An attempt to halt the voting process for the post of Vice President of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has been turned down by Chief Executive Mark Hayward in an email sent to SW-based agent Chris Wood yesterday.

In it Mark confirms that he and the NAEA Propertymark board had been made aware of Chris’s request to halt the election process, and that they were also aware of the new processes in place to elect the Vice President, and other posts.

The email also says Mark and the board were aware of Chris’s concerns about the process but were “completely satisfied that the process was correct and robust [and that] therefore the election will go forward in the normal manner.

Final response

Mark also said it would be the NAEA’s final response with Chris prior to the AGM on June 16.

On Wednesday Chris had previously written to Mark asking him to confirm whether due processes was adhered to and suggesting that the NAEA appeared to “be playing for time” and wanted to “obfuscate due process”.

Chris Wood was one of several agents proposed for the Vice President role but, following a panel interview, not proposed as a candidate to be considered by the membership via a vote.

Unconstitutional

He told The Negotiator that he believed the current election process to be “unconstitutional and will be vigorously challenged”.

Voting opened on 29th May and is due to close on 14th June for the post, which is to be vacated by current VP Mark Bentley.

Chris Wood led a charge two weeks ago to question plans put forward by NAEA executive chairman Mark Hamer in a special resolution to be voted on at the next AGM. These include a smaller board and the exclusion of NAEA and ARLA presidents from board meetings from next year onwards.