Firm Regulation and Professional Chartership for Daylight, Sunlight and Rights of Light Surveying Professionals

With the increasing focus on the importance of natural light in the built environment, the specialist surveying field of Daylight, Sunlight and Rights of Light is, increasingly, an essential part of the development process. As a result, the sector has grown, with more and more firms providing these services.

Whereas surveyors specialising in Daylight, Sunlight and Rights of Light were once often chartered building surveyors who found themselves with a focus on natural light in the built environment, we are seeing more and more new graduates fresh out of university, or those with no previous surveying experience, joining the sector. And it is great to see.

However, the absence of a suitable pathway to chartership for Daylight, Sunlight and Rights of Light surveying professionals has meant that the sector lacks Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) regulation and has few practicing RICS members when compared to better-known areas of surveying. Below, we discuss some of the merits to RICS regulation and membership, and what is being done to promote more of it across the sector.

What are some of the merits of RICS regulation and chartership?

  • Client and public confidence - RICS members and regulated firms are required to adhere to the RICS Rules of Conduct, Professional Obligations and other RICS professional standards, and RICS will hold members and firms accountable where they fail to do so. An example of this is the requirement for members and firms to act appropriately with regard to conflicts of interest.

  • Ethical conduct - Honesty, integrity and ethical decision-making are key pillars of RICS regulation.

  • Professional competence - The RICS requires members to maintain their professional competence and ensure that services are provided by competent individuals who have the necessary expertise. RICS provides technical guidance, CPD resources and professional support to its members and firms in order to achieve this requirement, and clients can be confident that all RICS members must comply with the annual CPD requirements of the RICS.

  • Diligent service - The RICS requires members and firms to provide a good-quality and diligent service. Clients can be confident that the level of diligence applied to their projects is appropriate and that they will be kept fully-informed by a responsible practicing member throughout the engagement.

  • Respect, diversity and inclusion - The RICS requires members and firms to treat others with respect and encourage diversity and inclusion in all that we do.

  • Professional indemnity insurance - The RICS requires its regulated firms to provide PI insurance that meets the specific standards and criteria it sets out in its “Professional Indemnity Insurance Requirements” document. This requirement is in place to ensure that clients are offered the optimum cover in the event that something goes wrong.

  • Dispute resolution procedures - To support client confidence, RICS regulated firms must publish a complaints-handling procedure, which includes an alternative dispute resolution provider approved by RICS.

  • Regulatory requirements - Many organisations and service providers require RICS regulation to work with surveying professionals.

What is being done to promote RICS regulation and membership across the sector?

Over the last five years, awareness of the new RICS Land and Resources (Rights of Light) pathway to chartership for surveyors specialising in Daylight, Sunlight and Rights of Light has been increasing. Prior to this, the lack of suitable Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) pathway meant that many firms were (and still are) unregulated, or those firms that had RICS regulated status had few chartered members of the RICS in their employment.

Now, surveying professionals specialising in the subject have a pathway available to them to achieve RICS membership, and we are doing all that we can to promote it. From individual conversations or group discussions and CPDs, to social media resources, Century Associates is hoping to encourage more professionals to follow the APC process. We believe that this needs to start from senior professionals who have been practicing for many years who, once chartered, will one day be able to become trained RICS APC assessors for the pathway. Once we have more assessors, the process of graduate chartership will be smoother and more available, and we will eventually have a sector that is better regulated, with the same level of recognition and credibility as other surveying specialisms.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at enquiries@century-associates.co.uk, or on 07554 939 187, for advice.

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