Our Privacy Policy is available below.

The products and services provided by RICS are intended for individuals over the age of 16.  If you are aged 16 or under, please ask your parent/guardian to read this Privacy Policy and make sure you get their permission before you provide us with your personal information.

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If you have questions relating to our privacy policy, please email our Privacy Team.

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RICS privacy policy

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect about you and how and why we use that information. Details of the RICS bodies and companies covered by this Policy can be found in appendix 1. 

RICS is a global professional body. In some countries we have country specific Privacy Policy.  In all other cases, this Privacy Policy will apply. Further details, including links to country specific privacy policies can be found in section 16.

We only process your personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so. The basis for processing your personal information will depend on your relationship with us and the activity for which we process your information.  Each section in this Policy will explain whether it is relevant to you.

We have a separate Privacy Policy for our employees, including those wishing to become our employees, which will be available at the time of applying to join us.

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.

If you have any queries about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, you can contact us at privacy@rics.org. Alternatively, you can write to RICS Global Head of Data Protection & Privacy, 55 Colmore Row, Birmingham, B3 2AA.

If you have a concern about how we process your personal information, please let the Privacy team know by contacting them using the details in section 3.

If you are resident in the UK, you can raise your complaint with the Information Commissioner, contact details for which are on their website: Contact us | ICO

If you are resident in the European Economic Area, you can complain to your local data protection supervisory authority.  You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm

If you are based elsewhere in the world, you may have the right to make a complaint to your local data protection supervisory authority depending on the legislation in your country.  You can contact the Privacy team for further information.

If you need this privacy notice in a more accessible format, for example in Braille, please contact the Privacy team.

This privacy notice was last updated in February 2024. It is regularly reviewed and will be updated when necessary. If we make any changes which impact the way in which your information is processed, we will let you know.

This privacy notice contains detailed information on how and why RICS processes your personal information, but we thought it would be helpful to give you an initial summary:

Where do we collect your personal information?

We collect most of your information from you, whether directly or through your use of our online services.  However, we might also collect information from your social media activity, your employer, university or professional body; from training providers who have supported you with RICS training; and other members, or members of the public (for example if they raise concerns about you)

See section 8 for details

Why do we process your personal information?

We always make sure that we have a lawful reason to process your personal information, this is referred to as our ‘legal basis’.  Depending on your relationship with us, we might rely on the following legal bases:

1.       Contract: This is where we need to process your personal information to deliver and administer the services that we provide, for example your membership with us or if you buy/subscribe to one of our training or online products. It also includes processing activities we undertake to ensure members comply with our Royal Charter and Bye Laws such as regulating the professional activities members perform and publishing details of disciplinary action we have taken.

2.     Consent: Where we need to, we may ask for your consent to process your personal information. Examples include sharing your information with other companies for their own marketing activities; or processing your health information to provide you with added support.

3.       Legitimate Interest: This applies where we have a genuine business need to process your information and believe it won’t adversely impact your right to privacy.  Examples include inviting you to take part in RICS research and surveys; producing management information and reporting for internal or external use; profiling you to help us identity trends and better tailor our products and communications to you; recording telephone calls; and sharing information with employers to help administer your membership or support you with your qualifications. In some countries, it will also include sending you marketing communications.

4.       Legal Reasons: As a company we have certain legal obligations and may process your information to meet these, for example where we must meet anti-fraud and money laundering regulations or to comply with law enforcement requests.

5.       Public Interest: Some of our processing activities will be undertaken to meet the objectives in our Royal Charter and Bye-Laws, to maintain and promote the usefulness of the profession for the public advantage, for example where we include you on our public register.

See:

Section 9 for general details;

 

Section 11 for marketing specific information

 

Section 12 for Profiling specific information

Who do we share your information with?

There are various reasons why we might need to share your information with others, however it is important to know that we never sell your information to anyone else.  We also ensure that we conduct due diligence and put in place contractual safeguards to help protect your information where required.

See section 10 for details

What rights and choices do you have?

You have legal rights over processing of your personal information.  These include - to object to our processing; get access to your information; rectify your information and ask us to erase your information.  Sometimes it might not be possible to comply with your request, but we will always explain if this is the case.

