FTB - Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors or non RICS surveyor?

atruefaker

Hi

I've been looking into surveyors - some are regulated by the RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) others are not. I called the RICs and they said the non regulated ones are still as good, but they are not regulated by them.

I have found a surveyor and he isn't part of the RICs but has accreditation from Royal Institute of British Architecture in the form on an ARIBA - he said they are trained in all the same things and are better qualified as they have studied for 8 years as opposite to 5 years for the surveyor, and can also give you an architects opinion too.

My questions are -
1) Do I need to go with a RICS regulated surveyor - what could happen if I didn't?
2) Would the ARIBA surveyor be a good plan - or stay away?

Thanks in advance.

atruefaker

Any advice please?

sonastin

If you go through RICS, you get a surveyor doing your survey. If you go through ARIBA, it'll be an architect. They have similar skills and there is quite a lot of overlap between the 2 professions. I couldn't really tell you the difference to be honest.

If the person carrying out the work is accredited by a professional institution, then he will meet the standards laid out by that institution and you can report him and get his acreditation removed if he fails to carry out the work to an acceptable standard.

You could also use a structural engineer who would be accredited by the Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE) or Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE).

All will be professional people who have demonstrated a degree of professional capability. They will all be able to tell you more about the building than you can tell yourself if you have no background or confidence in this field so any one of them can help you.

(Oh and ignore what the architects claim about being better because they studied for 8 years - not all of that 8 years is relevant to what you are asking them to do so the extra 3 years might as well have been a cookery course for the good it will do you in this situation!)

atruefaker

Thanks for your time sonastin.

kkloon

you are better off with a RICS surveyor. Not an Architect. They are only good if you are renovating or designing building.