ALEP announces virtual Conference Week line-up

The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) is hosting its annual Conference with a twist for 2020, as the event will be a week of online seminars held from Monday 12 October – Thursday 15 October. 

Anna Bailey, ALEP Founder and Director, explains: “Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for us all, we’ve worked hard to make it ‘business as usual’ for ALEP. We’ve already turned a number of our scheduled events into online sessions, and the Annual Conference is no different.”  

Indeed, 2020 has brought about the Law Commission's highly-anticipated reports and recommendations into the future of leasehold home ownership, along with the feasibility and practicality of commonhold as an alternative option to leasehold. ALEP’s Conference Week 2020 will be covering these topics and assessing what impacts these recommendations will have on the future of the enfranchisement sector.  

Anna continued: “Conference Week will provide our delegates with relevant content and practical insights into issues they face in their everyday professional lives. We are proud, despite the challenges of this year, to be delivering an outstanding line-up of speakers who are well respected within the sector, and who can provide real value and insight into pertinent topics through their online presentations.”  

Junior practitioners are encouraged to attend daily morning sessions, taking place between 10am-11am and introduced by ALEP Director, Mark Chick. At its conference in 2017, ALEP introduced delegates to Hague House, the Association’s own illustrative block, and presented a ‘start to finish’ journey through the ‘Anatomy of a Claim’. ALEP is returning to Hague House and all its complexities for 2020 and offering junior practitioners a unique insight into the stages of a collective enfranchisement claim from our experts’ differing perspectives.  

Morning session seminars will look at getting notices right; key valuation considerations; agreeing terms, and initial considerations surrounding participation and getting the deal done. Morning session speakers are Eleanor Murray of CMS; Anna Favre of Cripps Pemberton Greenish; Nicola Muir of Tanfield Chambers; Richard Kay of Beckett & Kay and Clive Scrivener from Scrivener Tibbatts.  

The afternoon sessions will be held between 4pm and 5pm throughout the week and speakers will include Piers Harrison of Tanfield Chambers who will present a case update; Katherine Simpson and Stuart Hambling of Edwin Coe consider SDLT, CGT and collective enfranchisement claims. In addition, Mark Wilson of myleasehold, Jeremy Dharmasena of Knight Frank and Daniel Dovar of Tanfield Chambers will tackle the recent Duval case and its impact on valuation.  

A special panel session is running on Thursday 15 October and will focus on the Law Commission’s recommendations. Since the Commission’s announcements in July, there has been a period of reflection and ALEP’s expert panel, which includes ALEP’s Honorary President, Damian Greenish and Philip Rainey QC of Tanfield Chambers, will reconvene to debate the issues and points that have sparked discussion in the sector. 

Anna concluded: “Whilst we’re naturally disappointed that we cannot all meet up in person for this year’s conference, we are very much looking forward to hosting a virtual week of thought-provoking sessions designed to educate and support our members – those new to the sector and those who are themselves highly experienced practitioners.”  

ALEP’s Conference Week will be delivered online in a webinar-style format, and delegates will have the opportunity to share views, participate in polls and ask questions throughout.  

For more information and pricing details on how to book please click here.