Ethics, Rules Of Conduct and Professionalism (Level 2 Portfolio)

Question 1

What is the structure of RICS?

Answer 1

RICS is a governing council that report to a management board, a standards and regulation board and an audit committee that all ensure RICS members and firms follow rules and obligations.

Question 2

What are the rules of conduct for a RICS professional?

Answer 2

There are 5 main rules of conduct,

Must be honest, act with integrity and comply with both professional and RICS obligations.

Must maintain their professional competence and ensure services are provided by competent persons.

Must provide good-quality and diligent service.

Must treat others with respect and encourage diversity and inclusion.

Must act in the publics interest, take responsibility for their actions and act to prevent harm and maintain public confidence of the profession.

Question 3

What were the recent changes to the rules of conduct?

Answer 3

There is the new rules of conduct document that replaces and simplifies other documents which were Rules of conduct for members, Rules of conduct for firms and Global professional ethical standards.

It is rules of conduct 2021 and came into force February 2022.

Question 4

What are the CPD requirements for a RICS professional?

Answer 4

20 hours minimum per calendar year, at least 10 hours of formal and 10 hours of informal.

Question 5

What is the disciplinary process for not following RICS standards or rules?

Answer 5

Depending on the seriousness of the case it will go through the Head of Regulation will consider taking disciplinary action and then either go to different boards and can range from fines to expulsion.

Question 6

Can you give examples of when work is out of your competence and how you have dealt with it?

Answer 6

After carrying out a carbide test for potential rising damp in a bathroom the results were not clear and I needed a senior with more expertise with this particular situation to guide me in the right direction where it was decided to step back and take a holistic approach to the defect instead of focusing on the wall, remember there is drainage near by which may have defects causing the moisture so actions were put out to change the drainage system.

I generally use the seniors to help guide with the correct repair for the situation as I am still gaining experience with each specific situation.

Question 7

How and when have you used RICS guidance notes to help with your learning/competence/work?

Answer 7

Conflicts of interest was used to gain basic knowledge on the area, as well as the home survey standard, which I used to help produced my stock condition site notes template to help my through the survey.

Question 8

What is the legislation covering anti-fraud, bribery and corruption?

Answer 8

Bribery Act 2010 is the main,

Some others include:
Fraud Act 2006
Theft Act 1968
Prevention of social housing fraud act 2013

Question 9

What is fraud?

Answer 9

When there is an abuse of position, false representation and failure to disclose information.

Question 10

What is bribery?

Answer 10

Something that is given or promised (usually money or a gift) to influence someone’s judgment or conduct.

Question 11

What is corruption?

Answer 11

Dishonest practices and improper conduct. It may come from bribery or embezzlement, someone’s gain deceiving the company.

Question 12

What is PCCs policy on gifts and hospitality?

Answer 12

You should not accept any gifts or hospitality without obtaining prior consent from your director of service, only accept if there is no danger or misinterpretation.

All gifts and hospitality must be registered on the gifts and hospitality register. However it is best practice to decline anything. Even declined gifts must be registered.

Question 13

What is a conflict of interest?

Answer 13

When someone’s judgement or actions at work are or could be affected by something that could lose their impartiality

Question 14

How do you deal with a conflict of interest?

Answer 14

You must have record keeping of how you have considered and implemented controls and systems that have either mitigated the risks of a conflict of interest or reasoning of why you have proceeded with informed consent.

Question 15

What are the professional obligations of members?

Answer 15

1. You must comply with the CPD requirements, which are 20 hours of CPD for each calendar year, 10 hours of which must be formal.
2. Members must cooperate with RICS.
3. Members must promptly provide all information reasonably requested by the standards and regulation board or those exercising delegated authority on its behalf

Question 16

Where can you find what the professional obligations for firms and members of RICS?

Answer 16

These are in appendix A of Rules of Conduct 2021.

Question 17

Why does RICS have rules of conduct?

Answer 17

It provides a framework that we can all work to and so the client knows they are getting a set level of service.

Question 18

What are the RICS’ 5 principles of better regulation?

Answer 18

Proportionality
Accountability
Consistency
Targeting
Transparency

Question 19

What is PII?

Answer 19

Personal indemnity insurance, it provides financial cover in the event a client suffers financial loss as a result of breach of professional duty, e.g. neglect or error, so it protects the professional from financial loss by not having to pay anything themselves

Question 20

What are the levels of PII?

Answer 20

If turnover is or less than £100k it is £250k

If turnover is £100k-£200k it is £500k

If turns over is above £200k it is £1m

Question 21

What is ethics?

Answer 21

They are moral values that affect a persons behaviour or the conducting of an activity

Question 22

What is integrity?

Answer 22

It’s the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles

Question 23

What did you take away from reading RICS guidance note ‘home survey standard’

Answer 23

It allowed me to produce my site notes template which I use for condition surveys, it gave benchmarks of the different levelled surveys which allows me to come up with ideas on how I wanted to survey properties and what was possible in our context of tenanted properties.

Question 24

What did you take away from reading conflicts of interest RICS professional statement?

Answer 24

It gave me the basic knowledge of what a conflict of interest is, which is when someone may do something

When someone has an association or influencing position and may use that for financial gain, for instance if a surveyor had shares in a company that was our service provider and kept giving work to that company for their own gain.

Question 25

What would you do if a conflict of interest arose?

Answer 25

Report it to management

And ensure there are procedures in place to manage any conflicts of interest.

Question 26

Who is the president of RICS?

Answer 26

Ann Gray as of January 2023

Question 27

Why do you want to try to avoid conflicts of interest?

Answer 27

It is to try prevent anything getting in the way of advising and representing a client objectively and independently without regard to your obligations to another client, party or your own interests.