All posts tagged "Independent Expert"
RICS DRS: Third party inexperience
Feb 2026. Rent review and third party reasons. I act for a freeholder/ landlord whose tenant is a quoted property company. The tenant sub-lets the property to two different occupiers. The rent review in the head-lease between my client and prop co went to arbitration. In my submission to the arbitrator, I advocated that the […]
Independent Expert – getting your money’s worth
(2025 Aug) – In my experience, RICS-appointed Independent Experts fall in one of two categories. (1) Conscientious – by which I mean the IE will measure the premises and calculate areas regardless of what the parties might’ve agreed, investigate, research and test evidence for accuracy with the person(s) involved and not merely rely on pro-forma […]
Independent Expert Determination on Rent Review
Jun 2025 – On referral, win most, lose a few; fair enough when the third party is someone who knows what he/she is talking about. But it irks when someone doesn’t. One such today. For no apparent reason, the RICS appointment of an IE was, according to the surveyor’s website, an arbitrator and mediator. As […]
RICS-appointed Independent Experts over-stepping their authority.
(2025 May) – On referral of a rent review to an Independent Expert appointed by the RICS, I have had enough of (some) appointed chartered surveyors over-stepping their authority. An Independent Expert derives authority from the lease. Not the RICS. The RICS appoints the IE, that is all. After that, it is for the parties […]
Secondary trading positions and dominant occupiers
(2025 May) – Acting for the Landlord of a shop in London Road, Norbury, London SW16, let to a well-known corporate estate agent, the rent review was referred to an Independent Expert. Inevitably, the Tenant’s surveyor sought nil increase. I say ‘inevitably’ because multiple retailers and ilk tend to cite evidence involving other multiples and […]
A chartered surveyor should be able to read?
(2025 May: LinkedIn) – (1) Please correct me if this is wrong, but I think that a person with a professional qualification, MRICS or FRICS, should be able to read. The landlord’s surveyor (FRICS) had referred to the RICS for the appointment of an arbitrator. The appointed asked the landlord’s surveyor for a copy of […]
Banks, property and rental valuation methodology
(2025 May) – Any surveyor whose landlord clients own properties let to banks will know that the surveyors that act for banks at rent review reason that the market rent should be valued using zoning methodology as if a shop. The reason being that is the only way the banks’ surveyors can minimize their clients’ […]
Bad bargain
May 2025 – Currently, I am acting for the landlord of a property whose upward-only review is to the greater of the market rent and uncapped index-linked. The dispute procedure is an independent expert. My client is not the original landlord, he bought the property at auction, but the tenant is the original tenant. The […]
Concurrent complex submissions
(2023 Nov) – Every so often, a rent review is referred to an arbitrator or independent expert, depending upon the dispute resolution procedure in the lease. And, every so often, depending upon whether I am acting for the landlord or the tenant, the dispute resolution procedure requires me to comply with a timetable for submissions […]
Dispute resolution procedure at rent review
Feb 2016 – At rent review, the phrase ‘going to arbitration’ is often bandied about during negotiations as a means for one party to get its own way. Whether or not the parties can agree the rent without involving the dispute resolution procedure, it is common for a represented or experienced party to invoke as […]
Dispute Resolution Costs
(2014 Mar) – In my opinion, and I’m not alone, the fees required and charged by surveyors appointed by the RICS to act as arbitrators or independent experts are often out of touch with reality and, in many instances, obscene. For example, I am dealing with two matters at present, for different clients, where the […]