We use cookies on our websites to manage the operation and performance of our sites.
Our Cookies Policy explains about our use of cookies which are small files placed on your electronic devices and track how individuals use our websites, helping us to understand user behaviours, identify improvements and target our marketing activities to be of more relevance to you.
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If you have any questions relating to our Cookies Policy, please email our Privacy Team.
Cookie Policy
We use cookies on our websites to manage the operation and performance of our sites.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small files which get saved onto your computer or other device and store pieces of information about your use of online services. They are used for lots of different things, such as tracking how individuals use our websites, helping us to understand user behaviours, identify improvements and target our marketing activities to be of more relevance to you. They can be used to help store information so you don’t have to keep entering it in, for example when you complete an application form or log in to your account.
What information do they collect?
The information collected by cookies will not personally identify you as they do not store information such as you name, address, phone number or email in a format that can be read. We cannot search your computer or other devices to obtain information about you or your family; nor can we obtain any information which you keep on your hard drive.
Our cookies will collect information about your computer setting, IP address, connection to the internet and the interactions you have with our website, depending on the category of the cookie and the preferences you set.
What cookies do RICS use?
We use a range of cookies for different reasons. Some of these are classed as ‘strictly necessary’ which means we have to use them to ensure our website remains operational and secure. You cannot turn off these cookies.
However, other cookies are optional and you can decide whether you want to turn some or all of them off. The table in appendix 1 provides details of the cookies we use, why we use them, how long they stay on your device for and what choices you have over their use.
What are third party cookies?
A first party cookie is one which a website owner adds to its own website. So any cookies which RICS adds to the RICS websites are classed as first party cookies.
However, the RICS websites also have third party cookies operating. Third-party cookies are cookies which are placed on the RICS website by someone other than RICS. These cookies are placed by third parties to remember something about you when you use the RICS websites. Third parties generally use this information for advertisement purposes, for example, to place adverts on other websites you visit, which they think you will be interested in because of what you looked at or did on the RICS website.
How can you stop the use of cookies?
As explained previously, if you are using our website, you are unable to turn off any strictly necessary cookies, but you can choose your preferences for all of the others.
When you first use our website, we will present you with a cookie banner which allows you to select your preferences. Once selected, they will last for 12 months, at which point we will show you the banner again to re-select your preferences. However, if you want to change your preferences on our website at any other time, you can access the cookie preference centre using the “Cookie Settings” link in the RICS website footer.
You may also be able to update your browser (e.g. Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer) settings to delete, block and restrict the use of cookies. For more information, check your browser’s ‘Help’ function.
One of the main third-party cookies used is Google Analytics. You can opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites by visiting: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Changes to this Policy
The use of cookies can change from time to time, but we regularly review and update this policy to help keep you informed on what and why we use, and your choices. This Policy was last updated January 2024.
Appendix 1: Details of the cookies used on the RICS website
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These are cookies which are required to ensure our website operates effectively and securely. You cannot turn these cookies off.
