What is RICS and why is it important for your survey?

If you've heard about RICS and want to understand why it matters when buying a home, you're not alone. This guide explains what RICS is, the surveys it covers and how to find a qualified professional in your area.

RICS stands for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Founded in 1868 and granted a Royal Charter in 1881, it is the internationally recognised governing body responsible for the regulation and professional development of surveyors and other built environment professionals worldwide.

RICS sets the standards its members must meet and provides the oversight that holds the profession accountable. With more than 140,000 RICS members practising across 146 countries, RICS membership is widely regarded as a mark of professional integrity across the surveying industry.

Meeting these standards is not automatic. It requires formal RICS accreditation, a demanding process candidates must complete before they can call themselves a RICS member, covered in more detail below.

There are three levels of RICS survey, each designed to give buyers a clear picture of a building's condition. A RICS member can assess a wide range of potential defects and, where relevant, provide an independent view on the home's value. This is useful whether you are selling a house or buying a house.

A level 3 survey

A Level 3 survey is the most in-depth inspection available. The surveyor carries out a thorough check of the building's internal and external structure, looking for defects and anything that may need attention. It is best suited to homes that:

• were built before 1900
• have had significant repairs or alterations
• are planned for future renovation
• were built using non-standard construction methods
• are listed buildings

A level 2 survey

An RICS Level 2 survey checks for visible defects and gives a clear account of the building's condition, both inside and out. It gives buyers a practical list of issues so they can make an informed decision about going ahead with a purchase.

A property valuation report

The third option is a property valuation report. This is carried out solely to establish what a home is worth, with no inspection for defects. A qualified surveyor provides an independent valution of the property that may come in below the asking price, giving you a useful starting point for negotiations.

When searching for a surveyor, you might find cheaper options without RICS accreditation. Skipping a survey entirely, or choosing someone unaccredited to save money, is a decision that often costs buyers far more than they saved, since you lose the negotiating power and independent valuation a proper survey gives you. If you are still weighing up whether you need a survey at all, our guide on buying a house without a survey sets out what is at stake.

Here is what RICS accreditation actually means in practice.

Professional standards and quality. The accreditation isn't just letters after a name. It confirms the surveyor meets the highest standards, following RICS guidance and conducting surveys to rigorous quality benchmarks.

Ongoing compliance. RICS accreditation isn't a one-off qualification. Surveyors must continually demonstrate they maintain these standards, keeping pace with changes in the surveying field and updated RICS guidance.

Global recognition. RICS is a world-renowned professional body. Lenders and insurance companies acknowledge RICS membership, which can smooth your mortgage and insurance applications.

Expert problem identification. With their qualifications and training, chartered surveyors can identify property issues early in the process, potentially saving you thousands of pounds in unexpected repairs.

Confidence and peace of mind. A RICS-accredited surveyor gives you confidence in receiving a thorough service and peace of mind about the condition and structural stability of the property you want to buy.

When you book through a RICS member, you know they are bound by the RICS Rules of Conduct, a formal set of standards covering how they must carry out their work. This means the quality of the survey is not left to chance, and you get an assessment that meets the professional standard RICS demands of all its members.

It is worth understanding the difference between a chartered surveyor and other types of surveyor too, since not everyone offering a survey holds RICS membership, and the distinction affects what protection you have if something goes wrong.

RICS members are trained and practise across the UK, so you can find someone with in-depth local knowledge wherever you are buying. 

Like anything in life, you get what you pay for. A surveyor with RICS membership may cost a little more than a non-regulated surveyor, but it is well worth it in the long run. You can find a full breakdown of what to expect on our house survey cost page.

While we recommend RICS, there are other bodies offering professional regulation to surveyors, including the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association (EASA), the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES) and the SAVA HCS Scheme.

A surveyor with no professional affiliation has no one to hold them accountable. At worst, you could end up with a survey that misses a significant structural problem like subsidence and find that your home needs thousands of pounds spent on it, leaving you wishing you had paid for a regulated surveyor in the first place.

If you are unhappy with the work carried out, you can raise a formal complaint directly with RICS. As the governing body for the profession, RICS is responsible for investigating complaints and settling disputes between members and their clients.

In practice this is rare, because the requirements for gaining RICS membership are demanding. Candidates must demonstrate a high level of competence and meet strict professional standards before being accepted as a RICS member.

At Surveyor Local, we work with RICS members across England and Wales, ready to carry out surveys on all kinds of homes and buildings. Every surveyor in our network holds a recognised qualification and is fully accountable under the RICS regulatory framework.

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