In previous research carried out in both the UK and Australasia examining aspects of negligence in valuations of real estate, Crosby, Lavers and Murdoch (1998) found that the role of expert valuation witnesses in court proceedings was very influential. Such witnesses had been responsible for instigating and maintaining the 'margin of error' concept as applied to allegedly negligent valuations; the concept that a valuer was not expected to exactly identify the value but was expected to correctly identify the value within a certain tolerance. The research also identified some practical differences in approach to the use of expert witnesses in different parts of the world where UK case precedents have some weight in court proceedings; for example, within the British Commonwealth.

At the time that this research was taking place, a Committee under the chairmanship of Lord Woolf was reviewing the civil justice system in the UK (Woolf, 1996). In the light of recommendations from the Woolf Committee concerning expert witnesses, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors produced a guidance note for surveyors acting as expert witnesses (RICS, 1997).

The research team is currently extending its work into the role and performance of expert witnesses with funding from both the RICS Education Trust and the Company of Surveyors. A number of papers are planned, including an examination of the use of single experts in valuation disputes at the ERES conference in Athens in June 1999. The present paper examines the role and performance of expert witnesses in a variety of different situations, in particular comparing different types of valuation and different types of forum for the settlement of disputes (such as courts, arbitration and independent experts).

Aims and Objectives of the Paper

The major aim of the paper is to examine the role and performance of expert witnesses in the UK across a wider sphere of operation than that examined in previous research. This previous research examined only professional negligence proceedings in court but has set the parameters for the duty of expert witnesses to courts and clients.

 In achieving this aim, it will be necessary to identify:

£ their role and performance across different courts, tribunals and other judicial bodies including a critical appraisal of the definitions set by the RICS guidance note. In addition to the courts, it is planned to investigate the Lands Tribunal, the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, the Rent Assessment Committee and the Valuation Tribunal for Rating Valuations.

£ £ their performance within different valuation situations; such as different property types, different valuation methods and statutory or market situations.

The main research method will be analysis of case reports supplemented by survey work of expert valuation witnesses, judges and other experts or arbitrators before which they appear. This survey work is taking the form of a combination of postal questionnaire, interview and focus group discussions. The research programme is currently under way and is planned to be completed in the summer of 1999, before the conference. The paper is therefore planned to deliver the full findings and not interim conclusions.