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UK surveyors chief quits after critical governance report

Power struggle at Rics followed audit raising serious concerns about cash controls

https://www.ft.com/content/79ca21e3-ed03-4d8f-999b-f06e0d63c79d

The chief executive of the UK’s most prominent professional body for surveyors has stood down following a damning report into a financial and corporate governance crisis at the 153-year-old organisation

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Rics commissioned the report to address accusations of poor management practices at the body, whose goal is to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the property industry

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As well as chief executive Sean Tompkins, the Rics president, the chair of the governing council and the chair of the management board are also standing down.

Levitt said her report covered “a sad and depressing episode in the life of a great institution”. The report traces the internal fight caused by a BDO audit, which raised questions over financial management that led to the body running out of cash in 2018.

The audit into the organisation’s treasury management concluded that “no assurance” could be given as to either the design of the internal controls and their operating effectiveness

 

 

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1 hour ago, Smiley George said:

Errmmmm……I’d say they’re failing quite substantially to get anywhere near that goal.

 

https://www.professionalindemnity.co.uk/site/guides/chartered-surveyors-guide/

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Chartered surveyors are one of the oldest established professions with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) being founded in London in 1868. Today membership of the RICS is one of the most prestigious positions in the property market.

It is a profession where negligence claims have largely been driven by the property market cycle - for example, it is estimated that the crash in 2008 led to subsequent professional indemnity claims against the profession well in excess of £ 100 million.

 

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Might explain why surveyor's won't do valuations of blocks of flats in our area as can not get PI Insurance due to new fire safety rules and no one qualified to do an EWS1 either.  As a potential cash buyer of a flat I gave up due o leasehold laws and most surveyor's I spoke to telling me no a good idea until an EWS has been done.

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Comments, which Ill copy freely as they are not coveredby FT restrictions -

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I am a Chartered Surveyor, although I generally don’t broadcast that outside the property profession, as I’m not convinced it carries the same label it did when I qualified many years ago.  Members like me have long suspected the organisation was being run by fat cats detached from their grass roots members, but the scale of this debacle exceeds anything any of us could have expected. CEO, Sean Tompkins, the guy who claimed to be a Chartered Surveyor ‘mistakenly’ on a job application in the past, (he wasn’t, and it wasn’t a mistake as I believe that he filled out the application in pen)….£400k bonus, routine gourmet lunches at RICS HQ, only resigns now the report has been published - I’ll leave you to decide what kind of chap he is. I’m fortunate, as the membership fee is inconsequential to me, but some Chartered Surveyors in the provinces don’t even earn a tenth of that bonus in a year, struggle to make ends meet, and yet they’ve paid for these ludicrous excesses, and are regulated, charged and fined heavily for the most minor of misdemeanours, in return for RICS not publishing such misdemeanours on their website, which would utterly crucify them if they did. Pay us a £1000 fine and we won’t publish - that’s exactly how they behave. Rotten to the core, publicly exposed; a very low point for an organisation I aspired to join 40 years ago, which today is little more than an embarrassment to be associated with.
 
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reply In reply to fallenseagull
Couldn’t agree more. I am also a chartered surveyor but only so because there is little alternative. Have always felt that it was run by cliques who found it a cushy number and did not have the best interests of the institution at heart.
I did respond in such a fashion when my opinion was sought, expected some reaction but of course it was just a paper exercise.
 
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reply In reply to fallenseagull
I absolutely agree. This is a total disgrace and I have been tempted for years to resign as a long standing RICS member and now it appears that the time has come!! 
 
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reply In reply to fallenseagull

I am NOT a chartered surveyor; nor do I have anything to do with the profession. However, I am shocked by the article, and your comment and those that support same make for very sobering reading. I, for one, have always considered RICS a byword for professional standards.

 
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How on earth could a membership organisation sanction a £400k bonus?? What a shambles and well done to BDO for pulling no punches.
 
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reply In reply to PassiveActive
They didn’t sanction it. 
 
I think that’s the point. 
 
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reply In reply to Cities Licker
For once I agree with you.
 