See section 14 for details

We collect most of your personal information directly from you to administer or manage your relationship with RICS. We will try to make it clear when we collect your information, whether you need to provide it to us, or whether you have a choice. Generally, we require the information under our Charter and byelaws, or to process your request for a service or product. If you do not provide us with this information, you may not be able to keep your chosen relationship with RICS; or we may be unable to deliver the product or service you have requested.

In addition to the personal information that we collect directly from you, we also receive information about you from:

Examples

Members & Candidates

Panel Members

Assessors

University Students

Public

Employers and prospective employers

Information on you to help manage and validate your membership, deliver training and activate and manage your access to and use of your employer's  subscription to our online services.

 

 

 

 

If they nominate you for our awards

 

 

 

 

If they pay your RICS subscriptions

 

 

 

 

Other members

If they report concerns about you, to us

 

 

When members who are acting as a Supervisor, Counsellor or Assessor provide us with additional information or opinions about you and/or your engagements with them.

 

 

 

 

Learning providers

Information on training undertaken by you

Members of the public

Information about you in relation to complaints and/or investigations

 

 

 

 

Your use of our online services

Computer, device and connection information, such as IP address, browser type and version, operating system and other software installed on your device, mobile platform and unique device identifier and other technical identifiers, error reports and performance data;  See our Cookies Policy for more information.

Usage data, such as the features you used, the settings you selected.

Your university

To set up and manage your subscriptions to our online services

 

 

 

 

If you are an apprentice, your university will share information with RICS in our role as the End Point Assessment Organisation and External Quality Assurance Auditor for your apprenticeship.

 

 

 

 

Your public social media accounts

To help us understand your engagement with RICS and/or identify potential contact that could help us with Public Relations and other associated activities

 

To respond to any general comments made about RICS and/or any requests for information on our products and services

 

Other professional bodies or regulators

We may receive information from other professional bodies, regulators and government agencies such as Trading Standards, The Property Ombudsman and The Insolvency Service, where they need to escalate an issue with an investigation they are working on, and which might also fall under the regulatory remit of RICS.

 

 

 

We rely upon different legal bases for processing personal information according to the relationship you have with us and purpose for which we collect your information.

9.1 Contract

We rely on contract as our lawful basis where we need to process personal information to deliver and administer the products and services that we provide.  Where we need to contact you about products and services you have with us, you will not be able to opt-out of receiving these important service communications. Examples include subscription and CPD reminders if you are a member and joining instructions if you have registered for an event.  See section 14 for further details about your rights.

Examples Members & Candidates Panel Members Assessors University Students Public
Notifying of updates to the Charter and byelaws        
Notifying of governance matters relevant to RICS    
Administering renewal and progression of candidates and members        
Managing membership of and participation in activities of the Dispute Resolution Panels      
If engaged in Panel training or in process of applying to join a Panel, assessing eligibility for and managing membership of Panel and training programmes    
Providing, activating, and managing access to, and use of, subscription services such as Proform Service      
Processing and fulfilling requests, orders, downloads, or subscriptions    
Providing knowledge services such as practice and guidance notes, learning support and content received under byelaws    
Supporting and monitoring continuing professional development        
Managing complaints, investigations, and disciplinary matters    
Providing exam entry, undertaking assessments, and providing results        
Arranging and undertaking regulatory visits and audits        
Managing payment, fees and charges due to and from individuals, including collection and recovery of money owed to us    
Providing technical, product and other support to help keep online services working, safe and secure
Sharing information with allocated assessor and counsellor where required to administer and support qualification
It is a condition of RICS membership that we regulate professional activities. We are also required to investigate any complaints made by public or other third parties. We will use information we hold, and information received from third parties, for purpose of enquiries, investigations, and complaints and may disclose personal information to third parties where required to investigate complaints and disciplinary matters. Disciplinary hearings and outcomes may be made public.
Reviewing apprenticeship records and submissions in role as an End Point Assessment Organisation and External Quality Assurance Auditor        
Where employer has subscribed to RICS Knowledge and Competence package, or another training product on behalf to support their overall training programme, we will receive from and share with them, information about you, courses chosen, and progress with those courses.      

9.2 Consent

Where appropriate, we rely on consent as our lawful basis.  Where we rely on your consent to process personal information you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.  See section 14 for further details about your rights.

