The Evidence Points To A System That Destroys The Evidence. (439)

To the Business Secretary:
For Clarity - Attempt 439.

439) The Evidence Points To A System that Destroys The Evidence.

Dear Mr Javid,

The finger prints have been wiped clean, the smoking gun carefully disposed of, questions not answered, Freedom of Information Act requests denied, MPs "politically influenced," the press bought off, time allowed to elapse and RICS surveyors' Case Files neither complied nor kept up to date. Against this backdrop the consumer faces an uphill struggle for justice or as its now rebranded - redress.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) may have once been a profession who acted for the public benefit, but they have since been allowed to become an organisation apparently beyond scrutiny who spend so much time in, "engagement work" and "politically influencing" MPs, Ministers and civil servants that they've taken their regulatory eye off the ball and for some reason can't even get their Members to keep and maintain a proper case file.

Given this convenient regulatory lapse, RICS Members - surveyors - take full advantage and unsurprisingly, don't log phone messages, letter, visits or record agreements with their clients. This is very convenient for them when things invariably go wrong.

We asked the Chair of Maladministration at Ombudsman Services, Prof. Dame Janet Finch why the regulator - the RICS - couldn't enforce this simple professional standard, to keep and maintain a proper Case File;
"Q. 97: Why? Is the simple truth of the matter that proper case files are not kept because they should contain important information which at some future date could be used to verify what was or wasn't said, what visits did or didn't take place and what agreements were reached. Unlike doctors, teachers, nurses and social workers there is no requirement to keep even the most basic of record of events. Until, that is, the Client becomes a Complainant and has entered the firm's Complaints Handling Procedure."

Q. Mr Javid, is a regulator who doesn't regulate really a regulator?

Yours sincerely, 
Steve Gilbert - The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign.