AN ABERAERON chartered surveyor has been reprimanded and ordered to pay £10,000 costs for failing to disclose a personal interest in a case involving damage to a house he and his wife owned.

A disciplinary panel in Birmingham heard that David Davies, who had at the time been working for Morgan and Davies estate agents, breached rules of conduct by launching an insurance claim for damages without revealing that he and his wife were joint owners of the Market Street property where Mr Davies’ wife ran the Ji-binc clothes shop.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors disciplinary panel found that, when corresponding with Balfour Beatty and Western Power Distribution between 8 March 2012 and 30 July 2012, Mr Davies “failed to act with integrity and avoid any actions or situations that were inconsistent with his professional obligations”.

Although they agreed that Mr Davies had genuinely believed he had implied authority to pursue the claim in the firm’s name, they were satisfied he had not informed his employer or Balfour Beatty and Western Power of his personal interest and had not been transparent.

Mr Davies – who was based in Morgan and Davies’ Lampeter office – was employed by the firm from 1995 until 2016 when he left in acrimonious circumstances.

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