Ombudsman Services / The RICS / Regulation / ADR and the Coalition Government. (703)

To the Leader of the House of Commons.

For Clarity - Attempt 703.

703. Ombudsman Services / The RICS / Regulation / ADR and the Coalition Government.

Dear Mrs Leadsom,

When Jo Swinson became Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in September 2012 we began to write to her about our concerns regarding The RICS' failure to regulate its members but its tight control over its, "appointed" ombudsman's decisions.

We didn't get a reply to any of those emails.

Q. Mrs Leadsom, was this because The RICS' "politically influenced" and "engaged" civil servants were preventing her from seeing the emails?

We did ask you in a previous email just how many civil servants had been, "politically influenced" and "engaged" by The RICS but have yet to receive a reply.

Q. Mrs Leadsom, were you not made aware of this apparent coup by The RICS?

Our email of 29/05/2013 said;

"In return for King George VI's granting of a Royal Charter surveyors were expected to, 'promote the usefulness of the profession for the public advantage.'

 

Clearly, this relationship has broken down.

Consumers have been let down not just by The RICS - and its Royal Charter - but by those politicians and civil servants who sanctioned this particular ombudsman scheme and who in monitoring it have been complacent enough to let consumers continue to be sent to it by Member estate agents and surveyors even when they know its Ombudsman, 'arrived at decisions in an illogical manner.'

Why hasn't a single politician intervened to ask why it is that this totally unacceptable state of affairs is allowed to continue?

Q. Mrs Leadsom, consumers no longer know if its present Ombudsman arrives at decisions in an illogical manner because the information is no longer collated. Why is this unacceptable state of affairs allowed to continue and where is the advantage to the public?

This is ADR without transparency or accountability.

We went on to ask Jo Swinson,

"how is it acceptable that in a modern democracy an organisation with a Royal Charter - The RICS - can get away without actually regulating its Members or Regulated Firms?"

Q. Mrs Leadsom, as Lord President of the Council, and therefore the person with oversight of those Privy Councillors responsible for monitoring The RICS, how is it acceptable that this organisation can get away with not adequately regulating their Members or Regulated Firms and where is the advantage to the public in such an arrangement?

Next we tried asking her,

"Why hasn't a single politician challenged The RICS to explain why it is that - 'we cannot award compensation or force Members or Regulated Firms to do anything - or refrain from doing anything - even if that means they are in breach of RICS Rules or Regulations?

The RICS Rules and Regulations aren't worth the paper they're written on. Which is an awful lot like the full structural survey we paid our RICS surveyor for - not worth the expensive paper it was written on.

Q. Mrs Leadsom, in your role as Lord President of the Council, how do you tolerate this scandalous failure by The RICS to enforce its Rules and Regulations and where is the advantage to the public in that? 

Next came,

"Why is such scandalous disregard for the Rules and Regulations acceptable and regarded as normal in the private sector but not in public?"

Q. Mrs Leadsom, if this were Ofsted (and not The RICS) there would be outrage throughout the length and breadth of the land. Why the double standards?

Then we tried asking the former Minister,

"Why are the individuals who run this organisation not held to account?

Q. Mrs Leadsom, why aren't the individuals who run this organisation held to account - where is the advantage to the public in not doing so?

Q. Mrs Leadsom, as Lord President of the Council, why do you tolerate a situation in which The RICS systematically fail to impose their Rules and regulations?

That was followed by,

"RICS Members and Regulated Firms appear to benefit greatly from this arrangement. Consumers are being left to be preyed upon by totally unscrupulous and incompetent surveyors. And politicians sit back and do nothing about it. Is that not colluding with an obvious injustice?

Q. Mrs Leadsom, is this not rigged regulation and as such is it not a scandalous injustice? How do the public benefit from it?

We finished by asking by asking,

"As Minister with responsibility for consumer protection how do you intend to save members of the public from further exploitation? Isn't a public inquiry into The RICS and its company The Surveyors Ombudsman Service / Ombudsman Services:Property now long overdue?"

This is not so much a Royal Charter as a Rogues' Charter.

Q. Mrs Leadsom, The RICS doesn't regulate and its appointed ombudsman doesn't arrive at decisions in a logical manner - where is the advantage to the public in that?

Yours sincerely,

Steve Gilbert - Workstock Number - 510458.

The OMbudsmans61percent Campaign is at: www.blogger.com and www.facebook.com - Ombudsmans Sixtyone-percent.