Building value from knowledge

The guidance for estate agents is being relaunched as part of a project that will ultimately produce a 'one-stop shop' for all residential guidance notes and codes. The next stage is to expand the Blue Book to cover standards relating to residential lettings.

While the old loose-leaf RICS Manual of Estate Agency Law and Practice was kept regularly updated, there was mounting evidence of a need for a new edition in a new format. Not least of the signals was the success of the smaller, neater Red Book, which moved from a similar cumbersome loose-leaf format in 2008.

Creating the new Blue Book gave the publishers the opportunity to enhance the online version to satisfy the growing preference for web-based media. However, the hardcopy version will continue, so that users have the comfort and convenience of a well-thumbed copy on their desks, not only for their own reference, but to show to clients and applicants when the need arises to explain chapter and verse of what constitutes appropriate professional conduct.

Subscribers used to the old manual will find the Blue Book easier to use and more in tune with their needs. The layout has been changed to be more process-orientated and the text has been coded to distinguish between areas that are mandatory and those that are guidance or best practice.

Behind the scenes

In June last year, Sir Bryan Carsberg published his Review of Residential Property, recommending comprehensive regulation of the profession. Since then, a joint initiative by RICS, NAEA and ARLA has created the independently chaired Property Standards Board (PSB), whose first task was to publish principles-based Standards for Estate Agents Dealing with Residential Property. It is this document that forms the basis of the new Blue Book, which was written by Christina Hirst, herself a chartered surveyor and author of a number of RICS documents. Her work was done under the auspices of the Residential Professional Group and with the help of an editorial board composed of consumer experts and agents involved in day-to-day estate agency on both a small and a large scale.

The Blue Book has the support of National Federation of Property Professionals (NFoPP), whose Group Chief Executive, Dr Peter Bolton-King, has confirmed that the Blue Book 'represents best practice in residential agency, and actively supports (this organisation's) role in promoting the standards expected of those acting as residential agents. The guidance in this publication fully reflects the standards expected of members'.

In her foreword, PSB chairman Dianne Hayter, says the Board has two principal aims: 'to raise awareness of what constitutes best practice in this area and ultimately to raise standards for the benefit of all. The Blue Book marks an important step in that journey, by bringing together, within one publication, information on all the legislative and regulatory documents that impact on the home buying and selling process, and setting out in a clear and logical sequence how an agent should conduct his or her business'.

The Blue Book is part of an overall standards project, which will see suites of standards and guidance developed for all the main work areas of the Professional Groups. With the further development of isurv, the online offerings will be much more interactive and, as well as drawing all relevant RICS guidance together in one place, will provide links to other sites, content and professional support software.

The cross-industry endorsement will introduce the Blue Book to those agents who may not have seen the previous edition and, though not regulated themselves, may wish to demonstrate that they are working in accordance with industry best practice. In short, the Blue Book will be a 'must have' for all reputable estate agents.

All subscribers to the Blue Book will receive both the streamlined print book and full access to the text online, via isurv, for one inclusive price. As with the Red Book, the printed Blue Book will be updated and republished annually, while the online version will have the benefit of two interim updates.