These are the Terms and Conditions of Engagement upon which Dewar & Wilson Ltd will accept instructions. They are in accordance with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) Short Form of Consultant's Appointment, supplemented as below, unless any other arrangement is confirmed in writing by us.
The Client's continuing instructions will amount to their acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
Our instructions will continue until either party formally terminates/concludes the instruction in writing. Likely circumstances warranting termination of instruction:
We will assume that you accept these Terms unless otherwise stipulated in writing before commencement of our service(s).
Fees will be calculated on the basis of time spent fulfilling the instruction brief. The fees will reflect the complexity or seriousness of the instruction, its urgency and importance to you (the Client), the value involved, and the skills required.
If an hourly rate is to be charged, you will be advised within correspondence at the outset of our instructions, and your agreement will be assumed unless we hear from you in writing to the contrary.
Additional Services: In the event that the extent of DEWAR & WILSON's services extends beyond the scope of services defined in the fee proposal and confirmation of instructions, additional fees will be based on our standard hourly rate of £180.00 + VAT at the time of the project.
Payment of our invoice will secure our services, and we will attend the site at the earliest possible occasion. This fee is:
Unless agreed otherwise, our fee is inclusive of all expenses and disbursements.
VAT will be levied on charges for our services and some disbursements (and expenses) in accordance with the prevailing regulations at the time of preparing your invoice. Any rates quoted are exclusive of VAT.
DEWAR & WILSON maintains Professional Indemnity Insurance as required by the Regulations of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Our liability shall be limited to such sums as would be just and equitable for us to pay, having regard to the extent of our responsibility for the loss or damage suffered, on the basis that all other parties who have a liability shall be deemed to have provided contractual undertakings to you on terms no less onerous than those applying in the case of your instruction to us.
None of our employees, partners or consultants individually has a contract with you or owes you a duty of care or personal responsibility. You agree that you will not bring any claim against any such individuals personally in connection with our services.
If you suffer loss as a result of our breach of contract or negligence, our liability shall be limited to a just and equitable proportion of your loss having regard to the extent of responsibility of any other party. Our liability shall not increase by reason of shortfall in recovery from any other party, whether that shortfall arises from an agreement between you and them, your difficulty in enforcement, or any other cause.
On completion of our work and payment of our fees, we will return to you any records or other documents that you have provided to us for that work upon your request. We retain files (electronically only) for a maximum period of six years (other than for abortive instructions not begun, which are not necessarily retained at all), after which we may destroy them without further reference to you.
Unless otherwise agreed, we shall retain copyright in and ownership of all specifications, or other documents, drawings, maps, photographs and other records prepared or commissioned by us.
We value your instructions and hope that you will be satisfied with the work completed. However, if you have any problem with the service we provide, please let us know in good time. We operate a complaints handling procedure in accordance with RICS Members' Conduct Regulations and will try to resolve any problem promptly.
We will acknowledge a complaint within three working days of its receipt. You will be sent a reply within 14 working days of receiving your letter or be advised of any delay.
Should you be dissatisfied, you have the right to mediation, where we both agree.
If you remain dissatisfied with the result of our investigation or where the separate review has proved unsuccessful, you have the right to refer the matter to independent third-party decision, further guidance on which can be obtained from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
A copy of our complaints procedure is available upon request.
We will use our best endeavours to advise on the matters set out in your instructions and in accordance with, where appropriate, the Guidelines issued by the RICS. Where advice or opinions are required outside the reasonable professional skill and expertise of a Chartered Building Surveyor, we will advise you on the need for further specialist involvement where we consider this to be necessary for the completion of your instruction(s).
We shall, unless otherwise expressly agreed, rely upon information provided to us by the Client or the Client's legal or other professional advisers relating to relevant matters.
Any document resulting from a survey or other inspection of a building will not purport to express an opinion about or advise upon the condition of uninspected or concealed parts and should not be taken as making any implied representation or statements about such parts.
All reports, schedules and other documents are prepared for the sole use of the Client, and no responsibility can be accepted to any third party for all or any part of the contents of such documents.
