RICS – Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Being a member of the RICS is essential if you wish to undertake valuations for the lender market in the UK. Whilst not essential in order to undertake condition surveys, being an RICS member is extremely helpful in reassuring customers that you are a professional surveyor and operate to the highest standards.

The RICS is a global professional body for surveyors. It promotes and enforces high standards in construction, property and land. It has 134,000 members in nearly 150 countries, although the majority live and practice within the UK. 

According to the RICS, surveyors “keep traffic flowing, water running and people moving. They shape our roads, bridges and tunnels, our skyscrapers, stations and stadiums. They work in mines and in fields, on cliffs and on beaches. They value the houses we live in and the places we work in. They create safer homes and happier communities.”

There are four levels of individual membership: Student, Associate Member, Chartered Member and Fellow. There are also a number of sectors, such as quantity surveying, building control, valuation, building surveying, planning, and facilities management.

In residential surveying and valuation, two of the most important standards that the RICS produce are:

The ‘Red Book Global Standards’ – containing mandatory rules, best practice guidance and related commentary for all members undertaking asset valuations; and

The ‘Home Survey Standard’ – designed to increase consistency, transparency and competency across all residential surveying in the UK and to be the single standard for condition-based home surveys.

Lionheart is the benevolent fund for past and present RICS members and their families.