ISURV?
Online subscription resource created by RICS
It serves as a knowledge hub containing RICS professional standard, expert commentary, document templates and legal and regulatory info.
What is the RICS Ethics Decision Tree?
Framework of questions which members should ask themselves when facing a situation in which they are asked to act in an unethical manner.
Framework of consideration when facing potential unethical matter; 3 key stages:
1. Do I have enough information?
o Is it illegal?
o Is it in line with Rules of Conduct?
2. Peer review – is my decision appropriate?
3. ‘Press test’ – would social media etc make a story out of it.
- RICS Regulation Confidential Hotline offers further assistance.
RICS Rules of Conduct (2022)
- Professional standard
- Published in October 2021, effective from February 2022
- Apply to Members and Firms.
Includes
* Examples
* Appendix A sets out 7 professional obligations of firms and 3 of members.
Rules of Conduct
1. Act with honesty and integrity.
2. Ensure sufficient competence and expertise in services provided.
3. Provide good-quality and diligent service.
4. Treat others with respect and encourage diversity and inclusion.
5. Act in the public interest and take responsibility.
RICS Professional Standard Conflict of Interest (2017)
- Published 2017, effective from January 2018
Includes
* Cannot act on both sides of a transaction
* Informed consent
* All firms MUST have effective systems and controls in place appropriate to the size and complexity of their business to ensure full compliance
* Must keep records to show their compliance
Part 1 - Professional standard
- Conflicts of Interest
- Confidential information
- Firms systems and controls
- Definitions
- Scope and application
- Effective date
Part 2 - General Commentary
Part 3 - Supporting commentary
RICS Complaints Handling Professional Standard (2016)
- Ensure that all RICS-regulated firms and members handle complaints professionally, transparently, and fairly, maintaining public confidence in the profession.
- Effective CHP is fit for purpose, available to clients and staff, understood by all staff, regularly reviewed, agreed with PII provider, include ADR.
- MUST - provide RICS-approved CHP, keep Complaints Log, have RICS-approved ADR mechanism. Templates available online.
- SHOULD – issue with TOEs
RICS Client Money Handling Professional Standard (2019)
RICS Professional standard – Client Money Handling, 2019.
What are the six areas of good practice for handling client’s money set out in the RICS regulation:
1. Holding client money
2. Providing information to clients
3. Receipts of client money
4. Payments from client accounts
5. Accounting records and controls
6. Compliance
RICS Professional Indemnity Insurance Requirements Professional Standard (2024)
RICS Professional standard - Professional Indemnity Insurance Requirement V10 - effect from July 2024.
Protects businesses against claims arising from negligent advice or services provided to clients, covering legal costs and potential compensation.
- Mandatory for surveyors working in practice.
- Underwritten by RICS approved insurer.
- PII Certificate sent to the RICS on an annual basis
RICS Use of social media guidance for members (2024)
What will RICS consider when investigating concerns?
* Whether the content is dishonest or misleading
* Whether the content is discriminatory
* How closely connected the content is to professional life
* The way in which the content is expressed
* Whether the content is confidential or private
& Includes case studies
RICS Surveying Safely Professional Standard (2018)
- Published – 2018; Effective – 2019; Reissued – July 2023 (no changes to document itself)
Sets out good practice principles for Health and Safety for members and firms.
‘Please help with our S for real protection’
- Personal responsibilities
1. Firms must comply with legislation, provide a safe working environment, safe equipment and competent staff
2. Individual members must take personal responsibility - Hazards and risks
- Workplace H&S
- Occupational Hygiene
- Site visits
- Fire Safety
- Residential property surveying
- Procurement and contractor management
RICS Home Survey Standard 1st edition Professional Standard (2021)
To ensure consistency, transparency, and high quality in the delivery of residential property surveys.
RICS Home Survey Standard – Appendix E: Safety Hazards
Hazards surveyors should be aware of include:
1. Asbestos and harmful materials
2. Vermin, animal waste
3. Lack of fire protection/escape routes
4. Unsafe glazing or balcony rails
5. Loose structural elements
6. Lead pipes/paint, gas leaks, dangerous electrics
7. Inappropriate room conversions (no window/ventil)
8. Legionella risk, EMFs from power lines
9. Missing test certificates (electrics, gas, water)
Refer serious safety issues to a competent person.
