This provides information on RICS qualification and regulation for members of RICS and non-members seeking to carry out energy performance and home inspections under the provisions of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Housing Act requirements for Home Information Packs.

Legislative background
Energy Performance Inspections: DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government) has announced that energy performance certificates will become a mandatory component of the Home Information Pack as of June 2007.  Energy Performance Inspectors must be suitably qualified and certified to carry out the work.

Home Inspections: the current DCLG position is that, although the Home Condition Report is now to be included in a Home Information Pack only on a voluntary basis, nevertheless those carrying out Home Inspections must be suitably qualified and requlated through an approved scheme.

RICS proposals

• RICS has lodged a proposal with DCLG to be an approved regulator for both of these activities.
• The basis of RICS' proposal is that, as an established professional body with statutory approval under other legislation, RICS' existing regulatory scheme is suitable to meet DCLG requirements.
• Some elements of DCLG policy on qualification and registration matters have yet to be announced.  Until all the details are clear, it is clearly impossible for any scheme to set a final fee.  On the basis of what we know at the moment and the charges which other prospective certification schemes have set out, RICS would expect to set a fee for its members substantially below that of other prospective schemes since we already monitor members for compliance with the key regulatory requirements such as Lifelong learning, PII and complaints handling process.
• RICS regulation is on a not-for-profit basis.

Route to qualification and registration for non-members
RICS is pleased to announce its new route to Technical Membership of RICS for new entrant Home Inspectors.  Technical membership, which carries the professional designation TechRICS opens up the full range of benefits of belonging to a leading professional body.

Registering interest
To register your interest in either of these schemes, please email your name and contact details to Inspector@rics.org. We will contact you with further details and an application package once we have received DCLG approval.