Krzysztof Grzesik, TEGoVA, The European Group of Valuers’ Associations

Is TEGoVA truly representative of the European valuation profession? With 59 national associations of valuers from 32 countries, I think so.
What distinguishes TEGoVA from the other international valuation standard setters? Fundamentally, our recognition that the EU’s ‘ever closer Union’ extends to property markets and professionals. Some years back, we decided to adapt all our work and in particular the European Valuation Standards (EVS) to follow and enhance emerging EU real estate policy.
Can you give some examples? EVS takes up all valuation-relevant definitions under EU law, starting with Market Value. We give great scope to EU-relevant concepts such as Mortgage Lending Value. We provide guidance to member states on adaptation of national valuation standards in accordance with the valuation provisions of the Mortgage Credit Directive, which Directive explicitly recommends, inter alia, EVS. EVS Applications help practicing valuers deal with cross-border valuation work and the valuation aspects of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, and help valuers to help their clients deal with the valuation fallout from the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. We work with the European Commission on valuing the sustainability of buildings.
Isn’t the regulation of property essentially a national prerogative rather than the EU’s? Key aspects of property regulation like housing policy are completely out of bounds for EU regulation, but many EU rules impact property. There are many fields where land and buildings get targeted directly by EU law because they are such an important part of the overall problem, such as buildings accounting for 40% of the EU carbon footprint or the real estate aspects of financial market reform and Banking Union.
Would you say that valuation is ‘going European’ as opposed to national? It is more complex and enriching than that, not unlike the relationship between the EU and its member states. National valuation standards are as important as ever as they need to account for local rules and practice, but they also need to address the challenges faced by all Europeans and requiring a coordinated response, especially since the crisis which was the real EU property trigger. We need a common European valuation culture, a standards and qualification bottom line that European authorities, property investors and mortgage lenders can rely on and easily recognize across the Union.
So we can expect more and more EU regulation? Not necessarily. You might even get less because EU legislation is a difficult process, hard to tinker with or reverse, so we need to find ways to free up markets and ensure a (high) level playing field for professional competence without bogging everything down in red tape. That’s what led to ‘EU Economic Governance’, a flexible, non-regulatory way for the member states to collectively figure out what each country has to do to rationalize failed economic policy so as to boost the European economy. That’s had tremendous real estate and valuation impact in terms of planning law reform, dismantling rent control, instituting recurrent property tax and updating cadastral values. It’s not a question of harmonizing national laws but of imbuing property markets and professionals with a kind of minimum European real estate and valuation culture.
Apart from European Valuation Standards, how does TEGoVA contribute to that? With education and good practice, but above all, our ‘Recognized European Valuer’. 2300 professionals across Europe are entitled to put the acronym ‘REV’ next to their name, a common high qualification recognized by foreign and local investors alike, endorsed by the European Property Federation and required by increasing numbers of banks for the valuers they employ.
Have the European authorities recognized TEGoVA’s work? Yes, the latest being that the European Central Bank in its current bank Asset Quality Review stipulates that where a conflict is seen between EVS and other international standards, EVS will apply.