Record of Meeting (AGM) in Bath on 22 April 2015
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting in Bath on 22 April 2015
- Welcome and Introduction
Chairman – Rob Crawford
Minutes – Martin Thomas
Speaker 1 – Nick Watchorn
Speaker 2 – Justin Gummidge
- Attendees
56 people attended the meeting.
- Presentations by:
Nick Watchorn – Managing Director, Landlords National Property Group (LNPG)
“The Right Way to Save Time and Money for Landlords”
Nick worked in financial services for 21 years before becoming a landlord himself. He refurbished many of his own properties and from this experience saw the opportunity of working with others who have the common goal of reducing costs and driving up standards. He has 40 properties, all located in the Mansfield area.
He established LNPG in 2006. It took some time to gain momentum and it was only in 2011 that it really got going. The main problem in the beginning was convincing suppliers to give big discounts when there wasn’t a great volume of business because there weren’t many houses in the scheme. However, there are now 14,500 houses in the scheme and it has access to government procurement scheme rates.
Nick gave a number of examples of HUGE discounts on kitchens, bathrooms, boilers, electrical and plumbing supplies. The rates achieved are significantly better than usual ‘trade’ rates. The scheme’s partners include Magnet, Currys, Denmans, Baxi, Worcester Bosch and Plumb Center (there are many more).
The annual subscription rate depends on the number of properties you own:
- £149 1-3 properties
- £249 4-25 properties
- £349 25+ properties
- prices are plus VAT
If you don’t make savings through the scheme of at least the value of your subscription in the first year, you can rollover the shortfall to be deducted from the next year’s subscription.
Details can be found on the website, www.lnpg.co.uk
You have to register your properties with the scheme and you can now include your own residence. The scheme is very strict on keeping to the rules and not allowing other properties that are not registered to benefit from its rates. For example, a heating engineer started fitting discounted boilers in customers’ houses and was struck off the scheme because he had abused the rules.
There were a number of questions from the floor.
Rob thanked Nick for his presentation.
Justin Gummidge – Community Sustainability Officer, B&NES
“Making the Most of the Energy at Home Scheme”
Justin started his presentation with some bad news – there are no national grants available at the moment.
The BANES scheme has a £2,000 limit and is only available for up to 2 properties. It relates to anything that is “recommended” on the EPC. All work has to be routed through their contractor or sub contractor – in other words, you can’t use your own heating engineer to install a new boiler.
Part of the application process involves an initial advice report that costs £150.
Rob thanked Justin for his presentation.
- Jacqui gave an update on local and national NLA activities.
- BANES was due to issue the HMO licences shortly. There had been no prosecutions in the last quarter.
- BANES said that landlords found to be evading the scheme were on the backburner at the moment but would be dealt with once the backlog of licences had been cleared.
- Jacqui reminded everyone there were NLA accreditation course available and it could also be achieved online for free.
- Jacqui noted that people could become associate members of the NLA on a free basis but there was a good conversion rate to full members.
- WOELP 0 topics ranged over the following:
- WoE Rental Scheme (relates to property standards)
- Landlord accreditation – the local authorities want landlords to be accredited
- HMO licensing
- Energy and efficiency
- Regulation of letting agents
- Tackling rogue landlords
- Service Providers
There were brief presentations from local service providers;
- Veronica Stanley was looking for investors for property schemes and she is offering a return of 8%.
- Steve Miles – magician/balloons, entertainment service for children’s parties
- Peter Huntingdon – former lecturer in property matters. Property in London and Bath, holiday lettings.
- Any other business
Rob said that the committee were looking for more volunteers.
- Dates of next meetings
Wednesday 29 April 2015 – 7pm at BAWA, Bristol
Wednesday 21 October 2015 – 2pm at the Lansdown Golf Club, Bath
Wednesday 28 October 2015 – 7pm at BAWA, Bristol
AGM MEMBERS ONLY SESSION
- Minutes of the last meeting were accepted.
- Annual Report from the Chair
Rob presented his wide ranging annual report. A copy of the report is available to NLA Members on request by e-mail to rob@nlawessex.co.uk
The annual report included the introduction or the new NLA Wessex website ( www.nlawessex.co.uk ), rob encouraged all to visit it regularly as it would feature details of forthcoming issues as they arise.
- Treasurer’s report
Adrian addressed the meeting and circulated a financial statement. (Available to Wessex NLA members on request from rob@nlawessex.co.uk )
The meeting accepted Adrian’s report.
- Elections
Election of Treasurer Adrian Kilmartin had stated his wish to stand down. Rob was in discussions with a couple of interested NLA members and a proposal would be presented to the next meeting.
Committee
Re-election of: Angela Hardacre – proposed by Martin Thomas, seconded by Rob Crawford
Martin Thomas – proposed by Rob Crawford, seconded by Angela Hardacre
Azu Ifeachor – proposed by Rob Crawford, seconded by Angela Hardacre
Wahid Lodhi – proposed by Martin Thomas, seconded by Rob Crawford
Veronica Stanley – proposed by Rob Crawford, seconded Angela Hardacre
All were elected by an individual show of hands.
There were presentations to both Janet Redfern and Adrian Kilmartin to mark their retirement from the committee. Both were thanked by the meeting for their work for the Association over the years.
- AOB
Rob reminded the meeting that new committee members were needed.
The meeting closed at 17.00
Tags: meeting minutes
