Professional role

Eve Salomon details RICS’ regulatory role and outlines plans for a modern professional regulatory framework

The Institution has a duty to the public, governments, business and existing members to protect the value of RICS, the mark of property professionalism.

And it is RICS regulation that sets the framework for the profession’s ethics and standards, which, in effect, is what sets professionals apart from non-professionals.

The work of RICS defines the levels of competence and conduct for the profession and through CPD ensures lifetime competence while the regulation of firms creates an environment which gives confidence to clients, markets and governments.

Regulation not only helps protect public interest and meet the expectations and demands of statutory authorities and government, but also provides a quality assurance for members and their firms.

We are constantly reassessing our objectives and looking to introduce new measurements and indicators to define regulatory success, but it is my aim both to improve the effectiveness of regulation and to ensure transparency and accountability to our members.

To do so, we are looking at reassessing our objectives and new measurements for defining regulatory success.

Regulation is not about enforcement – it is not even mainly about enforcement. It is instead about confidence, assurance and quality. Regulatory enforcement is an absolute last resort.

Effective regulation is primarily about engagement, seeking to understand the profession to ensure our regulatory approaches match with business and 
professional needs. It’s also an issue of education, and it’s here that we seek to adopt an advisory role to help members comply.

It is RICS’ role to enable compliance by ensuring members have the right tools to do so.

Much has been done over the past three years to review governance, develop schemes to meet legal requirements and create a principles-based regulatory frame – we now want to review how we consult with members and re-examine the communications we produce.

Currently, RICS uses a combination of formal consultation with the entire 
membership, informal consultation with professional groups, independent market surveys and regular meetings such as roadshows.

All have their advantages and disadvantages, but none of them will be effective unless we, the Institution, communicate effectively with you, the members.

We currently have around 80,000 qualified UK members, and 10,000 UK firms subject to regulatory rules, with a total of 30,000 members regulated individually worldwide. Firm regulation has already been extended to Hong Kong and we are opening for business in Europe and Asia very soon.

Of course, it is no good if RICS expands membership internationally without having the mechanisms in place to regulate new members – this only places the reputation of the Institution at risk.

Just as it would be pointless for the regulation team to mandate specific CPD if there were no professional training courses available to enable members to comply. We are working to ensure that RICS understands the needs of the many societies where members operate and creates the right framework within which to practise.

We have an opportunity to become a truly global standards body. But this will only be achieved with effective regulation and by mobilising members to embrace and continue to support this ambition.

We have to ensure that the RICS mark means something real, and that means ensuring it has genuine regulatory content behind it.

Eve Salomon is Chair of the RICS Regulatory Board and a legal expert, advising governments around the world