| Cookie Name | Duration | Third party cookie | Third party Host | Use |
| Drupal.visitor.commerce_currency | 1 Year | No | N/A | This cookie lets the user to save a currency for use in the eCommerce store. |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | Session | No | N/A | General purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written with Microsoft .NET based technologies. Usually used to maintain an anonymised user session by the server. |
| ARRAffinitySameSite | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is set by websites run on the Windows Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. |
| ARRAffinity | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is set by websites run on the Windows Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. |
| x-ms-cpim-cache| | Session | No | N/A | Used for maintaining the My account Single sign-on request state |
| ai_user | 1 Year | No | N/A | This cookie name is associated with the Microsoft Application Insights software, which collects statistical usage and telemetry information for apps built on the Azure cloud platform. This is a unique user identifier cookie enabling counting of the number of users accessing the application over time.user |
| OpenIdConnect.nonce. | Session | No | N/A | Determines the settings used to create the nonce cookie before the cookie gets added to the response |
| __RequestVerificationToken | Session | No | N/A | This is an anti-forgery cookie set by web applications built using ASP.NET MVC technologies. It is designed to stop unauthorised posting of content to a website, known as Cross-Site Request Forgery. It holds no information about the user and is destroyed on closing the browser. |
| MoodleSession | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is to provide continuity and maintain your login from page to page |
| respimg | Session | No | N/A | This cookie helps to handle refactoring the layout if you are browsing on a tablet or mobile device. The website has a responsive layout and this cookie is necessary to serve the correct size images |
| SSESS########### | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is used to manage your login session. |
| OptanonAlertBoxClosed | 1 Year | No | N/A | This cookie is used for cookie compliance and is set after visitors have seen a cookie information notice and in some cases only when they actively close the notice down. It enables the website not to show the message more than once to a user. |
| visid_incap_ | 1 Year | No | N/A | These are Incapsula DDoS Protection and Web Application Firewall cookies and are used to recognise you when you use our website and ensure that appropriate security is maintained during your use of the website |
| incap_ses_ | Session | No | N/A | These are Incapsula DDoS Protection and Web Application Firewall cookies and are used to recognise you when you use our website and ensure that appropriate security is maintained during your use of the website |
| nlbi_xxxxxxxxxxx | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is used to provide load balancing functionality |
| OptanonConsent | 1 Year | No | N/A | This cookie is used for cookie compliance. It stores information about the categories of cookies the site uses and whether visitors have given or withdrawn consent for the use of each category. |
| SimpleSAMLSessionID | Session | No | N/A | Session fixation protection for My account |
| AWSALBCORS | 6 Days | No | N/A | These Cookies are managed by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform and are used for load balancing, which distributes incoming network traffic across a group of backend servers to ensure all users of our website can access what they need, when they need it. |
| AWSALB | 6 Days | No | N/A | These Cookies are managed by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform and are used for load balancing, which distributes incoming network traffic across a group of backend servers to ensure all users of our website can access what they need, when they need it. |
| JSESSIONID | Session | Yes | www.linkedin.com | This cookie acts as a third party host where website owners have placed one of its content sharing buttons in their pages. |
| CONSENT | 1 Year | Yes | youtube-nocookie.com | This cookie enables YouTube embedded videos to function on page |
Performance Cookies
We set performance cookies to help us understand our website users’ needs and to enhance and improve your website experiences. Performance cookies are also used for measuring the performance and usage of the website as well as enabling the website to provide personalisation.
You can turn these cookies off you by accessing the cookie preference centre using the “Cookie Settings” link in the RICS website footer.
| Cookie Name | Duration | Third party cookie | Third party Host | Use |
| ___utmvc | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is used as part of Google Analytics tracking |
| __utm | 6 Months | No | N/A | This cookie is used as part of Google Analytics tracking |
| _clck | 1 Year | No | N/A | This cookie is used as part of Microsoft Clarity tracking |
