USPAP 2014 - 2015

The Appraisal Foundation's Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) has just released a request for public comment on the 2014-2015 edition of USPAP.  Written comments are being accepted until March 12, 2012.

Although still early in the cycle, appraisers can see from the recent document release the areas of interest and change the ASB is focusing on for the next two year cycle of USPAP.

According to the document release, the below listed bullet points are being reviewed for possible alterations and updates for the 2014 - 2015 version of USPAP.  As you can see form the points the ASB is requesting comment on, there is perhaps going to be a movement away from the current three types of reports, Self-Contained, Summary and Restricted, and possibly to be replaced with a report written and defined by the intended use and scope of work.

The ASB document states

• At what point does a Summary Appraisal Report format become a Self-contained Appraisal Report format?

• Why is one of the three report options entitled Restricted Use Appraisal Report when every appraisal has a defined intended use?

• If the client no longer has access to an appraiser’s workfile for a Restricted Use Appraisal Report, is pubic trust protected when the report must warn “that the appraiser’s opinions and conclusions set forth in the report may not be understood properly without additional information in the appraiser’s workfile”?

• Currently the SCOPE OF WORK RULE includes the development side of an assignment but excludes consideration for the communication side of the assignment results. As assignments include both development and reporting work, should the SCOPE OF WORK RULE be expanded to include both development and communication of the assignment results?

• There is a single set of minimum development Standards. If USPAP sets the minimum appraisal report requirements, should there be a single set of appraisal report requirements rather than the current multiple set of report format options in STANDARDS 2, 8, and 10?

• When are the appraisal report requirements mandatory?

• Can appraiser independence be better protected through improvements to USPAP?

• Defining what an appraiser’s peers’ actions would be in the same or similar circumstances and what market participants would expect is extremely difficult to enforce. Can anything be done to improve this?

Source, The Appraisal Foundation, Foundation News:  Click HERE to read the full ASB document.