Newsletter | May 2010 | A year as ARLA president.

Our managing partner Lucy Morton has just completed a year as President of ARLA. A huge complement to both Lucy and to the firm. Read about her year!

"Working parents have to multi-task and I am often asked how I cope with the ‘juggling act’. There have been times during the last twelve months when I have wondered whether all the balls would stay in the air! I took over as ARLA President in May 2009, adding to my demanding day job as Managing Partner of W A Ellis and running the Lettings department. I also contribute to the smooth running of CLEA Limited, the central London agency group on whose Board I sit, together with my family life where my husband Guy and I enjoy the hectic but fulfilling roles of bringing up three boys and a mad Labrador!

I am now in the last weeks of my Presidential year and I will look back on it as one of the highlights of my career. It has been a great honour to be President of such a professional organisation and I am proud to have been given the opportunity of giving something back to the industry and the organisation which has supported me so much over the years. 

During my time as President, we launched the Licensing campaign last year and now have approximately 6,000 Licensed ARLA members, which is a huge accolade to the Association. The same number have joined The Property Ombudsman scheme helping ARLA members once again lead their profession by example. I have visited and spoken to many of the Regions throughout the country, trying to increase public awareness of the importance of using an ARLA agent, not only for their professionalism, but also as a huge amount of money which agents hold on their behalf is bonded. Another of my missions this year has been to lobby Government to regulate our industry and bring the remainder of Letting agents into the fold. I have joined other industry visionaries looking at setting up a Register of Property Agents and also the Property Standards Board which NFOPP has supported financially along with the RICS. 

I have also tried to help those working so hard on PropertyLive, the property portal wholly owned by NFOPP. 

As a result of the credit crunch, the spotlight has shone on Lettings over the past year and we were once again the lifesaving profit centre for so many Estate Agency businesses. It is a highly pressured career whereby both landlords and tenants expect and demand responses and action 24/7. After May, I will have one less ball in the air as my Presidential year comes to an end but I will continue to support all at NFOPP and fly the ARLA flag! "