Enhancing co-operation with the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers Following on the visit to Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV) in mid-January 2011, a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance the relationship and co­operation has been endorsed by both the GPD Council and HKIS General Council. A signing ceremony will be arranged in late April 2011. Hon Secretary of SISV visits HKIS On 11 February 2011, Ms Cynthia NG (together with her colleague in Hong Kong, Mr Faulkner) visited the HKIS Head Offce. She was warmly welcomed by key personnel of GPD Council. Views on the institutes' current situation and professional development were exchanged. WAVO in Hong Kong World Association of Valuation Organisations (WAVO) is a body which brings together professional property valuation organisations that represent valuers and related property consultants employed in private practice, business and industry, the public sector, and education, as well as some specialised groups that interface frequently with the profession. Members of WAVO include SISV (Singapore), API (Australia), AIC (Canada), ANEVAR (Romania), AI (United States), CAS (China), CIREA (China), CNG (Italy), HKIS (Hong Kong), HQA (Vietnam), KAB (Korea), PINZ (New Zealand), RERA (Dubai), IACVA (Canada), IGAV (India), KAPA (Korea) and VVA (Vietnam). The WAVO Meeting and its AGM this year are scheduled to be held at the HKIS Head Office on 30 April 2011. Members from different parts of the world will have a chance to exchange experiences and enjoy the Hong Kong metropolitan lifestyle. GPD will offer its full support in organising the WAVO Meeting. A visit to a Prime Residential Estate in Singapore In January, the GPD delegation visited the first award-winning and most iconic public housing project in Singapore's history - The Pinnacle@Duxton. Completed in late 2009 by the Singapore Housing Development Board (HDB) (which is similar to the Housing Authority in HK) and situated about 20-minutes walking distance south of Chinatown, the Pinnacle@Duxton comprises seven 50-storey HDB blocks, which is the tallest HDB block in Singapore history. It caters for the need of the sandwich Incidentally, during our visit, the Singapore Government announced measures to maintain a stable and sustainable property market. This was comparable to our Special Stamp Duty which was implemented last November. They comprise: (a) Increasing the holding period for imposition of Seller's Stamp Duty (SSD) from the current three years to four years; (b) Raising the SSD rates to 16%, 12%, 8% and 4% of consideration for residential properties which are bought on or after 14 January 2011, and are sold in the first, second, third and fourth year of purchase respectively; (c) Lowering the Loan-To-Value (LTV) limit to 50% on loans granted by financial institutions for property purchasers who are not individuals; and (d) Lowering the LTV limit on loans granted by financial institutions from 70% to 60% for property purchasers who are individuals with one or more outstanding housing loans at the time of the new housing purchase; CIREA Reciprocity Training Sessions and Assessment-March 2011 The 100 candidates' name list has been finalised. The HKIS and CIREA are endeavoring to conclude the logistics arrangement. More details on the venue and hotel accommodation will be announced as soon as we possibly can. The dates of the two-day training session and assessment leading to CIREA qualification is scheduled to be held on 12 to 13 March 2011 in Sunshine Hotel Shenzhen at Lo Wu. The first day training session will start early at 9:00 am. The HKIS will arrange transportation departing early in the morning from Kowloon Tong to Shenzhen direct. The two-day training will end with a "Closing and Certificate Presentation" Ceremony, late afternoon on 13 March 2011. Certificates for CIREA qualification will be awarded to members who have satisfactorily completed the two-day training sessions and have passed the assessment. Appointment Process of Independent Valuer A Practical Guide providing guidance to users who wish to make use of the services of the HKIS for the appointment of independent valuation experts ("IVE") has recently been finalised by the Working Group formed under GPD ("GPD WG" which is chaired by Mr. C K Lau). A "PRACTICAL GUIDE for the Application to the President of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors for the Appointment of an Independent Valuation Expert" will be published soon. Services could relate to rental determinations (for rent review and lease renewal) or for capital value determinations. The HKIS had already published separately a set of Guidance Notes for Surveyors Acting as Independent Experts for Commercial Property Rent Review in 2000. This Practical Guide is not a legal document. Parties making use of the appointment service must agree their terms of engagement with the IVE. Meanwhile, the GPD WG is working with the Administration Office to fine-tune the formatting and the Chinese version. Thereafter, the working group will launch appropriate marketing activities. Review on Guidance Note ("GN") on Rent Review and Scale of Professional Charges for Services in HK-General Practice The GPD WG, in collaboration with RICS(HK), is revamping the GN on rent review. Members will be kept informed of the progress. On the Fees Scale for GP surveyors, the current scale was first published jointly by the HKIS and the RICS (HK Branch) in 1995. The HKIS had reviewed and re-printed the same in 2005. The GPD WG is preparing an updated edition. The Scale is advisory in nature and is published for the guidance of Professional GP Surveyors. The document has served useful purposes in the following areas of work by Professional Surveyors: - Compensation claims. Consultation has been made with the Lands Department for time to time. - Centain types of work from the URA. - Courts/Tribunal-reference points for determination of the reasonableness of "costs" for the expert surveyor' fees. - Independent expert-reference points for the determination of the reasonableness of experts' fees by the President of the HKIS or by the courts/ tribunal. The GPD WG is collecting comments from practitioners on the proposed fees scale. Further consultation and discussion with the relevant government departments and the URA will be made.