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Shock horror as poshed up estate agents can’t handle finance or governance whilst enriching themselves at the expense of all stakeholders.
 
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reply In reply to The Accountants Accountant
You act as though the likes of bankers, hedgies and private equity types are any better. They’re all the same mangled mess. 
 
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reply In reply to OUR MONARCHY ARE PARASITES ;)
But at least the latter are regulated by the FCA/PRA, while the former can freely do property scams without risking too much!
 
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£400k unexpected bonus for a trade body!!!!!!!
 
What on earth was going on there?
 
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reply In reply to SonnyTerry
Quite astonishing isn't it.  He will largely be a paper pusher.  Still, I suppose there is a suitable job for him in the NHS.
 
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Just swept under the carpet, in the finest English tradition.
 
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Loved the bit that says “acting in the best interests” What a performance! Worth every penny of that four hundred grand.
But, strange as it seems, if I was a Chartered Surveyor I’d want my money back.
 
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This is the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors who should be leading society by good example.
 
So four non-executive people were sacked because they raised concerns.  Sounds like the individuals who decided upon these sackings should themselves be in prison.
 
An unexpected £400,000 discretionary bonus paid to the CEO would in many organisations be considered as theft.  So what disciplinary action has been taken ?
 
.
 
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reply In reply to Andrew Winton
Disciplinary action taken ......he has been 'nominated' for a peerage. 
 
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Where is the apology / repayment of the bonus? 
 
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Do keep us up to date regarding the £400 000 bonus.
 
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At one point in my life I was studying and working in the surveying profession.  I loved the work, loved the atmosphere on site and was really positive that I had made the right choice.  Then I started to find myself being undermined - frankly bullied and harassed, by some of my colleagues (all but one or two male btw) - I know you find these folks everywhere sadly, but surveying does seem to be a bit of a home for toxic masculinity.  The management had changed from when I was hired, and the new man wasn’t really supportive and allowed things to develop until I felt I just couldn’t finish my training, despite passing my in work part time degree with honours.  I wrote to the RICS on exit to tell them of my experience - the letter I got back said they had heard similar stories elsewhere in the profession and were aware there was work to do.  That was 1997.  It just sounds like things have got worse - not better there.
 
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(Edited)
 
The construction industry in the UK is a farce, all the way from housbuilders to RICS to NHBC to Jenrick. All completely useless.
 
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reply In reply to Mr C
Absolutely. Considering the role new builds will have on tackling our bid for net zero emissions, and the distance we have to travel, this article makes sense to me. Utter shambles 
 
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reply In reply to Mr C
The biggest problem that the government needs to correct is the quality of the UK housing stock.
 
The majority of buildings leak heat like a sieve and if this was corrected then this would be a major reduction with the CO2 problem.
 
With immediate effect all new houses need better insulation with legal obligations to create the same as Passive House standards - it is not difficult and only adds 5% to 10% to the build cost.
 
Updating the existing housing stock with better insulation /better windows is more expensive and there needs to be a serious government investment and involvement to move this forward.
 
The recent Green House Grant was a total joke - I obtained a grant for £7,500 Thermal Solar that would save £75 per year and obviouly take 100 years to pay even - no requirement to improve the insulation.
 
Totally agree with Mr C,  the current government involvement is a total farce.
 
.
 
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Deary me. This lot are supposed to step in when leaseholders are being exploited by unregulated managing agents and having their service charges cranked up or reserve funds plundered. 
 
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Many stakeholders suspected it. Smelt like a wet fish. Where there is smoke, there sure is fire. Never gets old. 
 
Time for fresh blood and free ISURV to members 
 
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 “Whilst her report makes uncomfortable reading it provides us with an opportunity to implement far-reaching reforms and establish Rics as the gold standard for professional bodies.”
 
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
 
Let’s all make for uncomfortable reading then.
 
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reply In reply to Q
P.s.
 
How could a fusty old surveyors’ institution hire a geezer who looks like a used bog-brush salesman as CEO?

