Keeping up with RICS best practice for licensed leisure properties

New guidance for valuing business properties in the licensed leisure sector that comes into effect in July is set to assist chartered valuers active in the hospitality sector when it comes to ensuring professional best practice for clients.

That’s the view of Mark Searby, one of our trading valuations directors, when considering the guidance provided in the recently published RICS Professional Standard for the Valuation of licensed leisure properties, including public houses, bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

This is the second edition of the professional guidance for valuations in this commercial sector, with the first published in 2010. During the intervening 15 years, there have been substantial economic and regulatory changes in the licensed leisure sector since then, not to mention the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Undoubtedly, the pivot in the trading offer of operators in this sector during the business lockdowns and the immediate aftermath has shaped the sector’s trading patterns and fortunes since with a resulting impact on the value of trade-related business properties, whether leased or owned.

Eddisons undertakes trading valuations for operators and lenders active in the licensed sector in all its leisure manifestations. In line with the new RICS standard, Eddisons' valuation professionals acknowledge that while shared aspects of the sector mean there can be common approaches to valuation of the business properties, best practice should not be formulaic.

In welcoming the updated RICS professional standard, Searby said, “Valuers experienced in this sector will be aware of the nuances of each of the sub-sectors in the licensed industry.

“However, it does no harm for us to be reminded of this and the wider principles of valuations best practice by our chartered governing body in setting the professional standard.

“And, of course, there will be peer professionals who won’t be so experienced. As a profession, it’s incumbent on all valuations practitioners to best represent our discipline in representing our clients’ interests, and this is what the RICS’ professional standard ensures.”

For more information on Eddisons trade-related valuations in the licensed leisure sector, see our services page.