Industry charity welcomes new Chair

Arbon Trust, the charitable arm of Propertymark, has appointed Lauren Scott as chair.

Scott, former NAEA Propertymark president and managing director of Trading Places Estate Agents in Whitley Bay, has taken on the role after Aidan Reid stepped down.

Reid steps down as chair but remains as a trustee. The charity will also welcome former ARLA Propertymark president, Phil Keddie, as a new trustee who says he is looking forward to playing his part in spreading support within the industry.

Scott commented: “I’d like to firstly thank Aidan for the fantastic work he has done for the industry over his years of being Chair. The Trust has supported the sector and helped raise considerable amounts of money for other charities.

“I’ve always been a keen advocate for everything we do at Arbon Trust, and it is ever-more important that given the effects of the pandemic on many people’s lives and mental health, that we look to continue to support as many people as we can.

“It is an honour to take on this role and responsibility and I look forward to making continued strides in the positive changes that our Trust makes.”

Strutt & Parker promotes negotiator to head up its national country house department

Strutt & Parker has appointed Oliver Custance Baker as head of its national country house department.

He joined Strutt & Parker in 2011 as a sales negotiator in the Exeter office covering the South West, following a masters degree at the Royal Agricultural University. Having progressed through the business over the past 11 years, in his most recent role Baker was a director in Exeter.

For a number of years, Baker worked alongside the national country house department across prime and super-prime West Country listings, and has been involved with the successful sales of notable properties, including Ince Castle, Cornwall and Mamhead House, Devon.

He said: “The prime country house market is one with enduring appeal to those within the UK and overseas markets – a market which shows little sign of waning and an exciting one to play a part in. To head up a team of agents who are considered at the top of their game and work alongside a network of regional offices, rich in local market knowledge, is what will drive the success of this team for our clients.”

Kate Eales, head of regional agency at Strutt & Parker comments: “Promoting from within the business is testament to the ability for individuals to climb the ranks within Strutt & Parker. Nurturing talent and developing progressive career paths is incredibly important to us. Oliver is a perfect example of how this can be done successfully, and to appoint him as head of this department bodes well for the future of the team, and the super-prime country market more broadly.”

Bob Young announces retirement from Fleet Mortgages

Fleet Mortgages, the buy-to-let specialist lender, has announced its chief executive officer, Bob Young, is to retire in April after a career in lending spanning over 25 years.

Young and his management team launched Fleet Mortgages in 2014 and in just over seven years have built the lender to the point where it has advanced £3.325bn in mortgages across 15,141 accounts. At the end of December 2021, it had over £2bn in mortgages under management.

During that time, Young has presided over a lender which has grown to 109 employees at the end of 2021, conducted multiple securitisations, and in the summer of 2021 was the first lender to be fully-acquired by Starling Bank in a £50m cash and share deal.

As a result of that acquisition, Starling became the sole funder of Fleet’s originations with the lender writing over £782m of mortgage business in 2021 – up 96% annually – with a pre-tax profit of £6.97m. It is fully on course to meet its lending targets in 2022.

In his 45-year career, Young held roles with Black Horse, Abbey National and as a business consultant, before joining CHL Mortgages as sales & marketing director in 1997, taking over as managing director in 2004.

Young will be replaced by Mike Lane as the new chief executive officer. Lane is currently COO and has also been with Fleet Mortgages since November 2014 and was also part of the senior management team at their previous lender.

Lane has over 30 years’ experience in both retail and financial companies with wide financial services experience acquired in various cross-company Operational, Change Management and IT roles.

Young commented: “All good things come to an end, and this seems the right time to announce my retirement and to hand over to Mike and the management team to build on what we’ve all achieved over the last seven or so years. It has been some journey.

“It will undoubtedly be business as usual at Fleet under Mike’s leadership and with, what I believe, is the best senior management team in the market. With the support of Starling behind us, the future looks incredibly bright.

“Given our acquisition by Starling last year, it feels like Fleet is embarking on its next phase. Phase one of developing Fleet was all about getting a new lender off the ground, establishing our credibility and building a business which could be trusted by our intermediary partners and their clients.

“I believe we’ve achieved that in spades, and our excellent performance in 2021 is testament to that, as is our start to this year. In my opinion, Fleet is everything we said it would be and I feel I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do when establishing Fleet back in 2014.

“This is a business and team I am incredibly proud of; the quality of our proposition, our service levels, and everything about it is something I hoped we could deliver, and to see it come to fruition and to firmly establish itself for the future, is wonderful.

“Lending has been my working life for over 25 years and with Fleet in the safest of hands, I am looking forward to enjoying a long and happy retirement knowing full well this is a business which will go on to bigger and better things.”