RICS Asbestos Professional Standard (2021)
- Supports compliance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
- Effective from August 2021.
Offers guidance on:
* Summarising relevant UK asbestos legislation.
* Commissioning asbestos surveys.
* Creating and implementing asbestos management plans.
* Defining the roles and responsibilities of property professionals.
Note: It does not provide detailed advice on how to conduct asbestos surveys, instead directing professionals to the HSE publication HSG264 Asbestos: The Survey Guide for that specific guidance.
RICS Professional Standard Environmental risks and Global Real Estate (2018)
Purpose: Helps real estate professionals identify, assess & manage environmental risks in property investment and development.
- Recognise and flag potential environmental risks.
- Advise clients on how risks could affect asset value or transaction outcomes.
- Promote risk assessments (e.g. environmental due diligence, surveys, reports).
- Encourage mitigation or adaptation strategies where risks are identified.
Types of Environmental Risks
* Contaminated land or groundwater
* Flood risk and extreme weather
* Asbestos or hazardous materials
* Climate change impacts
* Energy efficiency and sustainability concerns
* Legal/regulatory non-compliance (e.g. environmental law)
RICS Practice Information – Cash Flow Forecasting (July 2024)
- The document defines what a cash flow forecast is, how to build one, and how it helps in monitoring and managing construction projects.
- The document is part of the “Black Book” suite
RICS Practice Information – Discounted Cash Flow Valuations (November 2023)
- The document encourages explicit DCF modelling where appropriate, in place of implicit yield models, to increase transparency of assumptions.
- It sets out how to build a DCF: forecast cash inflows and outflows, determine a terminal (residual) value, and discount them back at an appropriate discount rate.
RICS Professional Standard: Comparable Evidence in Real Estate Valuation (2019)
- Sets out mandatory principles around the use of comparable evidence.
- Its aims include: promoting consistency in use of comparables globally, dealing with limited evidence markets, identifying sources and weighting of comparables.
- Key principles for comparables include that they should be relevant, recent, verifiable, and adjusted for differences.
RICS Professional Standard: Valuation of Development Property (2019)
- It supplements IVS 410 (Development Property) and the Red Book/Global Standards.
- Guide valuers in assessing development properties, which require redevelopment or improvements to achieve their highest and best use.
- Defines GDV, NDV, Residual method etc
RICS Professional Standard: Depreciated Replacement cost method of valuation for financial reporting (2018)
- Provides guidance on how to apply the DRC method when valuing specialised properties for financial reporting.
- Aims to ensure consistency, transparency, and compliance with the Red Book and International Valuation Standards (IVS).
- DRC is used only when there is no active market, i.e. last resort method
RICS Professional Standard: Financial Viability in Planning: Conduct and Reporting (2019)
- To establish mandatory requirements for conducting and reporting financial viability assessments (FVAs) in the planning process.
Key Requirements
1. Objectivity and impartiality
2. Confirmation of instruments
3. No contingent fees (firm cannot be paid on basis of outcome)
4. Transparency
5. Benchmark land values
6. Sensitivity analysis
7. Non-technical summaries for understanding by non specialists
8. Author sign off
9. Timeframes
RICS Valuation Global Standards (The Red Book) (2024)
RICS Valuation Global Standards (or The Red Book)
Updated Dec 2024
Effective from Jan 2025
Part 1 – Introduction
Part 2 – Glossary
Part 3 – Professional standards 1 & 2 (PS1 and PS2)
Part 4 – Valuation technical and performance standards (VPS 1-6)
Part 5 – Valuation Practice Guidance Applications (VPGA 1-11)
Part 6 – International Valuation Standards (IVS)
RICS The Black Book - Professional Standard
The ‘Black Book’ is a suite of guidance notes (GN) that define good technical standards for quantity surveying and construction professionals.
16 Sep 2025 - The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched a consultation on a new global construction professional standard, which incorporates principles of quantity surveying and project management. The standard will consolidate 32 separate Black Book guidance notes.