Examples Members & Candidates Panel Members Assessors University Students Public
To respond to your questions and queries
To meet your dietary requirements supplied when attending a RICS event
When contacted by a prospective employer or client to verify your status        
Processing health data to make reasonable adjustments at your request when providing services to you    
Gathering and analyzing diversity information, such as your gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and disabilities to:
  • provide us with aggregated and anonymous information which we can publish to help demonstrate the diversity of the profession, our panels, and those who contribute to our events (such as speakers) and/or to identify actions required to improve diversity
  • help us comply with any equality or disability legislation
Sharing your contact details with third parties such as event sponsors, to enable them to provide you with details of their products or services
To promote RICS in the public and for advertisement purposes    
To share details with your employer of any voluntary positions you may undertake such as assessor, panel member or counsellor    
Registering your interest in pursuing a career as a surveyor and/or becoming a member of RICS      
Assessing your eligibility to join our Panels (e.g. Dispute Resolution Panel)      
Publishing your name, contact details and market views in survey reports, where you have provided this information (survey responses remain anonymous)      
Supporting the ongoing accreditation of RICS qualifications by sharing information about you, your work, requested dispensations and extensions (for candidates) and CV’s and suitability (for assessors) with the accreditation bodies for independent assessment of qualification criteria compliance.  This may include special category data such as health and criminal convictions where relevant and required.      
Where you request or purchase training or events from RICS which are provided by a third-party training provider, we will provide them with your name and email address so they can contact you with registration details
Sharing your information with third parties offering exclusive discounts and services to members of RICS, for example LionHeart or third-party product providers under our Benefits Plus Scheme        
Where you act as an ambassador for STEM Learning Limited, they will share limited information with RICS so that we can ensure you are completing the required training and the minimum required interactions a year.        

9.3 Legitimate Interest

We rely on legitimate interest as our lawful basis to process your personal information if we have a good faith belief that it will help us manage our business more effectively but will not have any significant impact on your right to privacy; and where such processing is a legitimate part of what anyone with a relationship with a professional body might reasonably expect to happen. You can object to our processing of your personal information for these purposes, based on your situation but we can continue to process the information if we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests.  See section 14 for more details about your rights.

Examples Members & Candidates Panel Members Assessors University Students Public
Carrying out activities to support and champion the profession, including surveys and market research  
Notifying you about new panel, assessor and counsellor opportunities, training and other events  
Gathering statistics around email opening to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter and campaigns    
To defend any legal claims made against us    
Analysing personal information to:
  • help maintain service quality
  • administer our business e.g. manage and monitor subscriptions
  • improve your experience and our products, services and systems
  • collate, aggregate and anonymise information for internal and external use, to help communicate generic information about the makeup of our business and membership
As part of a corporate transaction, such as a transfer of assets to or an acquisition by or merger with another company
Analysing patterns of behaviour to detect possible fraud or breaches of code of conduct    
Gathering archive and research materials for historical reference
Confirming the nominees and winners of our awards in our newsletters and other publications        
Conducting internal and external due diligence of our Board applicants and nominees        
Sharing information with other professional, accreditation and examination awarding bodies        
Sharing information contained within our regulatory investigation records with other regulators and government agencies, such as Trading Standards. The Insolvency Service and The Property Ombudsman, for escalation purposes or to support any joint investigations      
Obtaining information about you from publicly available sources, such as social media, to help us manage our business, for example:
  • To understand any public views expressed about RICS or its employees
  • To help us identify key public contacts, such as journalists or Public Relation representatives
Sharing your name and company with event speakers and sponsors to help them understand the target audience and tailor content where appropriate.
We operate CCTV/video surveillance cameras at some of our properties to maintain the security of property and premises, prevent and investigate crime; and for detecting, apprehending and prosecuting offenders
Maintaining a record of visitors to our premises for health and safety and security purposes
Sharing information with your employer or university where it supports administration of your membership or relationship with us; and to help your employer offer you support with your RICS qualifications      
If you are an administrator of an organisation with a subscription to our services (e.g. our Proform Service), we will use your details to communicate with you about your organisation’s subscription and related services.        
Maintaining a record of telephone calls made to us for training and monitoring purposes; training events or seminars we organise for future commercial uses; and examinations and assessments we run to support future appeals or reference
Where our investigations into complaints and misconduct (see public interest) lead us to suspect a crime has been committed or that you have failed to comply with regulations (such as fire and safety), we will share your personal information with law enforcement and local Government Authorities for their further investigation and action        

9.4 Legal Obligation

We rely on legal obligation as our lawful basis to process your personal information if we have a good faith belief that such processing is necessary to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or other legal obligation.

