RICS launches Valuer Registration Scheme in continental Europe

Against a backdrop of continuing financial insecurity, Europe’s leading property valuation professionals have come together to support the regional launch of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Valuer Registration Scheme.

It sets out an approach to raise confidence in the delivery of valuation advice and reinforce the highest professional standards in property valuation, a key component underpinning most economic activity.

Ensuring the quality of property valuations, RICS said it will provide lenders, asset managers and investors a clearly identifiable designation for the best regulated and qualified professionals.
Leading property professionals from France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia and Italy have already given their support to the scheme which is the first global regulation initiative for property valuation. This launch follows a very successful introduction in the UK in October 2010 and precedes the Asian launch later this year.

‘By promoting an international approach and improving global regulation, the process of deciding on property and land value will be increasingly accurate. This system will guarantee professionalism and quality in the application of international RICS and International Valuation Standards (IVS) to national and international regulators as well as clients everywhere,’ said Jean-Philippe Carmarans, head of valuation France at DTZ, and member of the RICS Europe Valuation Board.

RICS is a global organisation which sets industry standards for the property profession and 13,500 registered valuers signed up to the Valuer Registration Scheme during the first launch phase.

In an increasingly global business environment, international property valuation standards are necessary to facilitate greater transparency and through effective monitoring the Valuer Registration Scheme will demonstrate compliance with existing international standards, RICS explained.

Following two years of consultation, development and testing, the scheme was conceived by RICS’ leading valuation experts in response to the global credit crunch. Due to widespread financial insecurity, RICS recognised an international need to reduce risk associated with valuations of any real estate and land assets. As an industry it is vital that client confidence in the standard and accuracy of valuation work is upheld.

The initiative will monitor all members who carry out valuations under RICS Valuation Standards (the Red Book) which provide a regulated framework and practice guidance and standards, including compliance with International Valuation Standards (IVS) which are now recognised and adopted in most parts of the world. Valuations compliant with RICS Valuation Standards and monitored by the Valuer Registration Scheme will be consistent across borders, bringing greater transparency and helping to ensure the accuracy of existing property valuation processes.

‘The events of the last few years have clearly demonstrated the value of sound, independent and consistent advice delivered to globally accepted standards. That is just what the chartered surveyor does and the Valuer Registration Scheme further underpins this with effective and practical self regulation,’ said RICS Europe Board chairman, Italy’s Luciano Capaldo FRICS, from Euroconsultancy-RE.

Martin Brühl, a leading figure in the German property industry also supports the scheme. Martin is Managing Partner of Cushman & Wakefield in Germany and is one of RICS’ three vice presidents. ‘The quest for quality, regulation, ethics and transparency in the valuation process is what the RICS Valuation Standards are all about,’ he said.

‘We regard our right of professional self regulation as a precious privilege that we must cherish and preserve at all times. To that end, launching the Valuer Registration Scheme in Europe is the next logical step in our mission for excellence, and it will give to our registered valuation practitioners an additional quality label on top of their RICS membership, as well as to the public a feature to look for when seeking utmost credibility in the valuation industry,’ he explained.

‘As huge uncertainty continues to blight many of Europe’s economies, the benefit of having an international regulatory system that ensures and enforces that its members are practicing the necessary international standards is going to be vital over the forthcoming months, and, indeed years,’ he added.