Surveyors are routinely instructed to provide expert reports in housing disrepair claims; most of those surveyors are members of the  Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, commonly referred to as RICS. 

In April 2025, RICS issued a practice alert to all members and candidates in the UK, following concerns about the quality of expert witness functions being performed by RICS members in the housing disrepair sector and other high-volume cases. 

Risks for surveyors

The alert stressed that poor quality expert evidence means that a valid claim may fail, and social housing providers may need to divert public money, which could otherwise be used to make repairs and to respond to invalid claims. It also identified some troubling examples of poor behaviour, including the use of pre-populated reports without proper investigation and verification, conflicts of interest when dealing with large numbers of instructions from the same claims managers/solicitors, and misrepresented or inaccurate information about the expert's qualifications.

The practice note highlights some of the behaviours from some surveyors that we have seen for a long time in the housing sector. Anecdotally, we are well aware of unscrupulous practices by a handful of surveyors, such as sending Scott schedules to instructing solicitors in an editable format so they can complete the price of repairs, and overestimating the price of repairs. We have also been made aware of some troubling fee structures for experts where they will receive a lower fee if they fail to identify works over £1000 (part of the threshold for allocation to the fast track, where there is a claim for specific performance). 

Whilst most expert surveyors in housing disrepair are members of RICS, we have also seen an increase in those outside of the remit of RICS, some with questionable expertise, such as building contractors or electricians (when defective electrics are not alleged). 

Checklist of key responsibilities for an expert witness

Those providing expert evidence must comply with the requirements of Civil Procedure Rule 35. RICS has also published its guide, “Surveyors acting as an expert witness”, currently in its fourth edition, to assist surveyors. The alert highlighted several key responsibilities, including:

• The importance of not relying on pre-populated templates to accurately reflect the expert’s own professional opinion based on their independent assessment.
• Ensuring the accuracy and verifiability of personal and professional details in reports
• Identifying possible conflicts of interest and taking appropriate action – experts must identify and disclose any potential conflict of interest.
• Prioritise duty to the Court over any instructing party.

Awareness of evolving legislation

The roll out of Awaab’s Law in October 2025 not only presents challenges to registered providers of social housing and solicitors but also to surveyors, particularly as we are still waiting for the details of the regulations. The RICS alert provides a timely reminder to surveyors to remain up to date with current housing safety regulations and government guidance. It will be interesting to see how the role of surveyors evolves under Awaab’s Law, particularly with the short timescales for inspections proposed in the consultation. 

What next?

We encourage all surveyors to take note of the RICS Practice Alert and adhere to the requirements of their membership and their legal duty to the court. Where non-compliant practice is suspected, this should be reported through the appropriate channels. Good quality expert evidence is crucial to the sector to ensure that the limited time, resources, and finances of landlords are spent in the best place for the benefit of their tenants, rather than unnecessary legal fees. 

For clients and other landlords, it is important for expert reports to be scrutinised, and questions raised where necessary. We would also suggest that where there are questions over the quality of the experts' findings and/or qualifications, parties consider whether it is appropriate to seek a direction for the expert(s) to give oral evidence at trial. This is not commonly used given pressures of the trial timetable, but can be a valuable tool in testing the expert in cross-examination, which ultimately can affect the weight a Judge may attach to an expert report. This can be particularly helpful when there are two competing reports where the findings and costs vary significantly.  

The full RICS practice alert can be found here.