Neither the whole nor part(s) of any such report, schedule or document, nor any reference thereto, may be included in any document, circular or statement without our written approval being first obtained as to the form and content in which it will appear.
We are regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and, as a result, we are required to comply with the RICS 'Rules of Conduct for Firms'. Consumer clients may obtain a copy by downloading the Rules from the RICS website, free of charge.
We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, there may be circumstances where we are required by law to make a disclosure, for example to the National Crime Agency (NCA) if we know or suspect that your affairs involve money laundering or terrorist financing. If we make an NCA disclosure in relation to your matter, we may not be able to tell you that a disclosure has been made. We may have to stop working for you and may not be able to tell you why.
External firms or organisations may conduct audit or quality checks on our practice. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files.
In accordance with these Terms and the scope of the Client's instructions, the Surveyor will use their best endeavours to report upon the following items appropriate to those instructions:
The report, schedule or other document will include limitation clauses that reflect these Terms and Conditions, or refer to these terms as applicable.
Unless otherwise expressly agreed, the Surveyor will reasonably assume that:
The Surveyor will:
The survey will be limited to areas where access is available on the day of the survey. There may be areas of the property to which we will be unable to gain access. We will advise of those areas that we were able to survey and those that we were not. For areas that we do not inspect, we will therefore be unable to report that such areas are free from defect. If we consider that access to specific areas needs to be arranged, we will advise accordingly.
We will be unable to inspect those parts of the structure and services which are:
If we determine that our survey has been excessively limited, and that there are areas which require clearing or opening up, or access via extension ladder or aerial platform, we will advise you accordingly and make recommendations concerning the appropriate work required and likely additional costs involved.
The surveyor will inspect as much of the internal and external surface area of the building as is practicable from:
The surveyor is not required to move any obstruction to inspection including, but not limited to, fixtures, fittings and floor coverings.
The surveyor will not open up or cut into the building fabric without specific directions from the Client. Such intrusive investigations, if instructed by the Client, will be at the risk and liability of the Client and must have the express permission of the building owner.
Voids, ducts or other concealed spaces where hazardous materials or gases may be present will not be inspected if the surveyor considers a health risk exists.
The surveyor will lift accessible floor access panels, floorboards and trap doors that are not covered by heavy furniture, plywood or hardboard, fitted carpets, or other fixed floor coverings.
The surveyor will not attempt to cut or lift fixed floorboards or other floor fabric without the express permission of the building owner.
The surveyor will not attempt to remove securely fixed covers or housings without the express permission of the building owner.
The surveyor will inspect roof spaces only where there is a safe working platform available and adequate lighting is present.
Where no safe working platform or access is available, roof spaces will not be inspected. Outer surfaces of the roof or adjacent areas will be inspected using binoculars but will be excluded if they cannot be seen.
Where reasonable access is available, the inspection will include boundaries, grounds, and permanent outbuildings.
The inspection will not include temporary buildings or structures. Unless specific information has been provided regarding property boundaries prior to our inspection, we will assume the boundary positions to be those reasonably apparent on site.
We confirm that we will not be carrying out or commissioning specialist inspections or tests of services including drains, hot and cold water systems, heating systems, gas installations, or electrical installations.
All comments made regarding services will be based on visual inspection only, undertaken to ascertain their general condition. The surveyor will:
The surveyor will:
We will not carry out specialist inspections or tests to identify high alumina cement, calcium chloride concrete additive, woodwool permanent formwork, RAAC, asbestos, or other deleterious materials.
If we observe elements that could represent a risk, we will advise you accordingly, recommend appropriate specialist engineers' reports, and note additional costs involved.
Based on limited visual inspection, the surveyor will note and advise upon:
The surveyor will not comment upon possible existence of noxious substances, landfill implications, mineral extraction implications, other forms of contamination, or substratum adequacy unless geotechnical tests or specialist advice are commissioned by the Client.
The Surveyor will assume that:
For leasehold interests:
We will not examine or comment on guarantees, warranties, operation manuals, health & safety documentation, or asbestos registers unless specifically instructed by the Client and provided with the relevant documents.
The report:
DEWAR & WILSON commits to: