RICS Home Survey Standards and a Victorian house case study

Abstract

The case study featured in this paper provides a clear example of the difficulties faced by clients who are poorly advised by the surveying profession with substandard home survey reports. It also raises questions about the fundamentals of carrying out home survey inspections particularly in relation to property types which commonly suffer from inherent design defects or where structural alterations have been carried out. To improve the quality of survey reports going forward and address a wide range of consumer concerns, new Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Home Survey Standards have recently been adopted by the profession. It is therefore an opportune time to reflect upon the extent to which the new standards are likely to improve the quality of the client experience in practice.