Are appraisers responsible to clients? As an advertisement

Any conflict situations between citizens and organizations are resolved both in court and in pre-trial proceedings. Conflict itself implies a conflict of interest. Interests of the parties. At the same time, each of the parties believes that they are right in their statements. However, we all understand that there is only one truth. Whose side she is on is decided by the court, guided by the law. What guides such a significant person in resolving disputes as a forensic expert? After all, first of all, he must be independent of anyone’s interests.

Question of price

Let's talk about such an area of expertise as appraisal. Valuation is the determination of the value of an object of property rights. The expert appraiser is guided by the Federal Law “On Forensic Expertise in the Russian Federation” and the Federal Law “On Valuation Activities in the Russian Federation”. Both state expert organizations and commercial ones have the right to engage in appraisal examination, if they have qualified specialists with special education in the field of appraisal and examination, and can also competently organize the examination procedure, warn the expert about criminal liability for giving knowingly false testimony in accordance with Art. 307 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, take control of the safety of documents entrusted to the expert and the timing of the examination.

Expert's choice

Each party may submit a request to appoint an expert. It happens that there is more than one. For this purpose, the organization prepares a package of documents of the established form, including a letter of consent to conduct an examination indicating the cost of services and deadlines, as well as documents confirming the expert’s qualifications. If there are several proposals, the court decides who to entrust with conducting the examination. And here several criteria play a role: experience and qualifications (including compliance with the specifics of the questions posed), cost and deadline. A commission forensic examination may also be appointed, involving the participation of several experts. Moreover, if two or more experts from the same field of knowledge are appointed (in this case, the field of valuation), then they must try to come to a common opinion and sign one conclusion on the value of the property. And if this does not work out, then separate conclusions are drawn up.

Expert independence

Since each party offers “its own” expert, who, by prior agreement, is ready to defend its interests, which, as we already understand, diverge, this means that there are at least two experts with polarly different opinions regarding the subject of the dispute. But there is only one truth! This is where the question of expert independence arises. Either one of the experts is mistaken, or he has already decided to make a “bargain with his conscience”, that is, to sign a deliberately false result. Of course, the same can be said about lawyers. Remember the famous movie "The Devil's Advocate"? In it, a successful lawyer also successfully defended criminals, who thereby escaped punishment. At the same time, innocent people were unfairly condemned. However, there are situations when each party has “its own truth,” and this is what lawyers do. Therefore, let's not idealize the situation. But since we are talking about the issue of the value of the object, only one opinion can be correct here. After all, the market value of, for example, real estate, has a relatively small “price corridor.” Of course, the valuation of business and intellectual property can be discussed in broader terms. The main thing is that opinions are not the result of pressure. This is the basic principle of independence. However, this does not always work out. It is no secret that appraisers accredited by administrative bodies for municipal needs are tacitly given certain boundaries and limits beyond which they cannot go. Well, how can they not? They can! But they will not sign the acceptance certificates until the cost is within the “permitted” limits. The same applies to the assessment of dilapidated and dilapidated housing, when appraisers “from the administration” categorically do not take into account the right to land registered for citizens in the cost of compensation for demolished housing. While it is logical to take into account the cost of land, it is “possible and possible”! There are techniques that allow you to do this correctly and reasonably. In some cases, the added value from recording land ownership rights can amount to up to 100% of the cost of the housing itself.

Responsibility

Appraisers bear financial responsibility for the quality of their work, but many treat it formally. Well, yes, they were required by law to insure the professional activities of appraisers, but so what? Compensation funds formed by SROs of appraisers from the pockets of their members are also aimed at compensating for possible damage to customers who suffered from the work of unscrupulous appraisers. “Losses caused to the customer... are subject to compensation in full at the expense of the property of the appraiser or appraisers.” It sounds terribly convincing, but a quote from Saltykov-Shchedrin comes to mind: “The severity of Russian laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation.” In fact, the problems of unscrupulous appraisers are limited only to exclusion from the SRO; not a single appraiser has lost personal property: his apartment, car, etc. The practice of punishing such appraisers has not yet been particularly observed. Typically, courts refuse plaintiffs who try to invalidate an appraiser’s report, on the grounds that “the value of the market value determined by an independent appraiser is advisory in nature, is not mandatory and cannot be challenged by filing an independent claim.” In forensic examination, the expert bears criminal liability in accordance with Art. 307 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for giving knowingly false testimony in court. This is what many appraisers are afraid of, who will not undertake appraisals in court proceedings at any cost, reasoning logically: “Why? What if, God forbid, they call you to court?” And if they do, they definitely don’t appear in court. Therefore, the costs of such an examination will most likely remain in the status of “money down the drain.”

Appraiser ethics

According to the theoretical foundations, this is a set of ethical norms and rules of professional activity in the field of evaluation. Generally speaking, this is a mirror reflection of the appraiser’s reputation. And if it is dear to the expert and is at the basis of the scale of professional values, it will always be ahead of material interests. Therefore, the “selling” opinions of experts in court sooner or later leave an indelible mark on their professional reputation and remain on their conscience for life. While an expert who is true to the truth will always be ready to defend his opinion and the interests of his clients.

On the conscience of an expert