Valuation for Legal and Litigation Purposes

In litigation cases involving property disputes and compensation, registered surveyors may be required to submit expert reports as expert witnesses or appear in court to give an opinion on the market value or rent of the property involved.

M&L Surveyors’ professional team provides expert witness & valuation services for various lawsuits and is particularly experienced in the following categories:

Division of property in divorce

​Estate distribution

​Lease dispute

​Bankruptcy/liquidation

M&L Surveyors is home to many senior surveyors who are RICS members, HKIS members and registered professional surveyors in Hong Kong. They have won trusts from law firms and often serve as expert witnesses to issue expert reports for various court cases. They have rich experience in related fields. Their jobs include:

serving as a single co-appointed expert witness to submit expert reports and testify in court under subpoena;

​serving as an expert witness hired by one party to submit expert reports and testify in court under subpoena;

under the direction of the court, holding an expert meeting with the surveyor from the opposite side and then submitting a joint expert report to the court;

submitting a supplementary valuation report following the submission of the joint expert report if necessary.

Why is valuation necessary for asset distribution in divorce?

If there are disputes over the distribution or handling of property in divorce, the couple can commission a surveyor to conduct a valuation. The professional valuation report is objective and neutral, providing professional advice for the court.

If the litigation case involves a cross-border marriage, is it possible to conduct valuation for the properties in both places?

Backed by the rich experience accumulated by the surveyor team in the field of property valuation in both Mainland China and Hong Kong as well as the resource strength of Centaline Group, we are familiar with all kinds of properties in both regions and have undertaken valuation tasks for many lawsuits involving property assets in the two places, providing professional opinions for cross-border divorce and family dispute cases.

What is the role of a surveyor a valuation report in court?

First, abide by the duty of independence and impartiality.

We understand the code of conduct of expert witnesses. We know that expert witnesses have primary and overriding responsibilities to the court. And we strictly abide by the impartiality and independence obligations of expert witnesses, maintaining an objective and neutral attitude and providing professional advice to the court.

Second, leverage our rich experience to get the work done efficiently.

When acting as a single co-appointed expert witness, our surveyors pay special attention to information sharing and timely communication with all parties, and seek to help all parties, as an independent third party, resolve doubts impartially and make the entire process transparent and efficient. Moreover, our surveyors are also veterans in submission of joint expert reports and are adept at clarifying and handling disputes with professional analysis and data support.

And third, keep professional and provide informative and credible reports.

At work, we maintain a rigorous, comprehensive and professional attitude, follow relevant valuation standards, attach importance to data support and comprehensive analysis, and use professional expertise and skills to ensure that the valuation process and results are professional, reliable and objective and that the expert opinions are persuasive.

In addition to such basic contents as the information and description of the target property, ownership and registration status, and final valuation, our valuation reports for legal purpose also details the valuation method, transaction information for comparison, adjusted items, and consideration of specific factors and assumptions, all combining to constitute well-rounded and authoritative expert reports.