What is a Chartered Surveyor?

What is a Chartered Surveyor?

What is a RICS Chartered Surveyor?

Chartered Surveyors are highly qualified and experienced property professionals, professional members of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

To become a Chartered Surveyor, individuals must complete a qualifying degree course and the RICS qualification exams. Practicing Chartered surveyors are regulated by the RICS, and must meet their stringent rules of professional conduct and maintain their qualifications through a programme of continuous professional development (CPD). 

There are different grades of RICS membership denoted by the letters after their name: AssocRICS (Associate Member), MRICS (Member) or FRICS (Fellow). Membership is for individual surveyors; companies cannot be members, but can be a firm Regulated by RICS. To be regulated, the firm's principal or an executive director must be a RICS Member, and any work must be carried out in accordance with the RICS rules.

Not all RICS Surveyors are 'Chartered' - the Chartered Surveyor title is reserved for those who are full MRICS or FRICS members - but all RICS members are experienced and fully professionally qualified for the type of work they carry out, and are regulated by the RICS in the same way, so you can be assured that any survey by a RICS surveyor will be to the required professional standard.

There are also additional classifications of professional qualification. To provide a valuation, a RICS Surveyor must also be a RICS Registered Valuer and adhere to the RICS 'Red Book' procedure for valuations. Another common classification amongst the surveyors on our site is that of Chartered Building Surveyor. A Chartered Building Surveyor is a RICS Member who has completed additional training and specialises in building design and construction.

The RICS rules are strict, and backed up by the RICS Regulation department. There is a particular emphasis that RICS Surveyors must be independent, without conflicts of interest, act in the interests of their clients, act honourably financially, and carry appropriate professional indemnity insurance for the work they undertake. This means that when you instruct an RICS Surveyor you can be assured that any work they carry out will be to the highest professional standard.

In general, most RICS Chartered Surveyors are able to provide a variety of advice on property matters, including building design and construction, property value, and environmental issues. Additionally many will provide additional services such as negotiating Party Wall agreements, property maintenance, and building project management. However, some may limit their activities to just home surveys, either RICS HomeBuyer Reports or Building Surveys. This is why when using our surveyor search you may get different results returned for different survey types in the same postcode district.

We do not currently list Chartered Quantity Surveyors on our site, as this is a specialist area not usually applicable to home surveys.

To get estimates for standard RICS surveys and valuations, simply complete the form below. If you require a Chartered Surveyor for other non-standard services, click here.