How do I check that an appraiser is independent?

The question matters most when one party pays and the other has to accept the figure: an estate division, a purchase negotiation, an exit from joint ownership. The four checks: 1. No interest in the transaction. The appraiser holds no sale mandate on the property, takes no agency commission and introduces no buyer. An agency valuing the property it wants to list is not in that position — its opinion is commercial, which is legitimate, but it is not a valuation. 2. Fixed fees. An appraiser paid as a percentage of value has a direct financial interest in the figure written. Our fees are set at quotation stage, before analysis, from MAD 3,500 excl. VAT, and do not move with the outcome. 3. A conflict-of-interest disclosure opening the report. RICS standards require it: the appraiser states any connection with the parties, the asset and the file, or confirms there is none. A report without that section has skipped a step. 4. A method you can reproduce. Every comparable identified, dated, located and adjusted; every adjustment quantified and explained. You can challenge a stale comparable, a wrong district, an incorrect area. A report that can be contested line by line is an honest report. What independence means in practice, and clients do not always expect it: the value may disappoint you. A seller hoping for 2.6 million and receiving 2.15 million has not been badly served — they have the information before the buyer does, which leaves the choice of selling, waiting, or carrying out targeted works. An appraiser who writes what the client wants to read is worthless to that client, because nobody else will believe it. If the other side disputes the figure, there are two routes: go back through the report point by point with the appraiser, or commission a second opinion from another firm. Two documented reports that diverge almost always reconcile on an identifiable assumption — an area, a date, a comparable, an occupancy discount. Two undocumented opinions never do.