Name Roger Southam | ||
Roger Southam BSc (Hons) FRICS MIRPM (born 29 June 1962) is a British qualified chartered surveyor and managing agent, he features regularly on property and consumer TV programmes as well in national newspaper.
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Career

Roger graduated from Trent Polytechnic with a Bachelor of Science degree (Hons) in Urban Estate Surveying in 1984. Having worked as an asset manager and senior development surveyor, Roger established his own company, Chainbow, in 1989. Initially Chainbow was founded as a property investment company, specialising in shopping centre and mixed-use asset management. In 2006, it moved into residential block management.
In 2016, Roger was appointed Director in Savills' Property Management team.
Professional experience
Roger is a regular panellist for leading organisations’ advisory boards and committees including:
In 1992 Roger became a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors. In 2005, Roger was appointed as Chairman of Chartered Surveyors Training Trust, a charity that supports school leavers' vocation into the surveying field.
2010 lobbying for leaseholder reform
Roger has increasingly become known as a consumer and leaseholder advocate through his industry and Government lobbying campaign to license managing agents. Roger aims to bring about industry change to make managing agents more accountable and protect the rights of homeowners and leaseholders.
In the lead up to the 2010 UK election, Roger’s campaign ran alongside the work of groups such as the Campaign Against Retired Leaseholder Exploitation (CARLEX), Property Standards Board (PBS) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor (RICS).
In recent years Mr Southam's self-proclaimed role as a "leaseholder advocate" has been called into question by many people including the charity the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership in Private Eye and on a number of occasions in Parliament. The most recent parliamentary reference took place on the 27th Feb 2017 where Justin Madders directly questions Mr Southams suitability for the role as Chair of the government funded Leasehold Advisory Service
Media
Roger has been a regular columnist for London newspapers The Docklands and industry publication Shopping Centre. He has also made several guest appearances on Channel Four’s Property Ladder, ITV’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald, BBC News (TV), ITN and Sky News as well as BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours. Roger provides weekly comment on his own blog as well as on Property Week’s blogs.