Now I don't mean this rudely - after all, even the best economists failed to predict the credit crunch. I was at a Coutts dinner a while back and the NatWest economist there, even under intense questioning, could foresee nothing that would prevent the merry-go-round from continuing its ride.

But he was sadly wrong, so here we are. What I'm finding most surprising at the moment is the apparent lack of basic surveying skills that are understood, let alone implemented correctly.

I'm currently involved in two projects in which the vendors don't have a clue what service charge reconciliation means. In even more cases the lack of awareness of the commercial service charge code makes me wonder if anyone is doing their CPD at all.

In one of the purchases the advisers for the vendor confidently sent an email out, having been hounded for a reconciliation and a transfer of the balance of retailers' funds held. In this message they said that my clients had five days to refund over £200,000 in service charge, as required under the contract. They had literally added up what had been spent for the year in total, deducted the money collected from the tenants and expected my client to pay the difference.

Now no one reading this would think that was right - however, I got sent a reply in error by the other side when their mistake was pointed out saying "I hope to God they're not right".

So while we wait for someone to wind up the gramophone and the parcels start circulating again, I guess you'd better get in someone who can truly add value or catch up on the CPD.

Roger J Southam,

Chairman & Chief Executive, Chainbow,

http://www.chainbow.co.uk

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