Examples Members & Candidates Panel Members Assessors University Students Public
In response to a request from the police, Trading Standards, HMRC or other law enforcement/government agencies undertaking investigations. For example, if they request your membership details, or where we have captured images on our CCTV system.
Where necessary we will use your information for the purpose of performing Anti-Money Laundering and Sanction checks on nationals of sanctioned countries (where applicable). This is required to satisfy the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 UK    
We have a legal duty to document workplace incidents and accidents and to report certain types of accidents, injuries and dangerous occurrences arising out of work activity to the relevant authority.
Complying with legal obligations, resolving disputes, and enforcing agreements

9.5 Public Interest

Some of our processing activities will be undertaken to meet the objectives in our Royal Charter and Bye-Laws, to maintain and promote the usefulness of the profession for the public advantage.

Examples Members & Candidates Panel Members Assessors University Students Public
The byelaws require us to keep a register of members which, for transparency, is published online. Records of former members or candidates are not published.        

We have already covered some specific examples in the previous sections, but in general we may share your information with:

Examples

Members & Candidates

Panel Members

Assessors

Students

Public

Our Group Companies

We share information with other companies within RICS and their employees, to help us manage our business effectively and manage your requests for our products, services and support (see appendix 1 for details of the companies in our Group)

Other professional, qualification and accreditation bodies

In some countries, we operate joint qualification schemes with third parties, for example the Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland. Both RICS and the joint scheme and other professional bodies will need to share information with each other to operate the scheme.

 

We share information with external accreditation bodies where it is needed to ensure mutual accreditation of certain training programmes and Dispute Resolution Service panel services; assess candidate and assessor suitability and performance; and register and award your qualifications

 

 

Service Providers

We share information with our service providers and suppliers to help us manage our business, and deliver our services and products to you, effectively. These companies provide a wide range of support to RICS including technology equipment and services, security and confidential waste services, market research and training courses/support. In these arrangements, RICS remains responsible for, and enters into contracts to protect, your personal information; the service providers cannot use your information for their own purposes.

Professional advisers, regulatory and legal authorities

We disclose your personal data to our professional advisers, legal authorities, other professional bodies, other regulators or other third parties, in order to investigate complaints and disciplinary matters, to exercise or defend our legal rights or otherwise, where required by law.

 

Agencies, employers, educational and professional bodies

Subject to obtaining your consent, we will provide relevant details to recruitment agencies, employers and educational or professional bodies for the purposes of verifying your membership, training and qualification details.

 

 

 

 

Corporate transactions

We will disclose your personal information if we have a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary as part of a corporate transaction, such as a transfer of assets to or an acquisition by or merger with another company.

General public

Our Royal Charter and byelaws require us to keep a register of members which, for transparency, is published online. Only information about active members is published online, records of former members are not.  In addition, disciplinary hearings and outcomes may be made public.

 

 

 

 

If you are an administrator of an organisation with a subscription to our services (e.g. our Proform Service) and you supply contact information about your colleagues, we will contact those individuals with communications about our services and that may include reference to you.

 

 

 

 

For our Dispute Resolution Service, we share details of those who request use of our service with Panel members and vice versa to facilitate the process, and in accordance with our contracts with Panel members as well as those engaging our dispute resolution services.

 

 

 

We will share information with the public and press to support advertisement of our activities, company and the profession.  We aim to aggregate and anonymise information in these scenarios.  Where this is not possible, we will ask for you consent unless we can demonstrate a legitimate business interest in sharing your information and it will not have a significant effect on your right to privacy

Our partner charity, LionHeart

With your consent, we will share your information with LionHeart, to enable them to provide you with details of their products or services. You can find more information about Lionheart on their website here

 

 

 

 

Any-one you ask us to share information with

We will share your information with some-one else if you ask us to. For example, this might be sharing information with your employer or university.

 

External venues

Where some element of a course, programme or event is delivered outside of RICS premises we will share identity data with the venue for registration and health and safety purposes.

Law enforcement and government/public bodies

We will share your information with the Police, HMRC, Trading Standards or other similar bodies where we believe we are required to by law, or we have a legitimate interest in sharing your information.