 

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Wow

http://apaproperty.com/blog/2018/3/29/sean-tompkins-ceo-of-rics-mistaken-about-his-professional-status-

Mr Sean Tompkins is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the RICS.  He has a high profile position and from what can be seen from his job description is that he is there to promote the RICS.  The RICS reputation is purportedly founded on honesty, integrity and professionalism.  It therefore came as somewhat of a shock to Mr Antino whilst undertaking research generally about the RICS in preparation of a forthcoming expose on the RICS that he stumbled across the Form 288a appointment of a company director or secretary.

In 2006 Mr Tompkins completed a Form 288a for submission to Companies House to become a Director of St Benedict Homes Ltd.  The form was completed by Mr Tompkins in his own hand and he recorded existing directorships at that time being Director of RICS Business Services Ltd (2002 – to date) being 2006.

There is a requirement that the applicant provides a business description.  This is what caused Mr Antino some alarm and justifiably so because Mr Tompkins had written claimed to be a chartered surveyor.  Mr Tompkins has never been a chartered surveyor and remains at present without any professional standing within the RICS.

As a professional member of the RICS Mr Antino knows that it is wrong for anyone to hold themselves up to be a chartered surveyor, because RICS have by the Royal Charter, absolute control over the use of chartered surveyor.  In much the very same way as someone filling in a form purporting to be a barrister, a doctor, a High Court Judge, a member of RIBA, without having those professional qualifications would lead to serious repercussions by those regulating bodies and justifiably so.

Mr Antino therefore wrote to the RICS advising in the strictest terms that Mr Tompkins had held himself up to be a chartered surveyor.

There was no acknowledgement of the complaint letter until approximately 4 – 5 weeks later when Mr Antino received a response from the RICS legal team.  They thanked Mr Antino for bringing it to their attention, confirmed that they had looked into the matter and advised that this had been determined previously to be an administrative error.  They were therefore closing the file and doing nothing further.

An administrative error, what does that mean?  In the context of this plainly wrongful assertion on a legal document to Companies House, it cannot be an administrative error.  Mr Tompkins filled in a form, he signed the form, and having submitted it to Companies House in anticipation of becoming a Director.

That cannot fall within the definition of an administrative error.  An administrative error is filing the letter in the wrong file, incorrectly posting a letter to someone who should not get the letter, or putting the wrong address on an envelope, and sending the letter to an incorrect address.  That is an administrative error.

This response gives rise to the question of just how many other people are doing the same thing.  Mr Antino can assure you that it is not a rare occurrence.  In 2017 Mr Antino identified a Mr Blake trading as a party wall surveyor has stated on his correspondence, stationery etc. that indeed he was RICS qualified and regulated.  Mr Blake was not.  Mr Antino reported this gentleman to the RICS and they simply got him to remove the designated RICS logos and not to misrepresent himself any further.

Where is the protection that should be offered by the RICS to its members to prevent people wrongly and mischievously using the RICS Royal Charter of chartered surveyor.

Members work very hard to achieve that status and they are quite rightly entitled to have that status protected and not abused, however it is being devalued.

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20 hours ago, coypondboy said:

Might explain why surveyor's won't do valuations of blocks of flats in our area as can not get PI Insurance due to new fire safety rules and no one qualified to do an EWS1 either.  As a potential cash buyer of a flat I gave up due o leasehold laws and most surveyor's I spoke to telling me no a good idea until an EWS has been done.

Agree. In theory it could be a great time to buy a decent flat ie not in a huge block nor with a corporate freeholder. Rather in a converted 3 story Victorian terrace into 3 flats with the ground floor owning the freehold. 
However, only if the risk is reflected in the price eg 40% off, but unfortunately that is rarely the case. 

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On 10/09/2021 at 08:16, spyguy said:

Mr Antino therefore wrote to the RICS advising in the strictest terms that Mr Tompkins had held himself up to be a chartered surveyor.

So it was known for at least 3 years prior to the current report (probably longer, we are not told when Antino filed his complaint) that this guy was a fraud and nothing was done. No wonder Britain is going down the tubes when we have this kind of accountability at the top of lauded institutions. I don't think it is unrepresentative.

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