RICS Valuation Standards UK National Supplement (2023)
The UK National Supplement is a mandatory extension to the RICS Valuation – Global Standards (Red Book), effective from 1 May 2024. It provides additional guidance tailored to UK-specific valuation practices and regulatory requirements.
UK VPGA 1 – Valuations for financial statements (IFRS/UK GAAP).
UK VPGA 2 – Valuations for regulated purposes (e.g. listings, takeovers).
UK VPGA 3 – Checking financial strength (e.g. solvency tests).
UK VPGA 4 – Local authority asset valuations.
UK VPGA 5 – Central gov/NHS asset valuations.
UK VPGA 6 – Public sector assets valued at existing use.
UK VPGA 7 – Valuations for social housing providers (accounts).
UK VPGA 8 – Valuations of charity-owned property.
UK VPGA 9 – Working with auditors on valuations.
UK VPGA 10 – Valuations for commercial loan security.
UK VPGA 11 – Residential property valuations (general).
UK VPGA 12 – Valuation of residential property for miscellaneous purposes
UK VPGA 13 – Valuation for residential secured lending
UK VPGA 14 – Social housing used as loan security.
UK VPGA 15 – Valuations for UK tax (CGT, IHT, SDLT).
UK VPGA 16 – Compulsory purchase and compensation.
UK VPGA 17 – Council land sales below market value.
RICS Professional Standard: Property Measurement 2 edition,
2018– (archived)
RICS Professional Standard: Property Measurement 2 edition,
2018– (archived)
The RICS website states: “RICS members and RICS regulated firms should adopt the appropriate measurement basis from IPMS: All Buildings or the RICS Code of Measuring Practice to satisfy the requirements of the instruction. The basis of measurement used should be documented.
Key points:
1. RICS Professional Standard: Property Measurement 2018 is archived and no longer mandatory.
2. The Code of Measuring Practice 2015 remains the current guidance and is being updated.
3. Many professionals may not be aware that IPMS is no longer mandatory — this change should be clearly acknowledged
RICS Guidance Note: Code of Measuring Practice (2015)
The RICS website states: “Please note this document is in the process of being updated in 2025/6.
The RICS website states: “RICS members and RICS regulated firms should adopt the appropriate measurement basis from IPMS: All Buildings or the RICS Code of Measuring Practice to satisfy the requirements of the instruction. The basis of measurement used should be documented.
Key points:
1. RICS Professional Standard: Property Measurement 2018 is archived and no longer mandatory.
2. The Code of Measuring Practice 2015 remains the current guidance and is being updated.
3. Many professionals may not be aware that IPMS is no longer mandatory — this change should be clearly acknowledged
RICS Professional Standard Whole Life Carbon Assessment - (2024)
- Mandatory RICS standard for assessing carbon over the full life of buildings/infrastructure.
- Applies globally from 1 July 2024.
- Follows life cycle stages: A (materials), B (use), C (end of life), D (beyond life).
- Covers embodied, operational, and user carbon.
- Separates mandatory requirements (must) and best practice (should).
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1. Ethics - (History - CPD)55
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1. Ethics (Rules of Conduct - Confidentiality)100
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1. Ethics - (Ethics - SOE)56
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3. Communication And Negotiation37
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4. Health And Safety119
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2. Client Care24
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5. Accouting Principles And Procedures45
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6. Business Planning14
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7. Conflict Avoidance, Management And Dispute Resolution40
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8. Data Management26
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9. Diversity, Inclusion And Teamworking25
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10. Inclusive Environments11
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11. Sustainability72
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12. Financial Modelling102
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13. Inspection113
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14. Investment Management (Including Fund And Portfolio Management)121
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15. Property Finance And Funding139
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16. Valuation225
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17. Development Appraisals84
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18. Purchase And Sale96
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19. Case Study (Part 1)137
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19. Case Study (Part 2)60
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19. Case Study (Part 3 - Val)92
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19. Case Study (Part 4)142
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20. CPD145
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21. Mentioned Legislation & Regulation10
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20. Mentioned CPD9
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21. Key Legislation & Regulation70
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21. Key RICS Documents36
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22. SOE Examples18
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22. SOE Asset Details27
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22. Construction Method10
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23. Hot Topics48
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24. Definitions120
