Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Netherland
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
Australia
Hong Kong
New Zealand
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Mexico
Peru
Bahrain
Israel
Morocco
UAE
Oman
Tanzania
Surveyors Professional Indemnity
Trusted to place PI cover for over 1,700 surveying firms
Adequate and appropriate protection for your business (is just the start)
Surveyors work hard in challenging conditions and face risks every day. So it’s important to have a policy that gives you the right level of financial protection if something goes wrong.
Professional indemnity insurance, or PI, steps in to cover claims costs if you're accused of a breach in your professional services. This could range from errors in planning and missed defects in reports to alleged over-valuations. It’s vital that this cover is adequate and appropriate to protect against the liabilities that can come with the services you provide.
If you’re a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) it’s mandatory to have PI that meets RICS Minimum Requirements. For cover that’s compliant with RICS – and built around your business – you’ll want to use a specialist, experienced broker that understands your profession.
What does professional indemnity insurance cover?
PI covers you for legal defence costs and damages awarded if a client or third party isn’t satisfied with your work and takes action against you. This can include the cost of hearings, court attendance expenses, damages and settlements, and covers claims due to:
- Negligence and breach of duty of care
- Providing incorrect information to your client
- Infringements of intellectual property
- Harming a client’s reputation, either spoken or written
- Breaches of confidentiality
PI is a claims-made type of cover. This means that the policy in place when a claim is made is the one that will respond, not the policy that was in force when the alleged negligence took place. This is because claims can come to light years after the event.
Do surveyors need professional indemnity insurance by law?
There’s no law that says surveyors must have PI. Even so, Chartered Surveyors, who are regulated by RICS, must have adequate and appropriate PI cover that complies with RICS Minimum Requirements. Trading without professional indemnity insurance as a Chartered Surveyor is a serious breach of regulatory requirements.
Regardless, PI is a crucial cover for any surveyor. Without it, you'd be liable for the cost of defending yourself and any compensation if you’re accused of negligent services.
Mistakes can have serious consequences for you and your client, and accusations can be expensive to defend and settle. You may also be unable to win certain contracts or clients without PI insurance at a certain level.
We already knew Howden as the market leader for the industry and that they were highly respected by the industry governing body, RICS. We received an efficient and professional service from the team at Howden. We managed to achieve a good result and all our queries were explained in detail.
Why choose us?
We act for a wide variety of firms, from one-owner businesses to national and international multi-disciplinary property consultancies. These include residential and commercial surveyors, valuers, estate agents, quantity surveyors, and panel managers.
Trusted by your sector
We know your sector inside out, placing over £40m annual PI premium for construction consultants, surveyors, and property businesses.
Cover wider than RICS minimum terms
We’ve negotiated a policy wording that provides cover beyond RICS Minimum Terms, which gives enhanced cover in a number of areas. Because compliant doesn't always mean comprehensive.
Choice and flexibility
Our Property Professionals facility includes several RICS Listed Insurers that are all A rated or higher. This means we can offer you a choice of insurer from a trusted panel, increasing the chance of stable premium rates, and protection that's been long tested.
More than cover
Our added services include an appointment and contract documentation review service, risk management advice, and proactive guidance. You’ll receive regular newsletters, seminar opportunities, discussion forums and more.
We also offer:
- Advice on managing insurance during mergers and acquisitions
- Guidance on captive management programmes
- Expertise in managing complex global insurance programmes
- Free business support services through our partners, including 24/7 legal advice and mental health helplines
Dedicated claims management
Our experienced in-house claims team has been managing multi-million pound claims for surveyors for three decades.They'll be on hand with:
- Guidance on the notification process and preparing notifications
- Help with draft responses to claimants
- Using your preferred law firms, where we can
- Overseeing legal costs management and ensuring insurers apply reserving policies in a commercial way
- Attending mediations to help make sure settlements are in your best interests
Surveyors professional indemnity FAQs
Though premiums are available through us from £250 plus insurance premium tax, the cost can depend on the risks you need to protect and your firm’s characteristics.
Your firm’s size, claims history and the type of work you do are just a few factors that affect what you pay. High-risk work such as valuations and surveys, for example, will have an impact. But it’s not just about price; the quality of insurance and the credentials of the broker are vital.
We offer a free PI review service, where we establish if you're paying a competitive premium and share guidance on paying less.
Minimum levels of PI cover are set by RICs. Your cover level must be adequate and appropriate and meet RICS requirements. The minimum levels you must have depends on your firm’s turnover in the last 12 months (or estimated, if you’re just starting out):
Turnover | Minimum PI level |
| £100,000 or less | £250,000 |
| £100,001 to £200,000 | £500,000 |
| £200,001+ | £1m |
Based on RICS requirements, July 2024
But these are just minimums. You’ll also need to review the types of risk you face, bearing in mind any potential contract requirements for work you take on. We’re specialists in this sector and our brokers can help you work out the right cover levels for your firm.
PI can cover claims for deficiencies in design work through contractors or subcontractors, but not usually as standard. This cover is usually called design and construct.
Surveying covers a broad spectrum of skills and services, so you’ll want to use a specialist broker that knows your industry. They’ll be able to advise you about add-ons to a policy to protect the kind of surveying work you do.
Surveyors – and all businesses – face a number of risks, and there are a few types of insurance that can help cover these.
If you have one or more employees, whether full time, part time or casual, you will need employers’ liability insurance by law (unless you only employ immediate family members). This protects you from paying legal and compensation costs if someone who works for you is injured or ill due to their work. If you don’t get this cover and need it, you could be fined £2,500 for each day you’re without it.
Otherwise, you may want to consider cyber insurance, public liability, property insurance and directors' & officers', for example. Your broker can help create a package of cover suited to you.
When you stop trading, you'll need cover for your past work, in case a client makes a claim against you for services you carried out years ago. This is called run-off cover, and RICS expects its members to have run-off cover from cessation and maintained for at least six years.
The RICS minimum terms 2024 automatically provides cover for consumer-related claims up to £1m in the aggregate, and in total for six years from when you stop practising.
Make sure you're aware of the full terms and limitations of this cover. This is so you continue to have adequate and appropriate insurance to cover any claims that fall outside of the automatic run-off provision – for example, claims from a commercial client.
Let's connect
Greg Harrison
Tom Barney
