July 2017 Newsletter

Go to content


News/Social Media > Bank for news > Newsletters and Press Releases
July 2017 Newsletter
 
Welcome to the Summer newsletter. There are a number of CPA matters that I would like to draw your attention to. 

Events

CPA National Conference
  • A resounding success with multiple speakers and a record audience.
  • 100% of delegates who completed appraisal forms agreed the conference fulfilled their reasons to attend, met their expectations and increased their knowledge.
 
Scottish CPA National Conference - Wednesday 20 September
  • The Scottish National Conference will take place at Apex City Quay Hotel & Spa, 1 West Victoria Dock Road, Dundee, DD1 3JP. Registration is from 10.00; conference start 10.25; conference close 17.10.
  • For more details please click here

Annual General Meeting and Tony Johnson Memorial Lecture - Monday 16 October
  • The AGM will take place on at Carter Jonas LLP, One Chapel Place, London, W1G 0BG - early evening start, with a drink reception following the proceedings. Our thanks go to Carter Jonas for offering to host this event. 
  • The AGM agenda will be published shortly, which will include details of incorporation and details of the AGM Tony Johnson Memorial lecture. 

Annual Dinner 2018 - Save the date - Thursday 8 February 2018.
  • Our after dinner speaker is Declan Curry. 
  • Declan Curry is BBC an award-winning business journalist, whose reports and broadcasts have reached a worldwide audience for over 20 years. Declan has presented BBC Breakfast, Working Lunch, On the Money and Show me the Money.
  • Sponsorship packages are available for the CPA Annual Dinner. For more information please contact Jade Broadley at jbroadley@cptevents.co.uk

Further Reform

  • Significant problems are faced by owner-occupier mortgagors in negative equity, whose properties become subject to compulsory purchase or qualify for the service of a Blight Notice 
  • A draft Voluntary Code dealing with the issue has been produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) with input from the CPA. The CPA is consulting its Members and other key stakeholders on the draft code, whilst the CML consults within the mortgage industry. Views are sought by the end of July 2017
  • The purpose of the code is to help facilitate affected customers to port their existing mortgage product to an alternative property where that is appropriate for the customer and also meets regulatory requirements and lending policies in place at the time. 
  • Comments on this proposal should be sent to cpa@compulsorypurchaseassociation.org

Pre-Action Protocol for Claims for Compensation following Compulsory Acquisition of Land and for Depreciation in the value of Land following Public Works (the 'Compensation Protocol').
  • The draft Pre-Action Protocol is intended to be a well-defined set of actions and requirements for practitioners dealing with compensation claims. Considerable work has gone into its development. At the CPA National conference we confirmed we would be publishing the draft protocol on the CPA website for membership comment. Our aim is to review the comments we receive so that a final version of the protocol can be produced for members to vote on at the AGM. The CPA is also meeting with the Upper Tribunal to discuss the draft protocol.
  • Members are invited to comment and send their views to the CPA, but the protocol will also be debated and voted on at the AGM to ensure full engagement. Full details will be issued in due course.

CPA changing behaviours reform

A working group headed by Colin Smith has been considering the need to change ‘behaviours’ and how to achieve that change. The goal being to minimise conflict and divergence by securing early and effective engagement between acquiring authorities and claimants.

This may be summarised by the acquiring authority having a ‘duty to alleviate’ to balance the claimant’s ‘duty to mitigate’. 
  • Key problems and issues include:
    • Absence of early and effective engagement between parties enabling better understanding of needs and priorities.
    • Reluctance/refusal for the payment of reasonable fees at the outset of the process to enable claimants’ to understand the opportunities and limitations within the Code.
    • The prevailing misplaced mindset of a commercial negotiation which inevitably leads to divergence in the positions adopted on the quantum of compensation.
    • Unhelpful use of the Objection process (against the scheme) which is really all about establishing an opportunity to secure a deal in return for withdrawal of the Objection.
  • Possible solutions are:
    • Requirement for meaningful engagement and open communications between the parties from the very outset of the proposal to seek CPO powers.
    • Claimants’ to be properly enabled to understand the process and Code – reasonable fees to be reimbursed from commencement.
    • Ensuring the acquiring authority’s rule 2 assessment and offer is effectively ‘Red Book’ compliant. ie it is not an opening shot in negotiations but instead properly reflects market value. This includes a recognition that Statutory Loss Payments and perhaps Reinvestments costs are linked to market value.
    • Facilitating access to dispute resolution throughout the process, not simply at the end, as a real alternative to the Tribunal

Engagement

EY survey
  • EY undertook a survey last year and are doing so again. The aim of the 2017 survey is to build upon the information captured in the 2016 Survey and highlight trends in (amongst other things) the quantum of CPO claims, the way CPOs are resolved, the challenges faced by Acquiring Authorities and Claimants and developments in projects such as HS2 and Crossrail 2. The CPA has also added two questions on educational needs. We would encourage you to participate in the survey in order to ensure it is informed by as wide a database as possible.
  • Click here to complete the Survey

Professional Practice

  • The RICS Professional Statement - Surveyors advising in respect of compulsory purchase and statutory compensation came into force on 13 April 2017. Click here to view. The Professional Statement is mandatory for all surveyors undertaking compulsory Purchase and compensation work. Non-RICS members should also be aware of its contents.

UT Surveyor Member Vacancy

  • Recruitment of a new surveyor member in the Upper Tribunal is expected to be launched by September. Details will be published on the JACs website, If you are interested you can sign up for alerts for automatic updates for these recruitments via the JAC. 
  • It really is important for people who may be interested to sign up and to start researching the information available on the JAC website to see how the recruitment process works and to collect the information they will need to put together for their application. The normal window for filling an application is only two weeks and it can be difficult to find enough time for the self-assessment process if you have not started to work on it in advance.

Governance

  • The Compulsory Purchase Association was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in November and we go live on the 1 August 2017. This follows resolutions that were passed at the 2015 and 2016 AGM's. The new company will deal with all CPA business from 1st August 2017, and the old entity will cease trading on the 31 July 2017.
  • Very little will change. The CPA will still have its annual conference, dinner, reform lecture, regional events and of course the AGM. It will continue to promote best practice and reform. The committee will become the Board and the constitution has become the Articles of Association which can be found here.
  • The CPA now has a new bank account as a limited company. All Standing Orders will cease to exist at the end of the year (December 2017). Please note CPA Ltd will no longer offer Standing Orders as a payment option. You will need to choose an alternative payment method at renewal. 
Back to content