A professional surveyors' group is inviting firms to accept mediation and arbitration in business disputes to give stronger consumer protection against misconduct and negligence.
More than 200 surveying firms that were members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - the former sole body to recognise local surveyors' qualifications before 1997, and now replaced by the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS) - would be encouraged to register voluntarily with the new regulatory regime, launched yesterday.
The institution expects between 50 and 100 firms to enrol this year. Until the new regime is in place, all local surveyors will face a hearing by the governing institute's internal disciplinary boards if they are accused of misconduct and negligence.
Their clients - property developers, individual property buyers and owners - usually have to seek compensation through the law courts.
Complaints on surveyors' work varied, the institution's Hong Kong board chairman Albert So Chun-hin said, but a common one was over- and underestimation of property value, which would affect property investors in making decisions.
Mr So said the scheme would be able to 'give consumer protection while enhancing firms' brand image and generating quality assurance'.
