If an assignment involves a jurisdictional exception, what must an appraiser do?

• A. Identify the law, comply with the law, disclose in the report the part of USPAP that is voided, and cite in the report the law that caused the jurisdictional exception
• B. Ignore the jurisdictional exception and proceed
• C. Report the exception but continue under USPAP unchanged
• D. Identify the law, comply with the law, but do not disclose USPAP voided parts or cite the law

Answer: (D)

When a jurisdictional exception exists, you must follow the local law that creates the exception, and you have to be transparent in the report about how USPAP is affected. The right approach is to identify the applicable law, comply with that law, and clearly disclose in the report the jurisdictional exception and the law causing it. This keeps the client informed about what parts of USPAP are not being applied due to the local requirements.

Ignoring the jurisdictional exception or continuing strictly under USPAP without disclosure would mislead the reader about what standards governed the assignment. Similarly, reporting the exception without citing the controlling law or without describing the effect on USPAP compliance would leave the reader unsure why USPAP isn’t fully followed.