What is a Chartered Surveyor?

A Chartered Surveyor is really a type of building surveyor that could carry out your property survey - but what do they do?

You know you need a survey, and that they are carried out by a surveyor - but what does 'Chartered Surveyor' mean? What do they do, and how will you pick one?

What is a Chartered Surveyor?

A Chartered Surveyor is really a building surveyor who assesses properties for defects, future problems or issues. They can also workout the value of a house. Surveyors produce a report so that you can see if the house is a superb investment, or if you can find any issues that might create problems in the future. These could incorporate damp, structural issues and Japanese knotweed.

To become 'Chartered Surveyor', a surveyor could have taken extra qualifications and had a particular level of experience, which is approved by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Some surveyors might not have gone to get these extra degrees of education to become chartered, but will still be regulated by RICS, and be fully qualified. These can be known as Assoc RICS, associates, or just building surveyors.

You don't need to necessarily use a Chartered Surveyor for your survey, but we always recommend using RICS accredited experts, and only feature RICS surveyors on our site.

What do Chartered Surveyors do?

Much like all building surveyors, a Chartered Surveyor will visit the property, assessing different areas and identifying any problems. They will then put it all into a report for you personally, and you will decide if you wish to just do it with the purchase, and even renegotiate based on the findings in the report.

For instance, if the report tells you that you will need to spend �5000 on repairs down the road, you could negotiate the cost of the house down by that amount. That is why a survey is a wonderful investment.

When do I want a Chartered Surveyor?

Click for more get touching a Chartered Surveyor once you have made a short offer on the house and had it accepted. If the survey reveals a thing that stops you purchasing the property, it has saved you plenty of money. Most offers are created 'subject to survey', therefore the seller knows that if something unexpected is revealed, you might back out or expect a decrease in price.

Only book a surveyor when you have had an offer accepted. Otherwise, owner would be inundated with surveyors visiting their home!