The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor, or RICS to use the acronym, are a professional body that has been going for over one hundred and fifty years. They were set up with one purpose in mind to make sure that the UK has the highest standard of property valuations plus land and building management. It is so determined to do this that it even has a latin motto that is lived by. This is “Est modus in Rebus” and it means “There is measure in all things”. Any organisation with a bit of latin must know what they are on about and it was with this in mind that the then Government of the UK charged them with the creation of the Home buyers report for July 2009 onwards. This Rics Building Survey was designed to bring together a cohesive report that lender, borrower, seller and conveyor could all work from. Why was the RCIS used?
The main reason is experience. The RICS has been going since 1868. Forty Nine Surveyors in London got together in the Westminster palace hotel. This must have pleased the owners as the surveyors must have thought it structurally sound to meet there. They drew up a list of proposals to try and determine a set of general high standard practices for land and building surveying.
They changed to Chartered (as they had one by then) in 1930 and then got the Royal bit when George the sixth gave it to them in a spare moment he had in 1946. As a good part of London was being levelled by the Luftwaffe at the time the RICS would soon be needed in the rebuilding!