Training providers

Where you request or purchase training from RICS which is provided by a third-party training provider, we will provide them with your name and email address so they can contact you with registration details

 

 

Social media and online advertising providers

 

We will share some personal information with social media and online advertising providers so that they can match this to information about you which they already hold through your use of their services. We do this to help us:

1.       Better understand the impact of our advertising campaigns

2.       Identify and contact individuals like you on their platform, who may be interested in our products and services

3.       Contact you with marketing and other communications, such as member subscriptions and other key events.  You will only receive these if you have the relevant permissions set up on your social media account.

 

Our lawful basis for sharing the information and contacting you in this way is legitimate interests, as such you can object at any time, but we will not ask for your consent.  You can also change the permissions with your social media company which will prevent them from showing you our communications and using your information in these ways.

 

Social media companies that provide services for us include LinkedIn, Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Google, YouTube, Twitter. If you do not want us to share your personal information with these companies for this purpose, you can tell us not to, by emailing us at socialmedia@rics.org.  

 

Market research partners

We conduct market research to understand what those in and supporting our profession think about how RICS operates and the products and services we provide.

 

Sometimes we use third parties to undertake the research on our behalf. If you are contacted for research purposes, we will be clear about the purposes of the research, how any information you provide will be used, who will have access to it and how long it will be kept.

 

We may rely on our legitimate business interests to contact you to invite you to take part, but we/our third parties will obtain your consent before the research begins.

 

 

Benefits Plus

With your consent, we share your personal information with third parties offering discounts and services to members through the RICS Benefits Plus scheme. Further details about Benefits Plus is available here: Benefits Plus

 

 

 

 

Your organisation or university

 

We may obtain personal information about you from the organisation or university with which you are employed or affiliated to activate and manage your access to and use of the organisation’s subscription to our services.

 

If you access our services through a subscription administered by your organisation or university, the administrators (or learning lead) authorised by your organisation or university can access, or we can share with them, your personal information and certain usage data gathered through the service for the purposes of usage analysis, subscription management and compliance and departmental budgeting. This could include details of courses you have chosen and your progress with those courses.

 

 

 

If you are a member or candidate, we will share basic information with your employer where needed to help administer your membership, ensure RICS and your employer records are up to date; and to help your employer provide you support with RICS qualifications

 

 

 

 

If you are an apprentice, we will be given access to your information by your university for the purpose of reviewing your progress and submissions, as we have been appointed the End Point Assessment Organisation and External Quality Assurance Auditor for your apprenticeship. We will share the outcome of our assessment with your university and may need to share it with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (ifATE) who regulate apprenticeships, if requested.

 

 

 

 

 

Other members

We will share your information with other members, for example where we publish nominees and winners of our awards in our members only publications. 

 

 

 

 

Event speakers and sponsors

Where you attend an event, we will share limited information with those who are speaking, sponsoring or otherwise supporting us with the event so they can understand and tailor their support to the delegates attending.   We will not share your contact details without your consent.

Translation Providers

On occasions we will use services such as Google Translate or Deepl. Translator to help us translate correspondance and documents into the languages needed for our employees to review, where it is in our legitimate interests to help us manage your correspondence. These companies do not retain or store your information.

If you are a member of RICS, we will email you our All-profession Newsletter and Local Country Chair Newsletter so that you can keep up to date with the news, products, services, events and opportunities that your membership provides.  If you don’t want to receive these communications, you can choose to opt-out at any time by following any of the options set out below.

For all other marketing communications, our approach will vary depending on the country you are in.  For example:

  1. some countries including the UK and parts of Europe, allow us to rely on our legitimate interests as our lawful basis for sending you marketing communications if you have previously communicated with us in relation to our products or services such as, if you have recently purchased a RICS product or service; or attended one of our events; or have subscribed to our online services.  This means that we don’t need your consent to send you such communications. Our legitimate interests are to customise and enhance your experience with us and to maintain a meaningful and valuable relationship with you e.g. to provide you with useful updates and offers that align with your prior engagement with us.  Therefore, we will email you about our similar products and services such as RICS news, products, services, events or opportunities that we believe will be of interest to you. If you don’t want to receive these communications, you can choose to opt-out at any time by following one of the options set out below.
  2. In all other cases where our relationship with you or the law in the country in which you are located does not allow us to rely on our legitimate interests, we will only send you other marketing communications with your consent.

