President's address to the AGM

18 Aug 2009

When I looked back over the 2008/2009 year in order to write this report, I realized it has been one of the most eventful and momentous years of my time as a member of the NZPIF Executive Committee. Not only has the economic environment changed significantly but, with the election of the National Government at the end of last year, some of the proposed legislative changes are being fast tracked. While we have not been able to influence the state of the economy, I feel confident that the Federation, on your behalf, has been a positive influence on these legislative changes, particularly in relation to the amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act. We sincerely appreciate and acknowledge the excellent relationship we have with the Minister of Housing, Phil Heatley, and with senior officials in the Department of Building and Housing. Members of the NZPIF Executive, assisted by Thomas Chin our political lobbyist, have nurtured and developed these relationships over a long period of time. Consequently, we were successful in having four controversial clauses in the amendments removed before the Bill was reintroduced into Parliament in May this year. A working party of Andrew King, Cliff Seque, Thomas Chin and myself then put a considerable amount of time into a comprehensive submission to the select committee, covering 24 other areas of concern. Last year, we also put in a submission on the Unit Title Bill. It has been helpful to have the support of Associations with regard to these submissions.

Other national initiatives this year included our input into the review of the regulation of property managers undertaken by a Ministry of Justice team. Our involvement was managed by Andrew King and Allan Storey and we thank the members who participated in the two surveys which provided the review team with up to date feedback from the users of the services of property managers. We have also participated in the development of more advanced landlord seminars, which will be piloted in the next year by the Department of Building and Housing, and Andrew King developed an Unintentional Landlord seminar to be used by Associations as they see fit. Another survey of members is currently underway to find out where tenants obtain their information when seeking new homes to rent. As the cost of advertising in newspapers and on Trade Me continues to increase, we all need to know the most effective way to promote our vacant rentals.

I would like to highlight the valuable work of the members of your NZPIF Executive Committee. Not only have they given their time to deal with the issues I have mentioned, and other national issues, but they have also worked on many other aspects. Andrew King and I are often contacted by the media and assist in increasing the profile of the organization as a whole. Regional representatives, Terry le Grove, Allan Storey, Cliff Seque, Janelle Morgan and myself , have had important roles in developing the open and trustworthy relationship which I firmly believe now exists between the Federation and our affiliated associations. Visits to Associations, the holding of regional meetings, the writing of articles and regular input into the general communication process have been the ingredients and I thank these members for their time and efforts.   Cliff Seque is our sponsorship specialist, encouraging all of us to achieve better national and local deals, and this year he has also chaired the committee working on the redesign of the membership card, with the aim of producing a card which is appropriate at both the local and national level. Owen Smith has assisted Sarah King with the adjustments to PIMMs needed to achieve this change and with other website and software issues.  Helen Gelletly has been our capable secretary and makes a valuable contribution at every meeting and ensures protocols are in place.

Special thanks go to Alan Sharr who has been the Treasurer for 7 years. Although he steps down from this role, he leaves us after an important year during which he has been vital in the negotiation of the new sponsorship agreement with the ANZ. We are certainly glad to have the ANZ’s continued support.

This year we invited you to participate in a survey of the people we contract to assist our work at the national level – Thomas Chin political lobbyist, Chris Stacey Manager of the Christchurch office, Jan Hains Marketing Manager and Sarah King the Webmaster. Your feedback confirmed that, from your point of view, these people make a positive contribution to our success. My thanks to Thomas, Chris, Jan and Sarah for your contribution this year, as well as to Sandra Marcijasz, who as you can see keeps up with the discussion and records the minutes.

I would also like to record my appreciation of the many people who do so much to keep all our Associations in good heart.  Without you, the organization as a whole would not exist. Many thanks to those who have completed their time in office and welcome to a number of new presidents – Colin Comber Taranaki, Brian Kerr Marlborough, Nancy Caiger Waikato, Jenny Duncan Whangaui, Grant Ogilvy Manawatu, Phil Sutherland Wairarapa and Kim Willems Canterbury. We are pleased to welcome Wellington PIA as our 21^st affiliated association. We look forward to working with President Jackie Thomas-Teague and meeting Wellington PIA members. I would like to say at this point how much we have appreciated, over the last four years, the role of Capital PIA as the only PIA affiliated to the NZPIF in Wellington and sincerely thank Alistair and Fiona Gillespie, their Executive Committee and members of Capital PIA for all their hard work in growing a new PIA from scratch. Both Capital and Wellington PIAs have their own special character and there is every expectation that both will continue to grow in membership.

It is going to be a great conference and I thank APIA for continuing with their plans to organize this event in spite of the difficult and turbulent times. Enjoy the great line up of speakers, the time to meet old friends and make new ones, and go back home refreshed and stimulated to face another challenging year.