Last edited 28 May 2020

Chartered surveyor

‘Surveyor’ is a very broad term that covers a wide range of disciplines and activities such as; land surveys, property surveys, construction/engineering surveys, quantity surveying and so on.

‘Chartered surveyor’ is the legally protected title that is given to surveyors who have passed an assessment of professional competence. The representative body is the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and only fully-qualified members are allowed to use the designated title of ‘chartered surveyor’. This is denoted by ‘MRICS’ following their name.

Members of the RICS must keep up-to-date with current practice, and comply with a code of professional and ethical standards which requires them to:

Act with integrity.
Always provide a high standard of service.
Act in a way that promotes trust in the profession.
Treat others with respect.
Take responsibility.

Chartered surveyors are also subject to an RICS Complaints Handling Procedure which is available on request to any client. In addition, services provided by chartered surveyors should be backed by professional indemnity insurance (PII) lasting up to six years from the date of any professional work being undertaken.

Chartered surveyors may work in a range of different property and building fields, often providing clients with specialist advice on property-related issues. These services commonly include; providing property valuations, assessing buildings for defects, assessing damage or dilapidations for insurers, mortgage valuations, quantity surveying, land surveying, estate management, environmental advice, and so on. However, individual chartered surveyors rarely have expertise in all of these different areas, which is why partnerships or other organisations are formed to be able to provide a wider range of services.