It was also proved, according to the ruling, that Ms Walker took a £25,000 loan from an individual saying it would be spent on a renovation property project – when in fact no renovation was being carried out.
Sources told The Telegraph that Rics had received complaints about Ms Walker as early as January 2022. Despite this, she was also shortlisted as a “Young Surveyor of the Year” finalist later that year, having also been shortlisted for its “Residential Property” award a year earlier.
Over 10 years ago, in 2011, a teenage Ms Walker was convicted of fraud after persuading parents to pay deposits for a dance competition in Disneyland Paris that never happened.
Two years later, in 2013, a 22-year-old Ms Walker was convicted of fraud again after tricking a man into quitting his job at Audi to fly to a Norwegian oil rig for a job that never existed.
Ms Walker pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud and was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, with 100 hours of unpaid work and supervision.
One surveyor, on the condition of anonymity, said Ms Walker’s case has “rocked the community of grassroot surveyors”, and “hugely upset” those who have been in the profession for decades and have worked hard to secure chartered status.
Ms Walker is in the process of appealing the ruling, but said Rics has not yet set a date for the hearing.
A spokesman for Rics said it takes all complaints about professional misconduct “very seriously”.
They added: “We acted swiftly to suspend the surveyor as soon as we had credible evidence on which we could act – meaning they were unable to practise as a Rics surveyor while we conducted a wider investigation.
“Following an extensive investigation before an independent disciplinary panel, we sought the most serious sanction available, permanent expulsion from Rics.”
‘Our ceiling collapsed – there’s no consumer protection’
Alan and Karen Rogers bought a £335,000 bungalow in North Yorkshire in 2022 to enjoy their retirement.
But instead of putting their feet up, they have spent the past two years battling Rics because one of its members failed to flag obvious signs of subsidence – which is when the ground underneath a property is sinking.
They complained to Rics and the maximum £25,000 was awarded but two years on, the repair work still hasn’t started. Meanwhile, building costs have shot up and the surveyor’s firm, Flint Ross Moorhouse, has now ceased trading.
The couple have been left with sloping lintels, cracked walls, a leaking roof, one floor which has moved in five different directions and another which has partially collapsed into the dining room. Behind the wallpaper they have, to their horror, discovered an abundance of polyfiller keeping the property together – meanwhile, cracks on the outer walls continue to spread.
