The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is set to remove the material uncertainty clause from residential property valuations.

The clause was originally created by Rics to help navigate valuation activity during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which “an unprecedented set of circumstances on which to form a judgment” could well apply.

Arnold & Baldwin Chartered Surveyors managing director Joe Arnold says: “We are now in a position where we can see that the lockdown was just a pause on the market and not a complete reset.

“[And] we now have more than two months’ worth of transactional evidence to show that the market has returned. Indeed, in some areas, such as parts of London and the wider South East, the market is actually stronger now than it was prior to lockdown and the temporary reduction in Stamp Duty Land Tax will provide a further fillip for property values.

“There is still clearly uncertainty. We do not know, for example, what impact increased unemployment will have on the market – but this is more standard market uncertainty than the material uncertainty we experienced earlier in the year.

“It is worth noting that surveyors will still have the option to apply the MUC to a valuation if they have particular concerns about the asset or area. This is likely to be reserved for properties where there has been less transactional evidence in recent weeks such as, for example, HMOs or very high value properties.”