Data on investigations relating to compulsory purchase

There are currently 2173 Members and 516 Regulated Firms that have declared to RICS that they operate within the compulsory purchase area of practice. RICS has undertaken a search of records to identify investigation cases which relate to compulsory purchase or related schemes. The search is based on the areas of practice recorded on RICS’ records.

The search identified 18 investigation cases, 8 of which are currently ongoing and 10 of which are now concluded, with the area of practice recorded as compulsory purchase between 2016 and 2020. This is broken down by year in the below table.

This is indicative of the volume of concerns that RICS receives regarding this area of practice.

To put these figures into context, RICS created 454 investigation cases in 2020 across all areas of surveying. Of those, 9 had the area of practice recorded as compulsory purchase, which equates to 1.9%.

Based on our experience of regulating this area of practice and others, we consider that some of the reasons for the lack of concerns being reported could be:

• close working relationships between RICS Members and Firms (“Regulated Members”) operating in this sector and an unwillingness to ‘rock the boat’ by reporting their peers to RICS;
• a perception that RICS does not effectively regulate this area of practice; and / or
• lack of awareness of consumers / claimants about the CPO process and role of Regulated Members.

Members of the public and the profession can raise concerns with RICS on a confidential basis. Members can view our Speaking Up guidance for more information.

RICS’ investigation process is set out in the Regulatory Tribunal Rules 2020 and decisions are made in accordance with our decision making guidance which can be viewed here and here.

RICS Regulation – 30 November 2021