APC: Caring is following process

Client care is an essential skill for all surveyors to develop, as well as being a mandatory competency as part of the RICS APC and AssocRICS assessments. Candidates need to be able to demonstrate practical experience of client care, so there is a strong emphasis on being able to apply the theory in practice. Client care is underwritten into the RICS Rules of Conduct for Members, Rules of Conduct for Firms and the Global Professional and Ethical Standards. Here are a few examples from the Global Professional and Ethical Standards, which candidates may already adopt in their own professional practice: To act with integrity, eg respecting client confidentiality, not taking advantage of clients and being trustworthy; To always provide a high standard of service, eg clearly defining the scope of service in written terms of engagement and communicating with clients coherently to allow them to make informed decisions; To act in a way that promotes trust in the profession, eg fulfilling obligations towards clients and behaving appropriately both in and out of the workplace; To treat others with respect, eg avoiding any form of discrimination and treating all clients fairly and equally; To take responsibility, eg acting with due skill, care and diligence and dealing with complaints in a professional manner. Client care starts at the point where a potential client makes their first contact with a surveyor. The aim of the discussion, ideally by telephone call, video call or face-to-face meeting is to gather as much information as possible about the client and their requirements. This requires excellent listening skills, as well as the ability to record information and provide written follow-up communication, eg to clarify objectives, fees and scope of service. It is vitally important to understand a client’s objectives and to ensure that the recommended services meet their requirements. The dismissal of the Hart v Large [2021] EWCA Civ 21; [2021] PLSCS 10 appeal emphasised the importance to surveyors of satisfying their duty of care to clients. This includes both informing and advising clients of fundamental factors relating to whether or not a transaction should proceed. Surveyors must ensure that the most appropriate type of survey is recommended, followed by clearly explaining any limitations and advising of further action that should be taken to minimise risk relating to the transaction. Surveyors also need to ensure that they tailor their communication strategy and approach to their client’s needs, eg using e-mails rather than hard-copy letters or explaining concepts without using jargon for lay clients. Pre-instruction checks Before accepting new work, candidates must diligently carry out their pre-instruction checks. These include: Ensuring that they are sufficiently knowledgeable, skilled and competent to carry out the work required. This includes being able to access additional resources (eg sign-off or support from another surveyor or superior) and having adequate time to meet any client deadlines. If a candidate does not feel they can meet any one of these requirements then they should liaise with the client to amend the scope of service or alternatively refer the client to a more experienced or suitable professional. Acting within the scope of a surveyor’s competence or practice is essential to avoid potential professional indemnity insurance claims and client complaints. Checking for conflicts of interest in line with the RICS professional statement Conflicts of Interest (1st edition). These include party, own interest and confidential information conflicts. Candidates should be well-versed in their internal procedures for checking conflicts of interest before each new instruction, even for an existing client, is accepted. Anti-money laundering checks, in line with the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (2018) and RICS professional statement Countering Bribery and Corruption, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (1st edition). This involves taking appropriate identity documents from new clients, as well as being aware of red flags such as a client being unwilling to disclose identity details or offering to pay large sums of cash. Ensuring that the firm has sufficient PII insurance to cover the value of the instruction. After these checks have been successfully undertaken, a surveyor will need to formalise their engagement in written terms of engagement. These must be signed by the client, either in hard copy or electronic form. Complaint-handling procedure The terms of engagement must make reference to the firm’s complaints handling procedure, a key requirement of Rule 7 of the RICS Rules of Conduct. Client complaints generally arise when expectations are not met, eg owing to missed deadlines or misunderstandings over the scope of work. A firm’s CHP must be in writing, including an approved RICS redress mechanism such as CEDR Solve (for business-to-business redress) and the Property Ombudsman (for consumer complaints). Firms must also appoint a complaints handling officer and operate a complaints log. RICS publishes separate guidance, primarily aimed at residential surveyors, in the guidance note Complaints Handling (1st edition). This confirms that an effective CHP should be fit for purpose, available and understood by all staff, shared readily with complainants, reviewed