| _clsk | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is used as part of Microsoft Clarity tracking |
| _ga | 2 Years | No | N/A | This cookie is used as part of Google Analytics tracking |
| _gat | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is used as part of Google Analytics tracking |
| _gclxxxx | 3 Months | No | N/A | Google conversion tracking cookie |
| _gid | 1 Day | No | N/A | This cookie is used as part of Google Analytics tracking |
| _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | Session | No | N/A | This cookie is used by HotJar to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. |
| _hjFirstSeen | Session | No | N/A | Identifies a new user's first session on a website, indicating whether or not Hotjar's seeing this user for the first time. |
| _hjSession_858303 | Session | No | N/A | A cookie that holds the current session data. This ensues that subsequent requests within the session window will be attributed to the same Hotjar session. |
| _hjSessionUser_858303 | 1 Year | No | N/A | Hotjar cookie that is set when a user first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. |
| ai_session | Session | No | N/A | This cookie name is associated with the Microsoft Application Insights software, which collects statistical usage and telemetry information for apps built on the Azure cloud platform. This is a unique anonymous session identifier cookie. |
| ai_user | Session | No | N/A | This cookie name is associated with the Microsoft Application Insights software, which collects statictical usage and telemetry information for apps built on the Azure cloud platform. This is a unique user identifier cookie enabling counting of the number of users accessing the application over time.user |
| AMCV_453033DC5E7C9E4A0A495E90%40AdobeOrg | 2 Years | No | N/A | Identifies the same visitor across different Marketing Cloud Solutions we use |
| at_check | Session | No | N/A | Used by Adobe Target to check if cookies are enabled/supported on the browser |
| mbox | 2 Years | No | N/A | Used by Adobe Target to generate dynamic content in a marketing box on the page. |
| s_cc | Session | No | N/A | Adobe Site Catalyst cookie, determines whether cookies are enabled in the browser |
| s_gpv | Session | No | N/A | This stores any value we capture in Adobe Analytics, such as page name (see ‘s_pltp’) to maintain this value for the duration of the browser session. |
| s_ips | Session | No | N/A | This domain is owned by Adobe/Omniture. The main business activity is: Analytics |
| s_plt | Session | No | N/A | This domain is owned by Adobe/Omniture. The main business activity is: Analytics |
| s_pltp | Session | No | N/A | This domain is owned by Adobe/Omniture. The main business activity is: Analytics |
| s_ppv | Session | No | N/A | Adobe Site Catalyst cookie. |
| s_sq | Session | No | N/A | Adobe Site Catalyst cookie, stores information about the previous link clicked within the site |
| s_tp | Session | No | N/A | This domain is owned by Adobe/Omniture. The main business activity is: Analytics |
| ANONCHK | Session | Yes | c.clarity.ms | This cookie is used by Microsoft for storing the session ID for a user |
| CLID | 1 Year | Yes | www.clarity.ms | This cookie is owned by Microsoft Clarity and stores information about how visitors use the website |
| demdex | 6 Months | Yes | demdex.net | This cookie helps Adobe Audience Manger perform basic functions such as visitor identification, ID synchronization, segmentation, modelling, reporting, etc. |
| JSESSIONID | Session | Yes | nr-data.net | This domain is controlled by New Relic, which provides a platform for monitoring the performance of web and mobile applications. |
| MUID | 1 Year | Yes | clarity.ms | This cookie is used by Microsoft as a unique identifier. The cookie is set by embedded Microsoft scripts. The purpose of this cookie is to syncrhonise the ID across many different Microsoft domains to enable user tracking |
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality which may include remembering where you got to last time you watched a video on our website. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
You can turn these cookies off you by accessing the cookie preference centre using the “Cookie Settings” link in the RICS website footer.
| Cookie Name | Duration | Third party cookie | Third party Host | Use |
| __cf_bm | Session | Yes | vimeo.com | This cookie enables Vimeo embedded videos to function on page |
| vuid | 2 Years | Yes | vimeo.com | This cookie enables Vimeo embedded videos to function on page |
| player | 1 Year | Yes | vimeo.com | This cookie enables Vimeo embedded videos to function on page |
Targeting Cookies
These cookies are designed to help our advertising partners gather information about your device and browser, which they then use to display advertisements to you based on relevant topics that your website usage suggests might be of interest to you. It also helps us to build profiles of those who use our website and gather statistics on the performance of advertisements. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
You can turn these cookies off you by accessing the cookie preference centre using the “Cookie Settings” link in the RICS website footer.
