Panel hearings

Hearings are held for serious breaches when it is more appropriate to do this than impose a fixed penalty or agree a consent order.

Panels for hearings are selected from the Conduct and Appeal Committee, which consists of a Chair, 19 lay members and eight RICS professionals.

A disciplinary panel must comprise of a Chair and at least two other panellists, of whom one must be a lay member (i.e. someone who is not a professional of RICS). Some members of the Conduct and Appeal Committee can be appointed as Chairs of Disciplinary Panels when dealing with cases.

Conduct and Appeal Committee

Meet the members of the committee.

A panel’s role is to hear disciplinary cases involving members of the profession or registered firms, to make findings of fact in relation to allegations brought by RICS, to decide whether a member or firm is liable to disciplinary action and, if so, to consider whether a sanction should be imposed.

If an allegation is proven, and a panel concludes that a member of the profession or registered firm is liable to disciplinary action, it can consider whether a disciplinary sanction is needed in the public interest. Panels can issue sanctions ranging from cautions, imposing fines, imposing conditions or expelling professionals from the profession and deregistering firms from regulation.

Public hearings - Guidance notes for the public (0.13MB) 09 Jul 2018