Stern rales ‘needed’ for valuers

Press, 15 August 1988, Page 9

Stern rales ‘needed’ for valuers

PA Wellington Sterner regulations are needed to govern property valuers, says the Valuers’ Institute president, Mr Roger Hallinan.

Property valuations were being prepared by people who had been struck off the list of registered valuers for earlier misdemeanours, or who had not completed the necessary academic or work qualifications, he said yesterday. The public did not seem to realise the difference between a valuer and a registered valuer. Regulations were needed to ensure that only valuers registered under the Valuers Act, 1948, were allowed to value property, Mr Hallinan said.

Valuers did not appear to have a widespread involvement in recent allegations of corporate fraud, he said. There were 1730 valuers in New Zealand but only 15 had been the subject of valid complaints in two years to

December, 1987. In that time 49 complaints had been laid and 18 of them were withdrawn or dismissed. Of the 31 remaining complaints, 20 of them related to four valuers.

William Wright was the subject of eight complaints, Henry Simpkin six and Francis Evans two. A fourth valuer has four complaints laid against him and had been reprimanded and fined on one charge, there was a reserved decision on a second charge and a further two charges had not been substantiated, Mr Hallinan said.

A further 11 complaints had yet to be determined.

In some of the cases there had been contributory negligence by others involved in the lending process such as lawyers and financial institutions, he said.