FEBRUARY 2024

Proper Talk London

Building Centre, Fitzrovia

ABOUT THE EVENT

Proper Talk London 24

Our second Proper Talk on 1 February 2024 was held in the iconic Building Centre in Fitzrovia, London, an exhibition and conference centre, plus offices, café and the perfect place to hang out if you work in the built environment. It’s also home to Proper Talk co-founders EK Reinstatement Cost Assessments and the wider Earl Kendrick Group, the perfect HQ for a project and building consultancy firm.

A diverse delegate list included building surveyors, loss adjusters, maintenance contractors, recruiters, software firms, health and safety experts, solicitors, insurance brokers, energy brokers, architects, property developers, freeholders, enfranchisement experts, fund managers, quantity surveyors, and of course, property managers.

Following a nutritious breakfast and plenty of early morning networking, Proper Talk co-founder Jack Seton, head of Flatguard (part of Bridge Insurance), welcomed over 120 delegates into the conference room with no less than five panellists awaiting them. Jonathan Channing, Proper Talk co-founder and moderator, echoed Jack’s welcome and introduced the panel.

The Chatham House rule applied, and that encouraged both the panellists and delegates to speak their minds and provide real-world answers.

Our focus was buildings insurance, such has been the demand from managing agents in particular. We covered:

  • Whether or not ‘war’ had been declared on managing agents and freeholders by threatening to reduce their income
  • The government insurance broker pledge
  • Elements of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill
  • Past warnings from The Property Institute (TPI) about transparent remuneration and whether those warnings had been heeded
  • What our panellists believed is the real meaning of ‘fair value’ and what a ‘fair value assessment’ comprised
  • Insurance broker requirements since 31 December 2023, including stakeholders packs
  • If managing agents should be charging fees akin to solicitors
  • Options for managing agents and insurance regulation (and if the company secretary door will be closed)
  • The consequences of over and underinsurance – and not reading the policy wording!
  • Pitfalls of desktop reinstatement cost assessments – do their use amount to a false economy?
  • If VAT should be included on assessments of declared value
  • How long it takes to rebuild a block of flats
  • FCA investigations continuing into ‘bad actors’ (insurance broker)
  • How the hard market is affecting the insurance premiums that leaseholders pay through their service charge
  • Reducing the impact of high premiums on leaseholders
  • The difficulties in insuring B1 (EWS1) rated buildings
  • TPI’s role in bringing talented suppliers to the table, to show their expertise.
  • Previous ProjectProper Talk Birmingham24

  • Next ProjectProper Talk Manchester23