RICS professional standards compliance
An annual declaration that the practice works to the current professional statement, with the registered valuer status checked where it applies.
For surveyors
The surveyor's round of inspections, schedules and reinstatement figures
A surveyor's liability outlives the instruction, so inspection notes, measurements and report dates have to stand up years after the site visit.
No account needed to see the proposed desk.
The recurring work
What surveyors have to keep on top of
Every one of these has a date attached, a document behind it, and somebody who notices when it slips. This is what goes on the desk.
Professional indemnity renewal
Cover renewed each year with the limit set against the largest instruction, and run-off cover maintained for past work.
Anti-money-laundering obligations
Supervision, annual registration and identity checks on clients, with source of funds evidence held on each instruction.
Reinstatement cost assessments
Annual or index-linked reviews per block or property, since a figure set years ago will not rebuild the building today.
Condition and measured survey cycles
Scheduled inspections and re-measurements for retained clients, with photographic records and dated notes kept per property.
Dilapidations schedules and responses
Schedules of dilapidations served and answered against lease terms, with the response logged inside the lease timetable.
CDM dutyholder records
Design risk information and the health and safety file evidence held where the instruction involves design or the management of works.
EWS1 and cladding assessment dates
External wall assessments and their renewal or review points tracked for affected buildings, with lenders and managers updated.
Site inspection scheduling
Access, accompanied visits and tenant notices arranged to the inspection timetable rather than to whoever answers the phone.
What it costs to carry it
Instructions arrive in clusters, and the work that gets dropped is the scheduling, not the surveying. A measurement that has to be redone because a room was missed pushes the whole programme, and a schedule served late gives the other side the advantage in a dilapidations claim. The file only becomes urgent in an audit or a claim, when the notes should already be complete.
What the desk takes over
The desk works this list to its own schedule and reports what it did.
The inspection calendar
Recurring inspections, review dates and assessment cycles held per property, with a reminder raised before each one.
Access and notice chase
Access arrangements, tenant notices and key collection requested and followed up until each visit is confirmed.
Report and evidence chasing
Photographs, measurements, certificates and contractor information gathered per instruction and filed against the property.
Renewal and compliance dates
Professional standards declaration, indemnity cover and registration dates prepared with the supporting records attached.
A dated record
Every instruction, visit and report logged with its date and author, so the basis of a figure is retrievable years later.
What stays with the surveyor
The inspection, the measurement and the professional opinion stay with the surveyor. The desk arranges access, chases documents and keeps the record; it does not value a building or certify a defect.
Questions
Can the desk produce the survey report?
It assembles the evidence, dates and photographs behind the report. The inspection judgement and the wording of the report stay with the surveyor.
How are reinstatement figures kept current?
Each property carries its assessment date and its review cycle, so a figure is revisited before it is quoted in a lease or a claim.
Does the desk keep inspection records for past instructions?
Instructions, visits and reports are logged with dates so the basis of an earlier figure can be recovered when a claim or a query arrives.
Put the surveyor's recurring work on the desk
Start with a name, a website and one sentence about what the business does. The desk proposes the list; the surveyor corrects it.