Regulatory role of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Law of Property Act receiverships

The Law of Property Act (LPA) 1925 deals with the circumstances in which a receiver can be appointed. An LPA receiver need not be a licensed insolvency practitioner (in contrast to administrators, liquidators and trustees in bankruptcy). A charge-holder (i.e. a lender) can, and often does, appoint a surveyor or a valuer as the LPA receiver.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) regulate surveyors. The RICS is an independent professional body which regulates and promotes the property profession. It is independent of Government and set up by Royal Charter. It sets rules of membership and professional standards and can take disciplinary action against its members for breach of these rules.

The RICS website, for example, sets out Ethics and Professional Standards.and Rules of Conduct . RICS has a complaints process in relation to its members.

On 14 March 2017 the RICS announced new rules to deal with conflicts of interest.

Conflicts of Interest in the LPA process

Concerns have previously been raised that surveyors acting as LPA receivers can have conflicts of interest. In March 2015 the Business Innovation and Skills Committee considered insolvency and took evidence from RICS representatives on their role in the process and possible conflicts of interest. In addition RICS provided written evidence which set out their complaint handling policy and a statement on conflicts of interest in response to concerns raised by the Committee.

The role of Chartered Surveyors as Law of Property Act receivers was previously raised in a Westminster Hall debate by Jo Stevens in September 2015 on a Serious Fraud Office investigation that concerned a constituent.