Assured quality from professional property service providers

Assured quality from professional property service providers

The Property Institute of New Zealand is seeking to provide clients with confidence in the selection of property professionals and assurance that professional standards will be delivered.

The Property Institute is in the process of defining a new Quality Assurance Accreditation Scheme (QAAS) for individual practitioners and firms working within the property profession. The QAAS will ensure accredited members are up to date with the current property legislation and standards, and that they have best practice policies and processes in place to ensure that the service they are engaged for is managed professionally and competently.

David Clark, Chief Executive of the Property Institute states “The defined criteria that property professionals must meet to gain accreditation will give New Zealand businesses and individuals confidence when selecting an accredited property professional”.

“One of the greatest benefits of the QAAS is that clients will be able to make a clear and informed choice about which property professional they engage, and conversely, that accredited members have the opportunity to be recognised for the measures they have taken to excel in their field.”

Jo Parry, an independent specialist in the design of quality assurance systems and establishing best practice industry standards, is working with the Property Institute to develop the QAAS model. Mrs Parry says “the structure of the QAAS has been developed to capture the unique characteristics of the property profession. This has been achieved by listening to the issues that the profession is facing, and by considering the most constructive way in which the profession can be supported to provide the best outcomes for its stakeholders.”

“Key users of property services, banks and insurance companies, are welcoming the QAAS and see the importance of the property profession being able to regulate itself within a quality assurance model that is fit for purpose” Mrs Parry says.

Mrs Parry says “The QAAS is a cost-effective model that will provide assurance of national standards. What makes this accreditation system unique is its ability to prove that it leads to measurable improvement in the property profession”.

“Applications for accreditation will be reviewed against agreed criteria and will be judged by the Accreditation and Risk Management Committee. Once accredited, members and firms will participate in self-evaluation activity that includes investigation of points of inquiry generated by external stakeholders. It is the self-evaluation activity that ensures that accredited members and firms are keeping up to date with current industry issues and addressing them” Mrs Parry says.

The accreditation criteria against which applications will be evaluated are currently being developed through a comprehensive process of consultation.

You can find more information about the proposed Quality Assurance Accreditation Scheme at http://www.property.org.nz/QAAS

ENDS

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