We will not disclose your personal information to any third party for their own marketing activities without your explicit consent.

How to opt-out and withdraw consent:

  • If you have a digital account with RICS you can update your communication choices at any time by logging into your account and selecting the ‘Communications Centre’ under your personal details.
  • You can click on the unsubscribe link in the footer of any of our emails.  

If you have any queries or difficulties, you can email your request to us at ricsemail@rics.org.

We group and organise the personal information we collect about you to help us understand our membership and communicate statistics about the profession; tailor our marketing communications, understand how you use our products or services, or develop new products and services as well as make improvements to our systems and websites. 

We also use the information you provide us with, as well as information we might collect about you from other sources (see section 8), to help us identify individuals who may be able to assist us with RICS activities, such as future brand ambassadors, panel members etc.

This is known as profiling.  We do not use profiling or any automated means to make any decisions about you which have legal or other significant effects.

If you do not want us to profile you in this way, please email the privacy team at privacy@rics.org.

We keep your personal information to help us maintain our business and financial records, resolve disputes, maintain security, detect and prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our agreements and comply with our legal obligations including those within our Charter and byelaws.  We also keep your personal information for as long as necessary to provide the service and support you’ve asked for. The specific retention periods will vary depending on your relationship with us and the purposes for which your information is used.  Some examples are below, but you can contact us at any time to find out more using the details in section 3.

Examples

Complying with our Charter and bylaws

Our Charter and byelaws require us to keep certain information for long periods of time, even indefinitely.  This ensures we keep accurate records of your compliance and membership history.  The information we keep in these scenarios includes:

-    Records of Admission and re-admission to membership are kept indefinitely

-    Records of complaints made about members, the retention period for which will vary from 10 years to indefinitely, depending on the severity of the complaint and/or whether it proceeded to disciplinary and appeal.

-    Where candidate Turnitin submission documents are received, we will keep these indefinitely to build up a library against which future submissions can be reviewed for plagiarism

Supporting your needs

If you provide personal information, for example health data, to help us make adjustments in your assessment, or to validate any membership fee concessions applied to your subscription, we will only retain it for as long as is necessary to complete the action and manage any appeals.

If you enrol as a candidate, we will keep your information to support you with your qualification, but if you do not complete your qualification, we will delete your enrolment information once you cease to be a member.

Managing our business

To help us manage our business now and in the future, we may keep information beyond your relationship with us, for example:

-    If you complain about RICS, we will keep details of the complaint and your information, for 10 years.

-    We keep financial records which include your subscription details, for 7 years to help us prepare our financial accounts

Protect our business and support law enforcement

If you visit our premises, we retain CCTV images for 30 days unless a crime or incident has been reported, in which case we keep it for as long as is required to support law enforcement action.

Managing your apprenticeship records

Where we process your data for the purposes of supporting your apprenticeship, in our roles as an End Point Assessment Organisation and External Quality Assurance Auditor, the Government requires us to keep our records about you, for 6 years.

You have the following rights in respect of your personal information.  If you wish to exercise these rights, please use the contact details provided below or those in section 3. Before we can help you, we may need to confirm your identity.  If we are unable to accept your request, we will explain the reasons why.

Right

Examples

Members & Candidates

Panel Members

Assessors

Students

Public

Objecting (general)

You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information, where we are processing your information based on:

·         legitimate interests (for example if you do not want to participate in surveys or be profiled)

·         for the performance of a task in the public interests/exercise of official authority; or

·         for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.

Your objection should be based on your situation. In some circumstances we can refuse to comply with your objection

If we are processing your information with your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time.  In some cases, we may not be able to reverse the processing of your information, for example if it has been published in documents which are in the public domain, however we will explain if this is the case.

Email us at privacy@rics.org if you wish to raise an objection or withdraw your consent.

Objecting (direct marketing)

Depending on your relationship with us, we may occasionally need to send you important service communications for example when we need to send a subscription renewal or CPD reminders; or notify you of mandatory activities or practice guidance notes you must comply with. We may send these messages by email, mail, SMS text message, or telephone. You will not be able to opt-out of receiving these communications.

 

You have the right to ask us not to send you marketing messages by SMS text message, telephone, mail or email.

