Honesty, impartiality, and professional competency are required of all appraisers under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).  To promote and preserve the public trust inherent in professional appraisal practice, an appraiser must observe the highest standards of professional ethics. Compliance with these Standards is required when either the service or the appraiser is obligated by law or regulation, or by agreement with the client or intended users, to comply. In addition to these requirements, an individual should comply any time that individual represents that he or she is performing the service as an appraiser.  An appraiser must not misrepresent his or her role when providing valuation services that are outside of appraisal practice.

A. Conduct

An appraiser must perform assignments ethically and competently, in accordance with USPAP and any supplemental standards agreed to by the appraiser in accepting the assignment. An appraiser must not engage in criminal conduct. An appraiser must perform assignments with impartiality, objectivity, and independence, and without accommodation of personal interests.

In appraisal practice, an appraiser must not perform as an advocate for any party or issue. An appraiser may be an advocate only in support of his or her assignment results. Advocacy in any other form in appraisal practice is a violation of the ETHICS RULE.

An appraiser must not accept an assignment that includes the reporting of predetermined opinions and conclusions.

An appraiser must not communicate assignment results in a misleading or fraudulent manner.  An appraiser must not use or communicate a misleading or fraudulent report or knowingly permit an employee or other person to communicate a misleading or fraudulent report.

An appraiser must not use or rely on unsupported conclusions relating to characteristics such as race, color, religion, national origin, gender, marital status, familial status, age, receipt of public assistance income, handicap, or an unsupported conclusion that homogeneity of such characteristics is necessary to maximize value.

 B. Management

The payment of undisclosed fees, commissions, or things of value in connection with the procurement of an assignment is unethical.

It is unethical for an appraiser to accept an assignment, or to have a compensation arrangement for an assignment, that is contingent on any of the following:

1.    the reporting of a predetermined result (e.g., opinion of value);

2.    a direction in assignment results that favors the cause of the client;

3.    the amount of a value opinion;

4.    the attainment of a stipulated result; or

5.    the occurrence of a subsequent event directly related to the appraiser’s opinions and specific to the assignment’s purpose.

Advertising for or soliciting assignments in a manner that is false, misleading, or exaggerated is unethical.

 C. Confidentiality

An appraiser must protect the confidential nature of the appraiser-client relationship.

An appraiser must act in good faith with regard to the legitimate interests of the client in the use of confidential information and in the communication of assignment results.

An appraiser must be aware of, and comply with, all confidentiality and privacy laws and regulations applicable in an assignment*.

An appraiser must not disclose confidential information or assignment results prepared for a client to anyone other than the client and persons specifically authorized by the client; state enforcement agencies and such third parties as may be authorized by due process of law; and a duly authorized professional peer review committee except when such disclosure to a committee would violate applicable law or regulation. It is unethical for a member of a duly authorized professional peer review committee to disclose confidential information presented to the committee.

D. Record Keeping

An appraiser must prepare a work file for each appraisal, appraisal review, or appraisal consulting assignment. The work file must include:

§         the name of the client and the identity, by name or type, of any other intended users;

§         true copies of any written reports, documented on any type of media;

§         summaries of any oral reports or testimony, or a transcript of testimony, including the appraiser’s signed and dated certification; and

§         all other data, information, and documentation necessary to support the appraiser’s opinions and conclusions and to show compliance with this Rule and all other applicable Standards, or references to the location(s) of such other documentation.

An appraiser must retain the work file for a period of at least five (5) years after preparation or at least two (2) years after final disposition of any judicial proceeding in which the appraiser provided testimony related to the assignment, whichever period expires last.  An appraiser must have custody of his or her work file, or make appropriate work file retention, access, and retrieval arrangements with the party having custody of the work file.