It’s been quite a few weeks for Justin Sullivan, the newly elected president of the RICS. As discussed in the last podcast he was recently heavily criticised by a high court judge whilst giving evidence as an expert witness in a moth infestation case. His submission appeared to have been prepared by someone else which is a real no-no for expert witnesses. Currently Mr. Sullivan will be at MIPIM in Cannes where he is representing not only the RICS but also his practice, perhaps you saw the post in LinkedIn recently. Some have questioned whether this is strictly ethical. The moths case has been widely reported in all the technical press and in even made quite large spreads in the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph, although the papers didn’t mention Sullivan or the judges’ comments. Well now it’s decision time and there have been calls for Sullivan to; resign, be sacked or try to tough it out. Lem Bingley, The Editor of Property Week suggested three options;
1. Sullivan fesses up and resigns
2. Sullivan is persuaded by the RICS Governing Council to quietly leave by the back door
3. Sullivan is voted out by the Governing Council having a public vote.
There is a fourth option of course and that is to tough it out and have some sort of RICS internal enquiry, but after the Sean Tompkins affair - surely not.
Early last week it was announced by the RICS that Justin Sullivan would be stepping down temporarily as president amid a confidential regularity review into his brush with the moths, with an acting president taking over and yes, the RICS chose option 4.
Duncan Cartlidge FRICS
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