Propertymark promises transparency over Christopher Hamer’s sudden departure
Trade association is keen to keep a lid on bad publicity after its three key executives announce their departure within weeks of each other.
Propertymark has said it will be revealing more information about why its executive chairman Christopher Hamer resigned suddenly yesterday ‘in the coming days’.
The association’s senior team are otherwise tight-lipped about what has been going on at Propertymark.
But Hamer’s departure is the latest twist in a tempestuous few weeks that has seen NAEA Chief Executive Mark Hayward announce his retirement, ARLA Chief Executive David Cox leave the organisation ‘unwillingly’ and now Hamer’s departure.
Insiders have told The Negotiator that Hamer’s assertive management style have been ruffling feathers in recent months, as has his decision to support the departure of Cox, who is both well connected within government circles and popular with the membership.
A spokesperson for Propertymark said: “We can confirm that Christopher Hamer has decided to stand down as Executive Chairman of Propertymark once a new Chief Executive has been recruited. The Chair’s role going forward will be non-executive as the new Chief Executive will take on the day to day responsibilities of running the business.
Christopher has been in the role for 4 years and in that time has overseen the move towards creating a single Propertymark organisation. The Board would like to thank Christopher for his significant contribution to the organisation and wish him well for the future.”
Departure
Christopher Hamer’s departure leaves the management cupboard bare and many people baffled – he was appointed as a direct of Propertymark Ltd only four month ago.
And his resignation means there are only eight directors at Propertymark – Valerie Bannister, Nathan Emerson, Katie Griffin, Nicola Heathcote, Helen Herniman, Simon Wilkinson, John Paul and Richard Selwyn.
Hamer was also a key plank in Propertymark’s efforts to present itself as the leading organisation pushing for regulation of the industry and to make the right noises as government lined up the RoPA committee and its subsequent recommendations.
Hamer arrived from TPO in January 2016 initially as a special advisor and later to lead its board.
And it is also just six months since the Propertymark leadership made a chilly show of unity at its Centrepoint sleepover fundraiser in Stratford, along with over 100 agents and suppliers.
In the battle of who is fit to regulate the poor beleaguered real estate sector worth over 6.5BN in the UK, Propertymark is in my opinion the last body anyone should ‘trust.’ The non payment of a huge amount of VAT over several years to HMRC, shows they have questionable competency regarding financial regulation – a key part of their role.
The closed door mentality, evidenced in the minutes of the annual accounts, shows possibly a naked ambition to suppress their lack of governance and push on to be the chosen voice of the estate agent. Time for Propertymark to come clean, apologize for its shortcomings to its membership who have not been told about the VAT debacle, and retrench from interfacing with the government as the exemplary paragon of virtue, the true voice of estate agency.
There are 50,000 plus in the property sector, less than fifteen individuals have been in my opinion, for far too long saying they are the best to know how these 50,000 should be regulated and do property business on a day to day basis, Zara my co-director, a three year old Cockapoo could do a better job of looking after these hardworking people.
Time for a proper organization that looks after the interests of the people in the industry, not works out the best way to subvert new ‘posible legislation’ into expensive training such as getting ready for RoPA – which still is nowhere to be seen on the list of statutes.
I am all for training and development but it should start with a grass roots approach, not a top down we know best approach, especially when those at the top are overseeing an organization that is not paying the VAT.
Where is the financial officer and the external accountants in all of this? How many thousands was paid to HMRC recently? Was there interest and a fine by HMRC on top of this – the membership should know all – as they pay hundreds of pounds for the privilege of being a member each year.
Lots of key people have some really big questions to answer and the government should be looking for some new and enlightened partners to give sound advice on what the real estate sector should look like and be.