The debate on the independence of property valuers--particularly those carrying out large portfolio valuations for institutional investors--was thrown open in Summer 2000 when academics at Reading and Nottingham Trent Universities highlighted two main concerns. First that valuers were coming under undue pressure from clients at draft valuation meetings and second that some firms were unduly reliant on a small number of large valuation clients. It found that 80 per cent of all institutional valuations in the UK were carried out by a handful of large global firms.

The RICS responded by convening a working party under Sir Bryan Carsberg, former professor of accountancy at the London School of Economics and Director general of the office of Fair Trading, the Government's consumer watchdog. The Carsberg Report was finally unveiled today with a list of 18 recommendations. The key recommendation is a system of independent monitoring of the valuation processes in the biggest firms, to be carried out either by the RICS or independent consultants. The inspectors would have the power to make spot checks on valuation files to monitor procedures and firms failing to meet required standards could lose their accreditation to carry out such work.

Other recommendations include: valuation firms should disclose the percentage of their total fee income that derives from any particular valuation client; the personnel valuing particular portfolios should be rotated regularly to prevent them becoming too close to individual clients and detailed minutes should be kept of any meetings with clients during the valuation process which would be available to the independent inspectors.