ROY J ILOTT, FRICS

1. I am Roy John Ilott FRICS, a Chartered Building Surveyor and an Individual Member of The Expert Witness Institute. I started my own practice in 1980 after 14 years experience in a variety of companies. We are involved in a wide range of building and related matters and I have acted for clients in various disputes.
2. I am actively involved in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, locally and at our Head Quarters. At Head Quarters in London I sat on the Building Surveyor's Members Affairs and also the Practice & Techniques Committees, was a representative of the Building Surveyor's Division on the Residential Survey & Valuation Committee, and on the Quantity Surveyor's P&M Committee. I was a member of the Housing Legislation & Strategy Panel, having been part of the working party that published the Report "Housing the Nation".
3. I have represented the RICS from June 1987 on the National House Building Council, and speak to national press and radio on behalf of the RICS on housing and building construction matters. I have assisted and appeared on BBC, Granada and GMTV news and current affairs television programmes and also on several investigative television programmes on housing and "cowboy" builders. I also speak periodically at conferences and CPD seminars on dilapidations, repairs and related matters.
4. In the Surrey Branch I was Chairman of the Building Surveyors Division for two consecutive years, in 1987/88 & 1988/89 and Chairman of the Branch in 1992/93. I was a representative of the Surrey Branch on the General Council and, at the moment, I represent the S E Region of England on the International Governing Council of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, having been re-elected for a further four years. I have sat on the RICS's Professional Conduct Committee and the Presidents Nomination Committee and am currently Vice-Chairman of the Appeals Panel. I represent the RICS on SEERA (South East England Regional Assembly) as one of the Economic Partners. I am a member of the Education and Training Committee of the Expert Witness Institute and have spoken at several of their seminars.
5. After working in private practice and for several large property owning companies, I set up my practice in 1980 and this developed in the maintenance, refurbishment and extension fields. The Practice has worked on a variety of different types of buildings for a wide range of clients, but over recent years I decided to contract and specialize the practice.
6. Thus I have many years' experience in the survey, management, maintenance and alterations to buildings of all types, sizes and qualities. Over the years I have also planned and implemented many external maintenance programmes. Before I set up my own practice, I was employed as a building surveyor managing repairs and alterations to part of the portfolio of a large insurance company and then as the Chief Building Surveyor of a publicly listed property company to implement and organise their property portfolio for repair, refurbishment or disposal.
7. I have experience in the usual building surveying areas of design, budget costing, preparation of specifications and tender documents, building contract administration and valuations. This covers extensions, the refurbishment of existing buildings and the construction of new buildings, also maintenance inspections and programming the resultant repair work.
8. The majority of my current work is now in specialist building surveying work, covering Schedules of Condition, Party Wall Awards, Boundary Disputes, Dilapidations, Expert Witness and the preparation of reports on building defects and contracts.
9. Some of these matters have allowed scope for dispute resolution through negotiations, in others a report has been prepared for submission direct to the Court, Tribunal or Arbitration. In several cases, I have been instructed as the Court appointed Single Joint Expert. Reports are thus prepared for civil and criminal Courts, Leasehold Valuation Tribunal hearings and Arbitration.
10. These Experts Reports cover disputes on defects over different elements of construction, as well as the Contract Administration service itself. Separate kitchen and bathroom fit-out contracts have been considered as well as replacement glazing and cladding contracts.
11. Thus, from my experience, I have been retained as an expert to report on contractors, architects and surveyors for issues ranging from house surveys through to all stages and aspects of small to medium size building contracts.
12. My dilapidations appointments are generally on behalf of tenants, but some claims of up to £700,000 have been prepared for landlords.
13. I also act for smaller property companies in advising on repairs, tenant alterations and dilapidations, providing an individual and pragmatic service based on many years’ experience in managing commercial properties for institutions, private investors and owners.
14. More details of the practice are available on the website: www.royilottsurveyors.co.uk and a selection of articles can be accessed via a Google search with “Roy Ilott”.