Surveyors slug it out: Revamped group wants to take on RICS

The Residential Property Surveyors’ Association appears to be taking on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in a battle for authority within the surveying world.

The RPSA has restructured and in a statement has set itself a target to “become the leading representative for residential surveyors in England and Wales, and the champion of high-quality surveys for home buying consumers.”

The RPSA says it’s seen a sustained growth of 25 per cent in membership during the spring and summer while survey instructions doubled. 

The RPSA has abandoned its previous structure - since 2010 it’s been operated from a Northamptonshire surveying consultancy - and it now has a dedicated management team with new full-time appointments.

Alan Milstein, chairman of the revamped association, says: “The world of residential surveying is going through a period of sustained growth and development and so now is the right time for the RPSA to step centre-stage and to assume the role of industry voice and leader. 

“With new systems and focused management we can build on the firm foundations laid over the last 10 years and create a truly representative professional association”.

He says that the RPSA’s job as a not-for-profit organisation is to deliver money, resources and great products straight back into the hands of our members. 

In what some will see as a dig at the RICS’ operation, Milstein continues: “We won’t have fancy London offices or armies of administrators, but we will have a 21st-century management, an IT structure to deliver skills and efficiencies, and a thriving high quality survey instruction panel.”

And he concludes: “We have exciting plans for the coming years that will see us introduce new, even higher survey standards and membership programmes, new products, and extended panel and training activity. Quality, in all of our activities, is the key driver and motivation, and we know that our members want RPSA to represent the very best the industry has to offer.”

RPSA membership is open to those who hold the DipHI or DipRSurv or intend to qualify under the DipRSurv qualification, or are existing members of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers or the Chartered Institute of Building or of RICS itself.