A Valuer's Guide to the RICS Red Book

Citation

French, N. (2008), "A Valuer's Guide to the RICS Red Book", Journal of Property Investment & Finance, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 101-102. https://doi.org/10.1108/14635780810845190

The advertising for this book describes A Valuer's Guide to the RICS Red Book as the “perfect companion for all valuation professionals to ensure they understand the implications and apply the rules of the Red Book” and it pretty much does as it says on the can!

The Red Book should be refereed to by its full title, The RICS Appraisal and Valuation Standards. The current Red Book has developed over more than 25 years and one of the principal aims of the current (fifth) edition was to reflect the increasing international status of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Effectively, the Red Book is implementing the RICS policy of adopting and supporting international valuation standards published by the International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC).

At its launch in 2003, the principal aims of the new edition were stated to be:

to encourage initial understanding of client needs and establish whether competent to meet them; to promote consistent use of bases and assumptions on which valuations are provided; to help valuers to achieve high standards of professional competence; to promote the provision of comprehensible valuation reports; and to ensure published references to valuations are clear, accurate and informative.

Since that date, its content has been the subject of close management and regular monitoring by panels of experienced valuation practitioners both within the RICS and outwith at the IVSC. However, with its growth, new editions, regular supplements (nine in four years) and constant updates (nine in four years), understanding the implications and applying the rules of the Red Book can be a real challenge.

A Valuer's Guide to the RICS Red Book is an attempt to provide an overview and to address specific questions of application. It is very well written and easy to both follow and understand. It is a valuable companion. It contains key principle extracts directly from the Red Book and explains how these are applied. It addresses terms of engagement with the client and brings together the Red Book with the RICS' code of conduct by discussing and explaining potential conflicts of interest for the valuer.

The author, Andrew Cherry, is a member of the Red Book Editorial Board and of the RICS Valuation for Financial Statements Group and a very experienced valuation practitioner in both the UK and abroad. As a result, the book provides insight and practical examples that complement and enhance the use of the Red Book alone.

The contents of A Valuer's Guide to the RICS Red Book includes:

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  qualifications and conflicts of interest;

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  terms of engagement with the client;

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  valuations bases;

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  inspections and material considerations;

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  valuation reports;

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  valuations for loan facilities;

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  regulated purpose valuations;

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  the monitoring of valuations; and

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  specialist valuations.

The only negative comment about this book is that its shelf life is intrinsically linked to the Red Book itself and that is rapidly changing. In addition to the nine updates since the publication of the fifth edition in 2003, there is a new edition due at the start of January 2008. And whilst there are not any substantial amendments due at the juncture, the format will change and the links to the RICS code of conduct ably annotated by Cherry in his book, are to be contained in the Red Book itself.

However, it would be churlish to dismiss this book as a snapshot in time, the discussions and points raised are universal and, in a way, timeless. Cherry answers the obvious questions in a clear and concise manner, and for this alone the book is to be recommended.