Ethics, rules of conduct and professionalism L2 Flashcards
How do you ensure you comply with money laundering regulations?
I undertake due diligence in any new letting to check the identity of the tenant and cross reference this with evidence they provide and companies house.
How do you ensure that you comply with bribery legislation?
Follow the RICS Rules of Conduct and the Bribery Act 2010 to not accept, be party to a bribe. I ensure that all transactions that I oversee are transparent and that whistleblower procedures are in place.
How do you ensure you comply with your firm’s bribery and gifts policy?
The EA’s position on bribery is gifts is zero tolerance on bribery and that as suspicious activity must be flagged. The EA has a Conduct at Work that covered gifts and hospitality and as a general rule nothing should be accepted.
If you do accept a gift, you should ensure that it cannot be considered by others to influence our business decisions. If you are offered a gift, a useful test is to ask yourself what a customer or member of the public might think if you were to accept it. If you would feel awkward or uncomfortable having to explain what you had accepted, it would be better to decline. You should speak to your manager if you are unsure.
Please contact your FSoD co-ordinator if you are offered, or you accept a gift as they need to keep a record of all gifts that our employees are offered.
Tell me about an instance of when you have been offered a gift or hospitality by a client.
I have been out for dinner with clients who have offered to pay for the meal but I have in this instance kindly acknowledged the gesture but politely declined.
Tell me about what you would do if you felt that an instruction was outside your scope of experience or knowledge.
Where an instruction is out of my scope I would speak to my senior surveyor to explain I do not believe I am experienced for this and to either work on this alongside another colleague or for it to be reallocated.
Tell me about an instance of when you have handled client’s money.
In the EA due to the nature of how the funding pots work, we do not hold client money as private firms would do. I have overseen the transfer of funds between my client and external solicitors and have ensured this was handled in the correct manner
How would you keep client’s money securely and safely held?
I would follow strict internal procedures, ensuring funds are placed into a designated client account, fully documented, and only accessed for agreed-upon purposes.
Tell me about how you would handle a client complaint.
I would listen to the client’s concerns, acknowledge the issue, and document the complaint. I would investigate the matter thoroughly, keeping the client informed, and escalate if needed to reach a fair resolution.
If the complaint was about myself I would inform my line manager and ask for the matter to be dealt with away from me to ensure it is handled professionally.
Tell me about your understanding of your firm’s process for escalating a complaint to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
If a complaint cannot be resolved internally, the firm initiates ADR, which typically involves mediation or arbitration. This process requires both parties to agree on using an independent third party to facilitate a resolution. Before ADR is initiated, all internal avenues must be exhausted, and the process is documented according to the firm’s guidelines.
Tell me about a conflict of interest check you have carried out.
I have checked the a private firm who act for our clients on occasion were not acting for us on a specific project where they had been asked to act for the otherside.
If you identified a potential or actual conflict of interest, how could you handle this?
If a conflict is identified, I would notify relevant supervisors or the compliance team immediately. The conflict could be resolved by recusing myself from the matter or implementing information barriers to prevent the exchange of confidential information, or if this is not possible either do not take the instruction.
Germany - what AML checks did you undertake?
How did you record the outcome?
I checked the company name and tenant details on the German version of companies house whilst requesting IDs for the tenants. This information is stored on a secure system and will be held as long as necessary and at least 5 years after the end of the tenancy.
How did you investigate a German company?
The German version of companies house is open to the public and i navigated this site to find the information I needed.
How long will the ID documents be held for?
How do you apply the Rule(s) of Conduct when checking invoices for framework contractors?
I would hope that the contractors are following rule 1 of being honest about their timings spent on projects inline with the initial quote generated. As a public body too I follow rule 5 that I would in the public interest to ensure that the public purse is being spent correctly.
