New industry event for agents to open its doors

A new event for estate agents and letting agents opens its doors on April 19 and 20.

The Property Business Show will run side by side with the well-established Property Investor Show, which attracts landlords and residential property investors from all over the UK as well as overseas.

The Property Business Show at ExCeL, London, has a strong line-up of exhibitors, including software firms demonstrating their latest offerings.

One feature will be the live property auction on the Friday (April 20). Auctioneer Graham Penny will be wielding the gavel, with around 100 residential lots expected.

Alongside a busy exhibition, together with excellent networking facilities, will be a series of free seminars and debates.

Among these is the Great PRS Licensing Debate, which will look at all aspects of licensing in the rental sector – for both letting agents and landlords – and give you the chance to have your say.

The Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer, has called for far greater controls on agents, whilst more and more local authorities are using selective licensing to control local landlords.

Easily the most sweeping scheme is proposed on the doorsteps of ExCeL, with the London Borough of Newham wanting to make it mandatory for every single rental property on its patch to be licensed, which would make it a first in England and Wales.

The debate promises to be lively and provocative, and to deliver factual information.

It will be chaired by the highly knowledgeable Eric Walker, estate agent and letting agent, who is managing director of Bushells.

Panel members are Sir RobinWales, Mayor of Newham; landlord Mark Alexander; David Salusbury, of the National Landlords Association; Ian Potter, operations manager of ARLA; and Property Ombudsman Christopher Hamer.

This unmissable debate takes place on the first day of the Show between 11.30am and 12.45. It is free to get into, but anyone attending needs to register for the event first.

You can do so at https://www.propertybusinessshow.com