This edition of Focus On features James Ginley from e.surv chartered surveyors. Read on to learn about James, his role on the Standards Committee and his thoughts about the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
Tell us about yourself and your role with the Council?
I am the Technical Director at e.surv Chartered Surveyors. I have been a recent reappointment to the Standards Committee having served on the previous Standards Board. My expertise is in property risk and I have been working in a variety of senior property surveying roles and as a portfolio manager for an equity release funder. I enjoy bringing my property knowledge to the Standards Committee and updating the wider group on issues relating to the property market and new issues in equity release. Property is at the heart of equity release products and as such understanding the nature of the lending and customer expectations of their property assets is vital. Over recent years, I have helped the committee understand more about specific issues in the market ranging from flood risk, property construction types and energy performance of residential property.
When and why did e-surv join the Council and what have been the benefits to date?
e.surv is the leading provider of valuation and property risk advice to equity release lenders. As such we felt it was important to have dialogue within the Council on a range of issues relating to property and also deepen our business understanding of other stakeholders in equity release.
Please explain the role of the Standards Committee and its motives for 2024 and beyond.
I am the sole representative from the property profession on the Standards Committee. From my perspective, the challenges going forward are areas such as modernising the thought process in property and helping others to understand areas such as modern methods of construction, customer vulnerability and retrofit. Surveyors are often the only people in the process to see the customers property and their circumstances and how people live in their properties.
Please could you share your views on the opportunities and challenges in the sector?
The opportunities for helping lenders and funders understand property are huge as that is at the heart of being able to price loans appropriately. We also have a huge remit to play in helping providers understand their customers. Often, we are presented with “real world” circumstances that we need to articulate to lenders, ranging from properties being modified/renovated/extended and customers themselves having complex needs.
What would you say to any member or individual interested in joining the Standards Committee in the future?
It’s of great value to understand how many different processes and people the sector connects with, and I am just part of that. Hopefully, I help others understand property and in return, I have learned a lot about other areas that the standards touch such as advice, pricing and consumer duty.
- The views of contributors are not necessarily shared by the Council