regularly at a senior level and agreed with the firm’s PII broker or provider. If a complaint is received, a firm must notify their PII provider. RICS is not involved with complaints; it cannot decide whether a surveyor’s opinion was correct or offer a second opinion. RICS can only become involved where there is an issue relating to service or professionalism; it will investigate matters in the public interest and take appropriate disciplinary action. This will not, however, resolve the complaint between the firm and client, which is generally the role of the approved redress (alternative dispute resolution) mechanism specified in the CHP. Complaints can be avoided by seeking feedback from clients throughout the entire instruction process. This could include questionnaires or feedback forms, as well as checking in with clients regularly and ensuring regular communication. Further process to follow A surveyor will need to keep accurate records of their clients using a spreadsheet, contact database or customer relationship management system. This will help to keep correspondence up to date and to assist with checking for future conflicts of interest, eg avoiding acting for both a landlord and tenant of the same property. It can also be used for cross-selling and new business generation. Firms may also handle client money; in which case they must meet the requirements of the RICS professional statement Client Money Handling (1st edition). This stems from Rule 8 of the Rules of Conduct for Firms, which states that a “firm shall preserve the security of clients’ money entrusted to its care in the course of its practice or business”. The new professional statement should be read in tandem with the scheme rules for the RICS Client Money Protection Schemes for Surveying Services and Property Agents, both of which have a narrower scope than the new professional statement. Client money is defined as any cash, cheque, draft or electronic transfer which a “RICS-regulated firm holds for or receives on behalf of another person, including money held by a regulated firm as stakeholder and is not immediately due and payable on demand to the RICS-regulated firm for its own account”. This excludes “fees paid in advance for professional work agreed to be performed, and clearly identifiable as such, unless the fees are for work undertaken as a property agent as defined by the Rules of the RICS Client Money Protection Scheme for Property Agents”. Examples of client money include payment on account of general costs, rent, service charge, interest credited to a client account and arbitration fees. Firms must ensure that: client money is kept safe; client money is used only for appropriate purposes; and appropriate controls and procedures are implemented to safeguard client money. Ways to do this include holding all client money in an exclusively controlled client money account, ensuring that the account name includes the word “client” and the name of the firm. Client care and assessment Finally, candidates will need to evidence clear practical examples of their client care in their summary of experience. Some typical examples include: clear communication and agreement of terms of engagement with a client, including timescales, resourcing and information required from the client; client account management responsibilities; seeking and acting on feedback to improve client care; taking part in business development activities or generating new business; keeping client information confidential or using a non-disclosure agreement to protect client confidentiality; reporting to a client using an agreed format tailored to the client’s requirements. Candidates should avoid too much crossover with the communication and negotiation competency; focusing on the behaviours and activities they engage in to provide the highest standards of client care. A surveyor who can provide excellent client care is likely to retain clients, earn new business and receive positive testimonials. A failure to provide good client care is likely to lead to client dissatisfaction, complaints and, in the worst-case scenario, a PII claim for professional negligence. Claims are costly, stressful and time consuming and can be avoided with diligence and thought put into the process of providing client care. Top assessor tips Don’t forget to check your word count before submitting. Proofread your CPD record carefully. Many candidates forget to do this. Remember that level 3 is about the advice that you give, not others. Top candidate tips I really struggled to remember my presentation at first; practice really did make perfect. I was referred first time around – really understanding what went wrong and what went well helped me to succeed second time around. Don’t under-use your referral report. Don’t be alone – make connections with other candidates to make your APC journey a little lighter. The quick quiz 1. When will the new RICS Home Survey Standard take effect? a) It already has: 1 December 2020 b) 1 March 2021 c) 1 June 2021 2. Which VPS relates to terms of engagement? a) VPS 1 b) VPS 2 c) VPS 4 3. Does the Red Book give specific guidance on valuation methodology and calculations to valuers? a) Yes b) No Answers:1: 1 March 2021 2: VPS 1 3: No Jen Lemen BSc (Hons) FRICS is a co-founder of Property Elite, a chartered surveyor, a registered valuer and an APC assessor Picture © Shutterstock