TRAINING
The AssocRICS will provide a joined
up career path for competent experienced professionals, with the added opportunity of bridging to MRICS for those wishing to undertake further study. It will ensure that there is a healthy influx of new blood into the profession, particularly in the Residential areas and provide employers with a pool of skilled and technically competent professionals to meet the future needs of their clients and their businesses. It reflects the growing call for improved standards and professionalism in this sector and the desire for a defined career path for Managing Agents. It is designed to provide a qualification for candidates working in both the public and private sectors and, like all Associate pathways, requires proof of competence in six specific pathways relating to the specialist area of work. Details of launch dates and further information on the qualifications, including candidate guides, will be found on the website:
www.rics.org.uk/associates So individuals in the block management
sector are being catered for but what of the firms that employ them? This is where ARMA fits in.
Professional body ARMA is the only body in England & Wales to focus exclusively on matters relating to the block management of leasehold property, and with over 250 corporate members managing some 900,000 leasehold units in more than 34,000 blocks (at least 60 per cent of which are lessee-controlled properties) its founding principal aims are to represent its members and the interests of lessees, resident management companies and investor freeholders. David Hewett, Chief Executive of
ARMA, tells PROPERTYdrum, “ARMA members work in a unique position in the property sector. They deliver a service on behalf of their clients (which can be investor freeholders, Residents Management Companies or Right to Manage Companies – the party legally responsible for maintaining the building) directly to customers (the lessees). “It is not like estate or letting agents who
ultimately just have their clients’ interests to look after. Managing agents often have a much closer interaction with the customers (even though there is no contractual relationship between them) than they do with their clients, delivering a vital and continuous service by managing
58 MARCH 2011 PROPERTYdrum
corporate members must satisfy a number of strict entry criteria to demonstrate they can meet the commitment to high standards of management. A major requirement of membership is that they must also comply with the RICS Service Charge Residential Management Code. This is more than just ticking a few boxes; it is about reassuring lessees that their managing agent, if an ARMA member, is answerable to a body which is committed to decent practices.
ARMA’s 250 corporate members manage 900,000 leasehold units across the UK
their most treasured possessions – their homes. This unique relationship ‘triangle’ makes it all the more important for managing agents to practice with high standards, integrity and above all – professionalism”. Managing agents operate in an
unregulated sector which can, unfortunately, leave the profession open to abuse and poor standards. The government last year announced that it did not see the need to regulate the leasehold management sector nor introduce the long awaited key accounting regulations which would have protected millions of pounds worth of lessees’ service charge funds. The result of those decisions has meant that ARMA’s role in promoting high standards and professionalism within its sector has increased significantly. Firms wishing to join ARMA as
sUPPorT and seCUriTy ARMA provides support to its members in a number of ways: over the phone technical advice, weekly e-briefings, training courses and conferences as well as publishing over 90 Guidance Notes on topics ranging from accounting for service charge monies to more practical advice on heath and safety assessments for common areas for example. All these resources are ways that ARMA encourages its members to be up-to-date with the latest relevant legislation and aware of good practice and in the best scenario these advantages will inevitably filter through to the lessees in the quality of service they receive. ARMA also aims to represent the
interests of lessees in more direct ways such as providing numerous freely downloadable guidance documents on its website. These range from guidance on the leasehold system itself to the letting of leasehold flats along with more specific Lessee Advisory Notes. The ultimate reassurance to those who
appoint an ARMA member is the requirement that all members must be signed up to an independent ombudsman so when there is an issue raised against one of its members, disputes can be resolved in an independent manner.
www.arma.org.uk
Add your own comments online at:
www.propertydrum.com/articles/assocrics
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