The public sector includes central government, local government and public corporations.
There are many RICS valuation professionals who are employed both internally by public sector organisations and by external consultancies, who specialize in providing independent, impartial valuation and professional property advice across the entire public sector, and where public money or public functions are involved.
This dedicated page brings together useful information for those involved in public sector matters. Whilst most of the content is currently focused on the UK, our hope is to develop this further on a global basis going forward.
https://www.rics.org/profession-standards/rics-standards-and-guidance/sector-standards/valuation-standards/public-sector-valuations
Public Sector valuations were initially excluded from the recent Valuer Rotation requirements pending review
As per https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-introduces-mandatory-rotation-rules-with-uk-supplement-for-coming-red-book
Public sector valuations of investment properties, whether undertaken internally or by an external valuation firm, are distinct from valuations of investment property counterparts in the private sector in terms of both actual risk and public perception.
The valuations for which rotation is mandatory are known as regulated purpose valuations (RPV). The purposes covered are fully detailed at UK VPS 3. RICS’ UK rotation policy is included at UK VPS 3.3.
The RICS Valuation Review in 2020 recommended that ‘RICS should develop a time specific, mandatory procurement and rotation process for valuers’. Following this, the RICS Valuation Review Implementation Committee (VRIC) decided in their 2023 report that this recommendation shouldn’t initially apply to public sector valuations, subject to RICS undertaking an additional work stream in this area.
The working group comprised senior public and private sector valuation professionals, public sector finance professionals, and other key stakeholders involved in the valuation process. It was chaired by Nick French, who is also chair of RICS’ Global Valuation Standards Expert Working Group.
It was agreed that the existing oversight mechanisms of other bodies, such as the government, together with the annual external audits of all valuations, for which third-party valuers are usually included in the audit teams, are robust and ensure that all investment valuations are reviewed. Therefore in May 2025 the SRB confirmed Public Sector valuations are exempt from the valuer rotation policy.
https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-decides-on-rules-for-public-sector-valuer-rotation-in-new-report
HM Treasury's financial reporting requirements for valuations and processes for UK public-sector bodies have changed with a view to relieving the burden of cost, time and auditing. The most consequential change that will impact valuers is that the HM Treasury Financial reporting manual (FreM) for 2025/26 has changed the requirement for public-sector bodies from commissioning annual to instead, quinquennial asset revaluations. This article written October 2025 outlines the changes.
https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/journals/property-journal/public-sector-valuations-financial-reporting.html
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