Tough Ethics Questions

Question 1

What do you understand by a conflict of interest?

Answer 1

This is where an interest you or a firm may hold that conflicts with the current client you are working for and may impact on decision making. These may come in the form of personal, knowledge or party conflicts

Question 2

Client has approached you and your sister company to undertake work. How would you manage the conflict?

Answer 2

I inform the client of the extent of the conflict and confirm that they fully understand its implications. I would then receive informed consent from them that they are happy for the work to go ahead. I would also need to be happy in myself that the conflict would not impact my work and if necessary decline it. I could also mitigate the conflict through things such as a data barrier

Question 3

Formal complaint from a client in writing, when should you notify the insurers?

Answer 3

Immediately inform insurers stating the likely level of damages to be claimed

Question 4

What are the maximum levels of uninsured excess?

Answer 4

If indemnity is up to £500,000 it will be the greater of 2.5% of insured sum or £10,000

If indemnity is over £500,000 it will be 2.5% of insured sum

Question 5

What type of insurances do chartered surveyors need?

Answer 5

PII, Employers liability cover, run off cover

Question 6

What are the 6 principles of prevention in the bribery act?

Answer 6

1) Proportionality
2) Due diligence
3) Top level commitment
4) Risk assessment
5) Monitoring and review
6) Communicate to staff

Question 7

What are the main principles of the Bribery act 2010?

Answer 7

Makes it a legal offence not to accept or offer a bribe. It is an offence to bribe a public official and companies must have preventative measures in place to stop bribery and corruption of their members.

Question 8

When are facilitation payments under the bribery act permitted?

Answer 8

I would never offer or receive a facilitation payment

Question 9

You receive an invite to attend the theatre with some of your project team. They all dropped out last minute due to illness, would you still attend?

Answer 9

I would first declare this hospitality on my companies’ gifts and hospitality register. Assuming I was approved to attend I would need to decline the invite due to the rest of the team dropping out. AS THEY ARE NOT PRESENT IT WON’T BE REGARDED AS A GENUINE BUSINESS EVENT

Question 10

Bidding for a project and client has said they will offer you the contract if you bid £3,000 lower, what do you do?

Answer 10

Unfair competition as you have an insight into other bids and potentially offering a reduced standard of service and it devalues the profession as a whole

Question 11

Go out for lunch with client after a business meeting where you continue to discuss business. Final bill comes to £200. What do you do?

Answer 11

Offer to pay your portion of the bill. If client insists then it is fine to accept as hospitality as it was for legitimate business purposes. Must ensure this is registered on my companies hospitality register.

Question 12

What happened in Merrett v Babb?

Answer 12

Court case regarding house valuation, found that despite the closure of the company the claimant could still directly claim against the surveyor

Question 13

What if loss exceeds the cover provided by the PI insurance?

Answer 13

The professional or firm is liable for the difference

Question 14

What is the purpose of the 5 principles of regulation?

Answer 14

Sets out how the RICS regulates itself internally to ensure the highest standards of professionalism are maintained.

Question 15

Pick 2 principles of better regulation and explain what they mean to you?

Answer 15

Proportionality- regulation must reflect the type and extent of work that is undertaken and when necessary

Accountability- regulators must be able to justify their actions under public scrutiny

Question 16

Name some topics RICS provides published policy documents and help sheets?

Answer 16

Client money, money laundering and terrorist finance, complaints handling, ethical standards

Question 17

What is the RICS Clients Money Protection Scheme?

Answer 17

Scheme run by the RICS for members of public to be directly reimbursed for the loss of any of their funds in their client account

Question 18

What information do registered firms have to send the RICS annually?

Answer 18

Types of business and staffing level 
Nature of clients 
PI insurance details 
Whether the firm holds client money
Training policy

Question 19

What is uninsured excess?

Answer 19

The part of the claim the firm must pay themselves

Question 20

What are the RICS Bye-Laws?

Answer 20

• Applications and definitions
• Membership and registration
• Designations
• Contributions to funds
• Conduct
• Governing council, officers and staff
• Subordinate boards
• Procedure for general meetings
• Accounts and audits
• General

Question 21

How will GDPR affect surveying practice?

Answer 21

• Data on valuation systems
• Email correspondence
• HR data
• Deletion of client data
• Holding data for proportionate period of time
• Amend data on individuals request

Question 22

How do surveying firms comply with GDRP?

Answer 22

Must follow the 6 principles

LANDES

• Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Accurate up to date info
• Necessary data collected
• Data minimisation by collecting what is necessary
• Used for explicit purposes
• Safely kept and protected

Question 23

What happened in the Scullion v Bank of Scotland

Answer 23

Surveyor providing advice to a Lender did not owe a duty of care to the Borrower as well

Question 24

A complaint is received by your firm. What do you do?

Answer 24

Establish if you can deal with it at first contact

Send Complaints handling procedure to client

Find out if damages will be claimed

Inform PI insurer

Respond within 28 days

Pass onto independent redress or internal complaints handling team

Note complaint in the complaints log

Question 25

What must all complaints handling procedures include

Answer 25

Independent redress
A policy on complaints handling
Compliance with PII
A form of ADR

Question 26

What are the two categories of ADR mechanism

Answer 26

Business to business redress 
Consumer redress (must be free to the consumer)

Question 27

Where can firms find ADR mechanisms?

Answer 27

RICS provides an ADR mechanisms document which lists approved business to business ADR as well as approved Consumer ADR

Question 28

Your firm has just closed down what must you do?

Answer 28

Inform the RICS of its closure
Inform Clients 
Have locum in place 
Receive run off cover for 6 years 
Return all clients money

Question 29

What is a Phoenix firm and what powers does the RICS have over them?

Answer 29

A Phoenix firm is a company that closes in a disorderly manner and reopens quickly. The RICS is able to prevent these firms from becoming registered

Question 30

What are some red flags when looking at bribery and corruption?

Answer 30

Size of transaction 
Sector you are working in 
Country of origin for work 
Client you are working for 
Anyone that is a PEP

Question 31

What is the limit of indemnity insurance for the RICS assigned risk pool

Answer 31

£1,000,000

Question 32

What is the purpose of the RICS Bye-Laws?

Answer 32

Enacted by the Privy Council to allow RICS to enforce rules of membership and conduct