RICS was approved as a Designated Professional Body (DPB) Scheme on 10 February 2006.

This means that RICS can grant a licence to firms and regulate them for the purpose of general insurance mediation activities.

What does this mean for your firm?
If your firm engages in or is planning to undertake general insurance mediation work then this information is important to you. This is likely to be the case if, for example, your firm helps clients to complete insurance documentation or offers clients insurance advice or services.

If you do general insurance mediation work you MUST be authorised by us, the FSA or be an appointed representative. Your firm may be eligible for the RICS DPB scheme.

The RICS DPB scheme
To be eligible for the RICS scheme there are a number of conditions that firms will need to meet. They include, for example:

a) at least 50% of the firm’s principals, including those who are held out*, will need to be members of RICS; and

b) that any general insurance activities that the firm carries out are incidental to the provision of surveying services to individual clients.

*Held out meaning: A person who is not a partner or a statutory director of a firm shall nonetheless be treated as a partner or director if:

a) he is employed by the firm and his job title includes the word "partner**" or "director"; of

b) he performs the functions of a partner or statutory director in relation to the firm.

**"partner" includes a member of a limited liability partnership.

Benefits to your firm
As a direct result of these conditions, coupled with the fact that RICS already regulates its members effectively through its existing bye-laws and conduct rules, the benefits that the RICS DPB scheme can provide is that the regulation system will be simpler, involve less paperwork and cost significantly less than being regulated by the FSA.

Applications
If you wish to be licensed through the RICS DPB scheme then you will need to first complete the Firms Registration for Regulation, and then DPB Registration and pay the appropriate application fee (if relevant).  Both registrations are on the Firms Portal, available here.

Cost of scheme
RICS has based its fee structure for a DPB licence on a scale according to the size of the firm. There will be an initial application fee and an annual renewal fee to cover standard monitoring of a firm’s compliance with the DPB Rules:

Application fee
All firms are liable to pay a one-off application fee when they first join the DPB Scheme

Number of partners/directors including held out* in the firm (members and non members). For meaning of "held out" see page 1	Initial application fee
1	£200
2 to 4	£200
5 to 9	£300
10 to 24	£600
25 to 49	£1 000
Over 50	£1 000

Annual fee
All firms are liable to pay an annual fee to RICS.  The charging period for 2007-2008 is 1 April 2007 to 31 July 2008.  Thereafter the annual fee charging period will be 1 August - 31 July each year.

Number of partners/directors in the firm* including held out. For meaning of "held out" see page 1	Annual fee for 2007-2008
1	£225
2 to 4	£240
5 to 9	£420
10 to 24	£1 260
25 to 49	£3 150
Over 50	£3 150

If a firm is currently authorised by the FSA and wishes to transfer to the RICS DPB scheme then the firm will need to complete the appropriate FSA cancellation form that can be found at the FSA website (see External Websites panel). 

If you wish to join the DPB Scheme and are currently directly authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) then you should not begin the FSA cancellation process.  Instead, please send us your DPB application form which we will consider and if successful provide you with an "in principle" decision that a DPB licence may be granted.  You should then begin the cancellation process with the FSA and report to us immediately once this has been fully completed.  Please note that the "in principle" decision will be kept under review and a licence issued subject to continuing eligibility.

Please also note that for FSA cancellations after 31 March 2007, you will be liable to pay the full FSA fees for 2007-2008. 

Further information
regulation@rics.org 
RICS Regulation Helpline: T +44 (0)0207 695 1670 (Monday- Friday, 0900– 1700 GMT. Excluding Bank Holidays).