| Cookie Name | Duration | Third party cookie | Third party Host | Use |
| __gads | 1 Year | No | N/A | This cookie is associated with the DoubleClick for Publishers service from Google. Its purpose is to do with the showing of adverts on the site, for which the owner may earn some revenue. |
| __gpi | 1 Year | No | N/A | This cookie is associated with the DoubleClick for Publishers service from Google. Its purpose is to do with the showing of adverts on the site, for which the owner may earn some revenue. |
| __sharethis_cookie_test__ | Session | No | N/A | Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website |
| AMCV_rics%40AdobeOrg | 2 Years | No | N/A | This is a pattern type cookie name associated with Adobe Marketing Cloud. It stores a unique visitor identifier, and uses an organisation identifier to allow a company to track users across their domains and services. |
| AnalyticsSyncHistory | 1 Month | Yes | linkedin.com | Used to store information about the time a sync took place with the lms_analytics cookie if that cookie is used |
| awxxxx | Session | Yes | b2clogin.rics.org | Used to attribute commission to affiliates when you arrive at the website from an affiliate referral link. |
| bcookie | 2 Years | Yes | linkedin.com | This is a browser Identifier cookie and identifies devices accessing LinkedIn to detect abuse on the platform |
| bscookie | 2 Years | Yes | www.linkedin.com | Used for remembering that a logged in user is verified by two factor authentication. |
| CONSENT | 16 Years | Yes | youtube.com | This cookie collects information about how the end user uses the website and any advertising that the end user may have seen before visiting the said website |
| dpm | 6 Months | Yes | dpm.demdex.net | Sends events to Adobe Audience Manager |
| everest_g_v2 | 1 Year | Yes | everesttech.net | Created after a user initially clicks a client's ad, and used to map the current and subsequent clicks with other events on the client's website |
| everest_session_v2 | Session | Yes | everesttech.net | Part of Adobe Advertising Cloud Cookies. A third-party browser session cookie; one cookie is used for all accounts |
| GoogleAdServingTest | Session | Yes | ww3.rics.org | This cookie is used to determine what ads have been shown to the website visitor. |
| IDE | 1 Year | Yes | doubleclick.net | This cookie is used by Google DoubleClick to register and report your actions after viewing or clicking one of the advertiser's ads with the purpose of measuring the efficacy of an ad and to present targeted ads to you in the future. |
| lang | Session | Yes | linkedin.com | Used to remember a user's language setting to ensure LinkedIn.com displays in the language selected by the user in their settings. |
| li_alerts | 1 Year | Yes | www.linkedin.com | Used to store if a LinkedIn message has been shown |
| li_gc | 1 Year | Yes | linkedin.com | Used to store consent of guests on LinkedIn regarding the use of cookies |
| li_sugr | 2 Months | Yes | linkedin.com | Used to store consent of guests on LinkedIn regarding the use of cookies |
| lidc | 1 Day | Yes | linkedin.com | To facilitate data centre selection |
| MR | 6 Days | Yes | c.bing.com | This domain is owned by Microsoft - it is the site for the search engine Bing. |
| MUID | 1 Year | Yes | bing.com | This cookie is a Microsoft cookie that contains a GUID assigned to your browser. It gets set when you interact with a Microsoft property, including a UET beacon call or a visit to a Microsoft property through the browser. |
| sp_landing | Session | Yes | spotify.com | These cookies are set by Spotify and are used to implement audio content from spotify on our website. It also helps in collecting information on user interaction with this audio content. |
| sp_t | 1 Year | Yes | spotify.com | These cookies are set by Spotify and are used to implement audio content from spotify on our website. It also helps in collecting information on user interaction with this audio content. |
| SRM_B | 1 Year | Yes | c.bing.com | This domain is owned by Microsoft - it is the site for the search engine Bing. |
| test_cookie | Session | Yes | doubleclick.net | Used to check if the user's browser supports cookies. |
| UID | 1 Year | Yes | scorecardresearch.com | This domain is owned by ScorecardResearch (comScore). The main business activity is: Advertising. |
| UserMatchHistory | 1 Month | Yes | linkedin.com | This cookie is used by LinkedIn for advertisement purposes |
| VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | 6 Months | Yes | youtube.com | This cookie is used as a unique identifier to track viewing of YouTube videos |
| VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA | 5 Months | Yes | youtube.com | This cookie is used as a unique identifier to track viewing of YouTube videos |
| visitor-id | 1 Year | Yes | media.net | This cookie is used to collect information on the visitor, which we then use for advertising analytics purposes. |
| YSC | Session | Yes | youtube.com | This cookie is set by the YouTube video service on pages with embedded YouTube video to keep statistics of the YouTube videos you have seen |
| n/a | Session | Yes | www.facebook.com | Facebook cookie: it mostly collects data on the interests of users via widgets such as the 'Like' button found on many websites. This is used to serve targeted advertising to its users when logged into its services. In 2014 it also started serving up behaviourally targeted advertising on other websites, similar to most dedicated online marketing companies. |
