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While you're in school it's important to concentrate on your exams and it's also important to gain
work experience. When you're thirteen-years-old, with the consent to the local education authority,
your school and parents having completed the necessary form you can obtain work experience
from local employers. To be able to put it on your curriculum vitae (CV) will help you
gain proper employment when you leave school or even get it to university.
It was my grandfather who inspired me to become a Chartered Surveyor when I was 16 years-old.
I went to the College Estate Management as it was then called which became part of Reading
University. I also applied to go to the Royal Agricultural College Cirencester because I
started off on the rural side with the Forestry Commission and that was a wonderful job. I
was responsible for an area of Mid-Wales mostly doing rural property management. For example,
looking after the forest worker houses, the forest offices, garage workshops, various
small holdings and farms. I got promoted with the Forestry Commission but due to family
circumstances left them to join the Property Services Agency back in Wales. Where I was
responsible for the management of the civil and defence estates for the government in
mid-Wales. I was involved for example on the Sennybridge Training Area in supervising contractors,
spreading lime and controlling bracken, so the military had a better training facility.
After that, I moved Mid Glamorgan County Council : I was dealing with the compulsory acquisition
of property for various Council requirements particularly road schemes, education and social
services. After that, I moved to the Inland Revenue Valuation Office where I was doing
the rating of property for local taxation and also compulsory purchase for housing associations
and valuation of hospitals for the health estates. After that, I moved to a District
Council in South-Wales and I was responsible for reporting to committee as regards the
council's property estate and we sold much property releasing funds to manage and maintain
our operational property. When I was fifty, I took retirement and set up my own company
Bvalued Ltd where I'm mainly doing homebuyers reports. So, one as a Chartered Surveyor one
could be involved with the valuation of many types of property. It could be offices, shops,
factories, homes, public utilities, such as schools, hospitals and so forth. The valuations
could be for many purposes, they could be for the acquisition of property whether it
be a freehold purchase or a leasehold. During the currency of the lease rent reviews may
need to be assessed and leases become due to be renewed and all those issues require
the expertise of a valuer. Also property to be sold needs to be valued. It may be necessary
to value property for taxation purposes eg on death for Inheritance Tax or again on the
sale of a property for Capital Gains Tax purposes and for rating ie local taxation. It may be
necessary to value small sections of rural property where there will be a pipeline across.
Valuations might be need for another purposes for example a development case. Here, the
clients want to know what the end product will be worth, maybe it's a new housing site
for example. Sometimes there are disputes, then valuers
for the opposing sides will be preparing evidence for court as expert witnesses in accordance
with the RICS guidance notes on giving expert evidence. Now there are a couple of others
sites which might interest you as a young person aspiring to become a Chartered Surveyor.
Chartered Surveyor Training Trust and also the Asset Skills website. There is the opportunity
of getting an apprenticeship with Chartered Surveyors.
Now in fact is a very opportune time to become a Chartered Surveyor. The RICS recently commissioned
an independent report from the Dr Oonagh Macdonald. The reason for this was the return on fees
to be gained by valuers is for doing particularly residential mortgage work has been falling
while on the other hand the costs of the professional indemnity insurance have been increasing and
the market has become many say dysfunctional. This report looked at the situation and made
recommendations. One of recommendation is that the age profile of Chartered Valuation
Surveyors is wrong and we need to have more young people coming into the profession to
do this work. So to be MRICS you need to be a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors. The other designation title is FRICS: Fellow of the Royal Institution of
Chartered Surveyors. The RICS is divided up into three main groups: Land, Property and
Construction. There is likely to be some overlap between those three groups. Within each those
three groups there are various professional groups, for example, valuations of residential
survey. Most people who want to become a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
go to university and take what's called an RICS cognate degree. And if you look at the
RICS website you will see what courses are recognized by them. There are many in the
UK and several abroad as well. When you have got the RICS Cognate Degree, then you can
get help with finding a job through various job agencies. The RICS itself advertises some
jobs on their website but there are specialist groups eg Hays Construction and also Macdonald
who advertise jobs. Now, Macdonald do an annual survey of salary and benefits which Chartered
Surveyors might receive. And if you were to become a Chartered Valuation Surveyor the
latest survey shows that on average they are achieving about £ 40,000 per year. Indeed,
the last lad that I took on left me almost a year ago to achieve that sought of salary,
plus pension and company car. When you have obtained your RICS Cognate Degree, you will
be looking for an appointment with an employer who's got a RICS approved training plan. So
you can start and complete your assessment of professional competence which is likely
to take about 2 years. To do this, you could approach Central Government departments like
the Valuation Office Agency, local councils via their Chief Estates Surveyor or get on
to the website, ricsfirms.com and find out which firms are in your area. Gaining the
MRICS could open up doors worldwide for you. Indeed, my professional Indemnity Insurance
allows me to value property throughout the world, USA and Canada excluded. You'll understand
though I'm just working just in South-Wales and in south West England. The RICS is divided
into regions in the UK and each region has its regional training officer and it is sensible
for you to ask them and seek their guidance. The RICS also quite rightly introduced a technical
grade of membership which is now called ARICS. Some university courses lead to that and if
you do get the ARICS it may also lead to becoming a professional member of the RICS with extra
appropriate experience. But, like with all jobs, you need to think about what opportunities
it might give you because it's likely that as a technical member of the RICS, you be
able to do less than if you are a full professional member.
Now, in conclusion, whether I've encouraged you to become a Chartered Valuation Surveyor
or whether I have completely put you off I wish you all the best in choosing your future
career. Thank you !