Steven Bletsoe
Operations Manager, Wales
Steven joined the NRLA in February 2022 as Operations Manager for Wales. Steven has had a long career in both property in the UK and politics in Wales. Steven launched the Homefinder Group in 2003 and was Managing Director of Homefinder UK until 2008, recognised at the time as being the country’s leading property location company, working in the private home purchase and property liaison with residents and landlords affected by the installation of incorrect cladding on high rise buildings in Cardiff. Steven worked with residents in the South Wales Central region to expose the issues around EWS1 forms that led to questions being asked in the chamber of Welsh Government and to several police investigations.
Working in a strategic position to ensure that landlords with properties in Wales are best served by the NRLA, Steven and his team are available to ensure that members receive the best service.
Gill Owens
Regional Representative – South Wales
Gill, together with her husband have been landlords for over 16 years with a portfolio of Buy to Lets in South Wales, and an HMO in Greater Manchester supporting transitioning homeless individuals into sustained housing.
They have a refurbishment company, a Property Sourcing company, and more recently a small Serviced Accommodation portfolio. They also set up and have been running their Property networking event for the past 4 years for landlords who invest in Wales specifically so becoming the NRLA’s Welsh Representative is a natural progression for Gill
Gill is extremely proud of her Welsh heritage, having been born and brought up in its capital, Cardiff. Her career of over 40 years spans the Public, private and 3rd Sectors, and also more recently the CEO of Welsh Women’s Aid, the Welsh Domestic Abuse umbrella organisation. Gill's career has also seen her work across the length and breadth of Wales, helping her to understand the regional differences and challenges that local landlords face.
Sandra Towers
Regional Representative – North Wales
Sandra is married with children and lives in Shropshire with close family in North and Mid-Wales. Previously a secondary school deputy headteacher and national teacher trainer, she now works part-time in a local school and has an active role as Chair of Governors in her local primary school.
Sandra has a range of single lets, flats and HMOs in the Midlands and Wales, which she manages when she’s not teaching. With Sandra and her family members owning multiple properties in the North and Mid Wales area, she has an extremely keen interest in the private rental sector in Wales.
Joining the NLA and becoming an accredited landlord was one of the first things Sandra did when she began working in property. She believes that in a minefield of social media and constant policy changes, she needed to feel secure that she was an effective and efficient landlord. Membership has been crucial for her in reducing the worry that being a landlord can bring.
Dan Cumming
Dan Cumming – Policy Officer
Dan Cumming LLB is a policy officer for the NRLA. Having previously worked as an advisor for the support team, and more recently as a compliance specialist supporting the advisors through training both new starters and existing advisors. Dan has provided high quality advice to members of the association for several years now.
James Wood
Policy Manager
James Wood, LLB, is the NRLA’s Policy Manager.
James has provided legally sound advice to thousands of landlords for over 6 years, along with producing the organisation’s guides and documents and training the organisation’s highly rated advice service.
Kitty Ellison
Head of Training and Accreditation
Kitty has 20 years’ experience in education, delivering training and managing teaching contracts. She is a qualified teacher and has taught in a variety of sectors including housing legislation.
Kitty has been with the association for over 6 years and has developed the training department to ensure a high level of quality is delivered to members in the classroom, virtually, and via eLearning. Having designed and delivered training programmes for the association and, as a former landlord herself, she has a good understanding of the topics required by landlords.
Alex Nolan
Senior Training Developer.
Alex is an experienced trainer, with over 10 years working within the private rented sector covering both English & Welsh legislation. Alex has previously been a trainer for the NRLA and formerly RLA for almost 5 years. Alex also spent a period as a Landlord Advisor for the RLA which included assisting landlords and agents operating in Wales. Prior to joining the landlord associations, Alex acted as a trainer for a large letting agent following a spell of being letting agent negotiator and assistant manager for an online letting’s agency. Alex has been part responsible for RSW licensing training with the NRLA & RLA and has been heavily involved with the development of the Renting Homes (Wales) 2016 Training course. Alex currently facilitates the virtual classroom offering for this topic
Craig Purvis
Advice Line.
Craig joined the NRLA in September 2020 and has been on the Advice Line throughout this time providing advice and support to members in relation to several issues such as creating tenancies, tenant disputes and possession queries. Craig has over ten years’ experience in debt management, debt collection and arrears collection on behalf of a leading estate agent in Manchester city centre where he ran an entire portfolio of properties covering the Southern Manchester area.
