NFRL landlords to be questioned over disputed NLA merger

The dispute over the merger between the National Federation of Residential Landlords (NFRL) and the National Landlords Association (NLA) took another turn during High Court proceedings in London last Thursday.

Following instructions by the judge, the legal teams representing those involved were told to draw up a list of questions that could be put to the NFRL membership about what they thought of the merger and whether they agreed with it.

After some deliberation, the questions were put before the judge who ruled that they can now be circulated to people who were members of the NFRL before the merger with the NLA on 8 July 2008. The replies are to be collated by a third party and then the findings put before the High Court on an agreed date.

NLA spokesman Stephen Hilton confirmed: We are still involved in an active case which is at the High Court.It is understood that the judge’s latest decision was unexpected but that some NFRL members see the questionnaire as a chance to vote on whether they want to be a part of the NLA.

Some have alleged that the 6,000 approx NFRL members did not get an opportunity to vote on whether they wanted to join with the NLA which means the outcome was an acquisition rather than a merger.

The NLA believed its merger with the NFRL had created the largest representative body for landlords. But several disgruntled individual members of the NFRL took out a high court injunction using their own funds.

In a recent interview NLA chairman David Salusbury said he believed the subject of the merger and legal battle was of little interest to NLA members adding that few were interested in what amounted to boardroom nonsense.