If you have a digital account with RICS you can update your communication choices at any time by logging into your account, and going to the Communication Centre.  If you cannot make the changes through your account you can email us at ricsemail@rics.org.

Accessing your information

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and this will usually be provided free of charge.

We can refuse to comply with an access request if we believe it is excessive or we are unable to conduct reasonable searches to locate your information. Taking into account the volume of documents we hold, we will need as much information as possible to enable us to make reasonable searches to locate your information.

Whilst you are entitled to a copy of the personal information we hold; you are not entitled to copies of the documents in which that information sits. In some circumstances, it is convenient for us to provide copies of the documents, but we will not always do so.

In some cases, we may not fully comply with your request. For example:

·   If you request access to your personal information in relation to an ongoing investigation, we may not provide it to you because it could affect the outcome of the case

·   We are unable to provide personal information which forms part of a historic investigation where doing so is likely to reveal our regulatory investigation techniques

·   If responding to your request would involve providing information that relates both to you and to some-one else, we do not have to comply with the request unless the other party has consented to the disclosure; or it is reasonable to comply with the request without their consent

·   If you request access to recordings of assessments, we may not provide it to you because in some countries data protection legislation specifically exempts information provided by candidates during examinations.

If you participate in any Dispute Resolution Service training or Panel procedures, it is a condition that you abide by the RICS Dispute Resolution Service Appeals/Review Procedures for Examinations and Panel Interviews which will govern your access to any such recordings.

To request a copy of your personal information, please contact privacy@rics.org or write to us using the contact details in section 3.

Transferring your information

In some circumstances. you can ask us to transfer any personal information we hold about you to a specific company or person, or back to you directly. This will be sent electronically and only applies to information that you have provided to us and that we are processing electronically on the basis of your consent or in the performance of a contract.

To request a transfer of your personal information, please contact privacy@rics.org or write to us using the contact details in section 3.

Rectifying your information

You have the right to have any incorrect personal information corrected or completed if it is incomplete.

Where you have a relationship with us (for example if you are a member), it is your responsibility to inform us of any change to your contact details.

If you have a digital account with RICS you can view and change some of your details directly in your account.

If you cannot make the changes through your digital account you can email us at contactrics@rics.org. We will need as much information as possible to enable us to locate your information.

Erasing your information

This right, often referred to as the right to be forgotten, allows you to ask us to erase personal information where there is no valid reason for us to keep it.

See section 13 for examples of our retention periods.

To ask us to erase your personal information, please contact privacy@rics.org or write to us using the contact details in section 3.

Our main information systems are located within the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area, but as we are a global professional body, we may share personal information internally with RICS employees who are based around the world and work collectively to administer accounts, deliver products and services to those who request them, and to maintain our professional standards and membership. Some records may be maintained locally (subject to local legislation).

We may also transfer data outside of the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area to our suppliers as part of our operations and service delivery into jurisdictions where privacy laws, obligations and rights may vary.  For such transfers, we will always ensure that appropriate due diligence and contractual safeguards are put in place to protect your privacy where required.

RICS is a global professional body, and for some countries we have a country specific Privacy Policy.  The following are currently available:

Mainland China Privacy Policy (in development)

In all other cases, this Privacy Policy will apply.

If you live in Turkey or Ghana, we only process personal information for non-commercial purposes e.g. administering our membership and regulating your professional activities, due to legislation in these countries.

The following companies all form part of RICS:

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

RICS International Limited

RICS Holdings Limited

CMP Insurance PCC Limited

RICS Americas Inc.

RICS China Limited

RICS Australasia Pty Limited

RICS India Private Limited

In addition to the entities above, RICS also operates the following:

The Dispute Resolution Service (DRS)

The Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) provides a range of dispute resolution and avoidance services and built environment-specific dispute resolution training programmes.

RICS Recruit

RICS Recruit is the official recruitment website of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.  It provides a way for employers in the construction, land, and property industry to advertise their vacancies; and for candidates to search for jobs, sign up to receive job alerts.

Find a surveyor

Find a Surveyor is the official online directory provided by RICS to help consumers and businesses source and contact the right surveyor for their needs.

Benefits Plus

Benefits Plus is a rewards programme which provides RICS members with access to discounts, services and partner events to help cater to their business and individual needs.