European Valuation Standards Receive the Imprimatur of EU Law

The two day meeting which was hosted by the Royal Federation of Belgian Notaries (FRNB-KFBN) kicked off with a Valuation Conference on "Real Estate Valuation and the Notarial Profession".

The conference which was chaired by Lorette Rousseau, President of FRNB-KFBN and Roger Messenger, Chairman of TEGoVA, dealt with the added value which the notarial profession in Belgium and France is able to contribute in the field of property valuation in the light of the first hand market knowledge possessed by local notaries as well as the extensive transactions' database (Le baromètre des notaires) maintained by FRNB-KFBN of Belgium and CSN of France.

Speakers from the Belgian notarial profession included Philip Six (CEO, FRNB-KFBN), Christoph Castelein, Bart van Opstal, Nicolas Lambert, Jean-Paul Mignon and Philippe De Jonghe. Patrick Lotthé REV represented the French Notaries (CSN).

Representing TEGoVA, Krzysztof Grzesik, Vice Chairman, gave an overview of the new Mortgage Credit Directive and underlined the opportunity that this presented FRNB-KFBN in developing reliable valuation standards in Belgium with TEGoVA's assistance. Hervé Wattinne, TEGoVA Board Member (CEIF-FNAIM) presented the REV scheme demonstrating how it has become a key component of professional excellence and market transparency in Europe.

There was also a presentation by Massimo Milazzo, Geometer, who described the work of land surveyors in the property valuation process and the cooperation which the Belgian Geometers are developing with the Notaries.

The next day, TEGoVA's General Assembly commenced with the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between TEGoVA and UPAV, Unión Panamericana de Asociaciones de Valuación.

The main business of the day concerned European Valuation Standards, the REV Scheme and the historic significance of and opportunities arising from the new Mortgage Credit Directive.

Wolfgang Kälberer (vdp) and Michael MacBrien (Secretariat) presented an overview of the Mortgage Credit Directive after which Wolfgang Kälberer was awarded the title of Hon REV in recognition for his decisive role in helping the European authorities understand the importance of TEGoVA and EVS.

The latest developments on European Valuation Standards and the Recognised Valuers Scheme were presented by John Hockey and his colleagues on the EVS Board and by Tony Prior, Chairman of the REV Recognition Committee.

The Assembly discussed draft information papers on the assessment of the value of insured damage, terms of engagement and International Financial Reporting Standards 13. Related to the latter there was also a presentation by Professor Aart Hordijk, Managing Director of the Real Estate Council of the Netherlands, on "Recommendations to improve the efficiency of valuation review by accountants".

The Assembly welcomed IPAV (Ireland) and IVD (Germany) as the latest REV awarding member associations taking the total to 24 associations across 14 countries.

The Assembly noted that thanks largely to the efforts of Tony Prior and his team on the Recognition Committee in the space of just 5 years the number of Recognised European Valuers has grown to nearly 2000.

At Bruges alone, certificates were awarded to 198 new Recognised European Valuers including 118 from Greece (AVAG). Of particular note also was the award of the title of Honorary Recognised European Valuer to Wolfgang Kälberer in recognition of his considerable contribution to TEGoVA's European affairs policy over many years, culminating in his key role in securing a revised TEGoVA friendly text of the Mortgage Credit Directive.

Tony Prior 's role in establishing and successfully developing the REV Scheme over the last six years was applauded following his announcement that he was stepping down as Chairman of the REV Committee, his place to be filled by Krzysztof Grzesik (PFVA).

Reiner Lux, Managing Director, HypZert reported on progress being made on a new HypZert-led, TEGoVA project concerning the preparation of Property Data Sheets relating to the retail sector in different countries across Europe. The project seeks to build on the work already done in this area by HypZert in Germany with the data sheets proving invaluable to local valuers. So far data sheets have been completed for Poland and Latvia and seven more are expected shortly.

There were several other presentations throughout the day including overviews of the property markets in Belgium and Dubai by Koen Nevens, Managing Partner, Cushman & Wakefield Belgium and Luxembourg and Mohamad Khodr Al-Dah, Head of Taqyeem, Dubai Land Department. Claude Taffin, Scientific Director of Dinamic (CSN-France) delivered a presentation on "Specific features of the French housing market dynamics".

Finally the delegates welcomed new member associations from Croatia (HSUESV), Italy (ASSOVIB), the Netherlands (VBO), Russia (NP NUE) and Spain (AEVIU), taking the total number of TEGoVA member associations to 53 across 30 countries.

TEGoVA's General Assembly commenced with the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between TEGoVA and UPAV, the Unión Panamericana de Asociaciones de Valuación.

The document was signed by Roger Messenger, Chairman of TEGoVA and Julio E. Torres-Coto Mazier, President of UPAV.

The next TEGoVA General Assembly will be held in Lisbon (Portugal) on 15 and 16 November 2013.