A board director of the National Federation Of Property Professionals has resigned after accusing the estate agent umbrella body of failing to serve its members’ interests.
Stewart Lilly, a former president of the National Association of Estate Agents, quit the organisation on Sunday after a power struggle within the 13-strong NFOPP board.
NFOPP is the group name for a number of residential bodies, including the NAEA and the Association of Residential Letting Agents. It was established in 2007.
In a resignation letter to NFOPP and NAEA chief executive Peter Bolton King, Lilly said that the interests of the group’s 14,000 members were “not being respected in the way that they should be, or in a way that they used to be”.
Lilly, who has also quit his position on the NAEA council, said that, after the establishment of the federation, the NAEA’s status had been diluted.
He said: “I remain concerned that some recommendations to the board from NAEA council have been rejected or overruled.”
Bolton King said: “I absolutely believe that the board that runs the day-to-day business has all members’ interests at heart. We pay great attention to what the members feel and as an organisation must always do so.”
Fellow NAEA members registered their support for Lilly, who has been part of the organisation for 42 years. One said that the NFOPP board was “more interested in themselves than the interests of we mere mortal house-floggers and renters”.
NAEA president Gary Smith said: “We are justly proud of the democratic mechanisms that exist within the NAEA that allow diversity of opinion to be properly considered, debated and acted on.”
patrick.clift@rbi.co.uk
