housing Allowance. Despite her in depth knowledge of the subject and ability to assist her tenants; she has found her tenants can still experience stress, conflicting advice and delays on occasions. Her role as Kent Representative for the National Landlords Association involves meeting with the Local Authority Private Sector Housing and Housing Benefit Departments. These opportunities have strengthened her in depth knowledge of the complexities of the subject and given insight into the ways different LA’s interpret the guidelines for the administration of Local Housing Allowance.

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The rental market in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland: Jim Parker, portfolio landlord, letting agent, and NLA Scotland Chairman

Jim Parker has been running the NLA Fife Branch since 1999. After graduating from Adam Smith College and taking his professional Accountants exams Jim then went on to spend over 15 years in the Manufacturing Industry as an Accountant assisting to run several companies over his career. In the early 1990's he began developing a portfolio of residential property in Fife, Scotland which enabled him to becoming a full-time landlord in 2004. Being one of the founder members of NLA Scotland (formerly Fife Landlords Association) Jim has always promoted and protected the rights of Private Landlords at a local and national level. Jim currently sits on Fife Council's local housing partnership which discuss and implements the strategic housing policy, Fife Council's private landlord steering group, owns and runs Century 21 Estate & Lettings Agency in Fife and regularly advises landlords on how to grow a profitable buy to let business. Jim says," there has never been a better time to get into the buy to let business in Scotland. It offers attractive long-term income and gains. Better than any other business I know".

Northern Ireland: Sonia Millar, portfolio landlord, property developer, letting agent, Chair of the NAEA Northern Ireland Branch and LANI committee member

I bought my first investment property in 1996. Membership of the East Belfast Landlords and Tenants Association offered me a great forum to gain knowledge and to speak to experienced landlords, giving me the confidence to develop my business. Since I haven’t looked back, buying and selling many properties, and carrying out extensive HMO works and renovations, with the aid of excellent grants from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. My goals were to be my own fund manager! In 1999. I started CSM Estate Agents (my initials) and I now involved in managing over 4000 properties. I currently Chair the NAEA, Northern Ireland Branch and am a committee member of the Landlords Association for Northern Ireland. 

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Understanding Leasehold and Freehold issues
Nicholas Kissen, Joint Senior Adviser, The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE)

Nicholas Kissen was in private practice as a solicitor for nearly twenty years and was a partner in a long-established firm in Ealing before joining the Leasehold Advisory Service in April 2002. He is a senior adviser with responsibility for professional training and development. As such he has considerable experience of public presentations on all aspects of residential leasehold law.

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