PROPERTY professionals belonging to the Australian Property Institute will be able to work in over 100 countries around the world, following a landmark agreement between the API and RICS.
API’s strategic alliance with RICS will make API the strongest property body in Australia and one of the largest property bodies in the world.
API CEO Mike Zissler said the API is the preeminent property body in Australia and RICS has the global reach. As a result, the alliance will deliver major benefits to the members.
Zissler said the strategic alliance between RICS and the API will give API members international portability, allowing them to work in major cities such as London and New York just to name a few.
“The Alliance brings together the individual strengths of the API and RICS to create a world leading professional framework in Australia.
“API brings over 90 years of Australian experience and RICS brings its global standards and assurance regimes,” he added.
Furthermore the alliance will reduce compliance costs for professionals and create even greater certainty for the market in three key ways. Firstly, it will see API open the APIV Limitation of Liability Scheme (APIV Scheme) to RICS qualified members.
At the same time, RICS’ global assurance regime, Valuer Registration (VR), will be adopted by API for all members in the APIV Scheme and will be mandatory from early 2018.
“These steps, delivered at no additional cost to APIV members, will significantly bolster regulation of the profession and provide the broader market with an even higher level of confidence, especially for clients and insurers,”
Secondly, the alliance will lead to the globally recognised RICS Red Book as the main industry valuation standard in Australia. RICS and API have commenced drafting a local chapter to align the API valuation standard to Red Book.
Thirdly, API will align its pathways to that of RICS. Once completed, API members and RICS professionals will be mutually recognised by both organisations in Australia.
“This means there will be one process and one membership (either API or RICS) rather than two different processes that can potentially take years – a great financial saving for members and an even greater saving in compliance costs,” Zissler said.
Australian Property Journal
