Client Care

Question 1

What are the purposes of having professional indemnity insurance?

Answer 1

1. to ensure if the firm faces a claim, it is protected from financial loss that it cannot meet from its own resources
2. protect the insured member or firm against the consequences of its liability to pay damages to third parties for breaches of professional duty that it commits to through its professional activities
3. ensure that the firm’s clients do not suffer financial loss, which the firm cannot meet.

Question 2

When would a PII policy be put into run-off?

Answer 2

When the insured business is no longer trading but still requires cover for the past work undertaken. This is due to claims made basis of PII. Run off is a mandatory requirement of governing bodies such as RICA and the RICS

Question 3

What information is contained within a client’s brief?

Answer 3

There is no set form but it might include as a minimum:

A description of the site
A description of the project
Budgets
The programme
The clients objectives

Question 4

What is the purpose of RICS Standard Form of Appointment?

Answer 4

RICS Members are required to record the terms of their appointments in writing. The Standard Appointment has been written to facilitate this as written contracts. When properly considered, they provide more certainty and and lessen the potential for dispute between parties than purely verbal agreements. They also have a basis in case law and contain payment structures and levels of insurance.

Question 5

Examples of KPIs that can be used on construction projects include:

Answer 5

• Cost vs Budget. The budgeted cost of work that has actually been performed in carrying out a scheduled task during a specific time period.
• Project progress relative to milestones
• number of complaints
• number of incident/accidents
• the number of working hours spent on different aspects of the works
• the use of materials
• the number of defects
• the amount of waste generated and the amount of recycling
• the number of variations

Question 6

What should RICS regulated firms do to counter bribery, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing?

Answer 6

To comply with the Rules of conduct and RICs professional statement on countering bribery etc all rics regulated firms must

• not facilitate any financial crime including money laundering, tax evasion, bribery or corruption. Effective processes must be in place to prevent this.
• professional statement sets out the rules. All firms must have a written policy addressing money landing and terrorist financing that covers identification of PEPs and PSCs and any potential breaches of sanctions.