Regulated firm sponsorship is the arrangement that allows registered firms to pay regulatory fees and provide firm related regulatory information on behalf of nominated Registered Valuers.
Who can be a Sponsoring Regulated Firm?
Any RICS Regulated Firm that is regulated for valuation activities can apply to sponsor Registered Valuers.
What are the benefits of Regulated Firm Sponsorship?
Sponsoring Regulated Firms provide regulatory information in bulk on behalf of their sponsored valuers. This avoids the need for each valuer to provide this information individually.
Sponsoring Regulated Firms pay regulatory fees on behalf of their sponsored valuers. There is a discounted fee structure for sponsored valuers, reducing the overall cost of registering multiple valuers. Sponsored valuer fees are paid by the sponsoring firm.
What are the obligations of Regulated Firm Sponsorship?
Sponsoring Regulated Firms are required to pay any sponsored valuer application and subscription fees as and when they fall due.
Sponsoring Regulated Firms are required to provide any information which is reasonably requested by RICS to support registration applications and ongoing regulatory compliance monitoring on behalf of sponsored valuers. This may include but is not limited to confirmation that all valuation work carried out by sponsored valuers is covered by suitable professional indemnity, records of complaints, company procedures and valuation files.
Status as a Sponsoring Regulated Firm will be removed if the firm fails to comply with these obligations, or at the point that the firm ceases to be an RICS Regulated Firm. If sponsorship is ended all payment and regulatory information requests will revert to the individual registered valuer(s).
Compliance with the rules and requirements of the Valuer Registration scheme remains the responsibility of the individual registered valuer.
How will information be shared?
Information provided by sponsoring firms and sponsored individuals will be used to assess the individual's eligibility for valuer registration, to risk assess applications and to monitor compliance with the scheme rules.
Details of outstanding sponsoring firm actions will be provided to the sponsored individual(s) where it may affect their registration and/or ability to comply with the scheme rules.
Details of a sponsored individual's registration status will be shared with the sponsoring firm(s).
What is the sponsorship process?
RICS professionals can register a Regulated Firm on the RICS Professional Portal. As part of the registration process the applicant will be asked to select the number of Registered Valuers they wish to sponsor.
Once registration is complete the applicant can access a unique Sponsorship Code which must be provided to all sponsored individuals. The Sponsorship Code can be used multiple times based on the number of sponsorships requested during the application process. Additional sponsorships can be purchased from the RICS Professional Portal as required.
Sponsored Registered Valuers will need to enter the Sponsorship Code as part of their individual registration application and at each annual renewal.
A new Sponsorship Code will be provided to each Regulated Firm as part of the registration renewal process each year. It is important that renewal is completed on time to ensure valid Sponsorship Codes are available to the sponsored Registered Valuers.
Fees
The United Kingdom:
| Tier | Number of Valuers | Fee Per Head (GBP) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st Valuer (1) | 120 |
| 2 | Subsequent 4 Valuers (2 to 5) | 115 |
| 3 | Subsequent 5 Valuers (6 to 10) | 110 |
| 4 | Subsequent 40 Valuers (11 to 50) | 95 |
| 5 | 51 to 150 | 70 |
| 6 | 151 to 250 | 50 |
| 7 | 251+ | 10 |
The above figures are exclusive of VAT. Please note that firms in the UK (this includes the Channel Islands) will be charged VAT at a rate of 20%.
Global:
If a code is purchased over 6 months into a firm’s twelve-month subscription period, a further 50% discount is applied.