The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) could soon have its fifth female President in just nine years after it was revealed that the two candidates in the final run-off to become the next vice-president are Maxine Fothergill, Managing Director of Gravesend-based Amax Properties, and Darshan Sunger, MD of London-based Three Oaks Estates.
The final deadline for the election is at 10am today and the votes will then be counted by the independent organisation ARLA uses to administer the process. The winner will be announced at ARLA’s AGM on Friday 14th June.
Whoever wins will then become ARLA’s Vice President, then next year President Elect and finally in 2021, get the top job.
Previous female presidents have included Sally Lawson (2017), Valerie Bannister (2014), Susan Fitzgibbon (2013) and Jane Ingram (2012) as well as Frances Burkinshaw (1999-2002).
Fothergill (left) is a long-standing and active member of ARLA and has been at the helm of Amax Estates since 2002. She has also been a trainer for the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme since it was established in 2004 and is an honorary member of the Federation of Private Residents Associations.
Sunger (right) is one of ARLA’s 14 regional representatives. He founded his estate agency, Three Oaks, in 2014 and is also its managing director, although he has worked in the industry for over 20 years.
Both are active members of their local community outside of their property careers.
Fothergill was until recently a Conservative councillor for the London Borough of Bexley while Sunger is a Conservative councillor at Epping Forest District Council.
Fothergill is best known for her involvement in the campaign to head off the first attempt at a tenant fees ban in 2014 via a Labour amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill.
It was defeated narrowly following impassioned debates in parliament, and an e-petition lodged by Fothergill attracted over 3,400 signatures.
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