As the new President of ARLA, Nik Madan can expect a busy year.

And maybe an unpredictable one, given the shock of the Leave vote so soon after taking office.

“I am actually quite positive about it,” he says. “I am however disappointed by calls for a second referendum. You have to respect democracy.

“As a businessperson, I see threats in leaving the EU, but I also see the opportunities ahead, including the ability to trade around the world.”

Even without the referendum fall-out, carrying with it the strong possibility that trade organisations like ARLA will be busy advising the Government on how Brexit will affect individual markets, Madan will have his work cut out.

He is, however, unlikely to compromise on his three favourite things: Arsenal FC (he is a season ticket holder); blues music of which he is a huge fan; and, unexpectedly, cigars of which he is a connoisseur.

As group lettings development director at Connells, he is in charge of one of the most mammoth expansion strategies ever seen in agency.

Owned by the Skipton Building Society, Connells – like many corporate estate agents – was traditionally about sales, not lettings.

That completely changed three years ago when Connells announced it would double the size of its lettings network – then  around 180 branches – and brought in Madan, previously lettings director for Countrywide brand John D Wood.

In 2014/2015, Madan oversaw the opening of 126 lettings launches. These were a mixture of cold starts and putting lettings operations into existing branches (the figure does not include acquisitions, overseen by a colleague).

This year, Madan will oversee circa 50 more lettings launches. In addition to that, he is in charge of lettings at Barnard Marcus.

Like so many agents, Madan fell into the agency world by chance. He was originally going to be a lawyer, but after two years at Bristol Law School he decided he did not enjoy it.

He went to study at university in Nova Scotia where he met his Canadian wife, Dina.

Returning to this country, he thought about going into the City: “I received lots of offers, but then I randomly applied to an advert for a negotiator in the Evening Standard and got the job. I haven’t looked back since.”

He is as pro-ARLA as any President should be. But how relevant is it to agents?

“It is becoming more and more so by the day. Letting agents have an avalanche of legislation to deal with and various other challenges. They look to ARLA for guidance and interpretation.

“In addition ARLA does a lot of lobbying, and David Cox, our managing director, knows his way around Westminster.

“Our membership has just gone over 8,500 members for the first time.”

However, Madan concedes ARLA is not particularly relevant to the public: “I don’t think ARLA resonates at all. Much more needs to be done.”

His predecessor, Peter Savage, started the three Cs programme, of which “consumer awareness” is one prong, although one suspects that “getting the ARLA brand out there”, as Madan terms it, will be difficult.

The other two prongs to the programme are “cradle to grave” – encouraging life-long careers in the lettings industry – and corporate engagement.

The latter means engaging with the likes of Countrywide, which has its own training and compliance programmes, and also the newer ‘build to rent’ players. The first of these to have become an ARLA member is Get Living London.

ARLA is, however, traditionally about smaller independents wanting to benchmark their excellence. A number of small to medium-sized agencies are vanishing, in the non-stop buying spree by corporates, including Connells.

“We are a scattered industry. Some smaller agents are simply not viable on their own, no matter how good they are. Overheads are high and finding good staff is difficult because they need so much in the way of skills and knowledge plus huge dedication to customer service – they are as rare as hen’s teeth.”

For that reason, he believes that online letting agents will struggle to compete – not that he has any objections to the competition. “However, landlords are paying for listings as opposed to results. I think online letting agents are expensive for what they actually do.”

Madan is concerned about the poor reputation of letting agents, fuelled by constant onslaughts from the likes of Shelter and Generation Rent.

He believes that regulation of the entire industry is the only answer: “I am absolutely staggered that I could come out of prison for fraud today and set up a letting agency tomorrow, handling clients’ money.”

He also agrees that the level of compliance in the industry is extremely varied.

The lettings industry has also been hurt by George Osborne’s tax attacks on landlords: “The Government seems to think there is a bubble in the buy-to-let sector and that landlords can stand a lot more pain.

“They seem to have swallowed the headlines about evil landlords exploiting helpless tenants.

“I do think the tax measures will hurt those landlords with one or two properties – who are the vast majority. Ultimately, though, I think people will continue to think of property as a safe haven from their money.”

The pressure on letting agents’ fees seems to be mounting, with increasing calls for a ban.

“I think it is right and proper to charge a fee where it is justified, but that fee needs to be clear and highlighted upfront,” he says. “There is a cost attached to the amount of time agents spend on their duty of care.

“In Scotland, where fees are banned, it is clear that rents have gone up. Agents have passed their costs to landlords, and landlords to tenants.”

Is the mushrooming of selective licensing schemes another cause for concern? “It is certainly confusing for agents like Connells, that work across different areas, given the variation in rules.

“Their growth is probably indicative of central regulation. In Newham, there is a legitimate reason for licensing, to improve housing standards, but why Liverpool should have imposed it across the whole city is puzzling: in places like the Wirral, it is simply not necessary.”

Right to Buy could, it has been suggested, be extended to the private rented sector. It has been proposed not just in Labour circles but by the right wing think tank Civitas.

“That would be hugely damaging and would kill off a huge amount of the industry. Private lettings is a completely different sector from social housing.

“That would be ARLA’s view. My own is that it is wholly wrong and a huge nonsense.

“Twenty years ago, if a tenant wanted a property to be furnished, the landlord either said no, or got out an old sofa from his garage.

“Today, landlords see themselves as service providers to the tenants. They will lay on Sky TV and broadband, and the furniture will be of a good standard.

“It is all about finding the best tenants, for the best possible price, and trying to keep them.”