Toothless tigers?
Associations can discipline their members, but do they? Andrea Kirkby asks how AIPP manages its tribunals.
O
ne of the benefits to clients that members of the Association of International Property Professionals, AIPP, often stress is the fact that the
organisation has the right to discipline its members, guaranteeing a higher level of professionalism. However, some critics say that these association disciplinary procedures are pointless, as the associations have no real ‘teeth’. Indeed, they are not courts of law, so can they really do anything meaningful? In 2009, the AIPP held 38 hearings, and
upheld 19 complaints, about half the total. Eight member firms were expelled. I spoke to Martin Dell of property portal Kyero, who sits on the disciplinary tribunal of the AIPP, to find out how it works in practice. Martin was careful to distinguish the
AIPP’s process from action that clients can take in the courts. The disciplinary process takes the AIPP code of conduct as its starting point; all members sign up to it when they join the association. “So it’s not specifically about seeking justice for the buyer,” he says, “it’s about enforcing compliance to the code. And of course it’s important that our process doesn’t get in the way of any judicial process.” However he points out that for many
clients, going through AIPP is much quicker and cheaper than going through the courts.
24 NOVEMBER 2010 PROPERTYdrum
Some critics say that these association disciplinary procedures are pointless, as the associations have no real ‘teeth’. Indeed, they are not courts of law, so can they really do anything meaningful?’
When a complaint is made to AIPP,
informal mediation is tried first. (It will in future be referred to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, rather than being handled in-house.) Some complaints can be resolved through this process. But if mediation doesn’t work, the complaint then goes to a tribunal made up of AIPP members, and chaired by a legal professional. That tribunal has four
sanctions; it can reprimand, impose a fine, suspend membership, or expel them. The AIPP can also suggest restitution, but it doesn’t have any power to enforce it. Martin says it’s important to realise that the AIPP is not a legal court and doesn’t have legal sanctions. “The only clout that the AIPP’s got is a commercial one,” he says, and adds, “They haven’t been that vocal in the past about naming and shaming, but that that might change.” So far, all the cases Martin has been
involved with have been in new-build, ranging from properties not ready on time, “no big surprise there,” he says wryly, or stage payments that have gone astray, to bankruptices where the clients are unable to recover their funds. At the lower end of the scale he’s also seen a case where the furniture pack was delivered broken. That proved relatively easy to resolve. He says the cases vary, “all the way from ‘I’m a bit miffed’ to ‘I’ve lost my life savings’,” but every case gets the same treatment regardless of the sums involved. It is also not a surprise that previously
‘hot’ markets such as Bulgaria, Turkey and UAE are prominent in the tribunal cases he has seen; Egypt has also contributed a number of cases to the workload. He admits that because of Kyero’s involvement in the Spanish market, the need to avoid any conflicts of interest may mean he doesn’t see many Spanish cases at tribunal.
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