President elect Nick Maclean takes over on temporary basis after Justin Sullivan waits for outcome of review
The new president of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has stepped aside just two months into the job following his involvement in a legal battle over a £32m moth-infested mansion.
Justin Sullivan has referred himself to the RICS’ Standards and Regulation Board and requested an independent regulatory review into the High Court judgment handed down last month.
Nick Maclean, RICS president elect and CBRE’s former chair of the Middle East and North Africa, has temporarily become acting president of the organisation while the investigation into Sullivan is conducted.
Sullivan’s referral comes after he served as an expert witness for the seller of a luxury Notting Hill mansion which was found by its buyers, Iya Patarkatsishvili and Yevhen Hunyak, to be infested by what one insect specialist had described as a moth infestation of “extreme proportions”.
A High Court judge ruled in February that the buyers were entitled to a full refund as the seller William Woodward-Fisher, had failed to disclose the infestation. Mr Woodward-Fisher has since been handed a £36.5m final court bill.
Sullivan was criticised by the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, for providing “flawed” evidence and for being ”unwilling to make sensible concessions”.
The judge said: ”I was unimpressed by Mr Sullivan’s grasp of the matters in issue, which to a considerable degree, I consider, was work that had been done for him by his team, and with the detail of which he was insufficiently familiar.
“I was unimpressed by his exercise of judgement, which seemed to me to be flawed in many instances, and by his approach to answering questions that were put to him.”
The RICS review of the judgment will consist of looking at “publicly available information and any relevant evidence obtained through ongoing inquiries” and “evaluating the context and wider circumstances of the matter to determine whether further regulatory action is necessary”, the RICS said.
A formal investigation in line with RICS regulatory framework will be opened if “sufficient evidence suggests further action is required”, the RICS said.
A spokesperson for the RICS said: “Nick Maclean has, temporarily, become acting president of RICS. This follows the involvement of Justin Sullivan as an expert witness in High Court proceedings in the case of Iya Patarkatsishvili & Anor v William Woodward-Fisher, about which he has referred the matter to the Standards and Regulation Board’s regulatory team.”
Woodward Fisher purchased the property in 2012 for £10.4m before starting a £10m refurbishment, which included installation of an eco-insulation made largely of natural wool, a natural nesting habitat for moths.
He had denied the presence of “vermin” in the house when questioned by the buyers prior to the purchase, with the court case hinging on the definition of the word ‘vermin’ and whether this applied to moths.
A spokesperson for Sullivan said: “There is a misunderstanding and an over-reaction. Mr Sullivan is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and is instructed in litigation as an expert witness. There is no finding of professional misconduct against Mr Sullivan. He has referred himself to RICS as a matter of routine. That process is confidential. Mr Sullivan has nothing further to say at present.”
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