RICS Scotland helped arrange a filming opportunity for Landward to do a series of mini articles on the work of the surveyors at the National Trust for Scotland and how these surveyors look after the historic building stock for NTS.

This Landward mini series will be on BBC2 at 1900 on the following days:

Friday 30 March, Friday 6 April, Friday 13 April and Friday 20 April.

Date: Wednesday 28 March 2012
Venue: RICS Scotland, 9 Manor Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7DN
Time: 1000 - 1600

An informal workshop has been organised for members who have faced or may be facing redundancy or who simply want some general advice regarding employment.

Drop-in anytime throughout the day for advice on recruitment, the APC process, CV tips, pensions advice or for information on government benefits.

You can also visit rics.org/redundancyhelp for further useful and supportive information on redundancy.

For further information, please contact
Emma Mathieson
Member Services Manager
t 0131 240 0897
e emathieson@rics.org  

RICS Scotland gave oral evidence to three separate parliamentary committees on the same day (18 January 2012).

Evidence was given to:

The Local Government & Regeneration Committee
Dangerous buildings and buildings MOT - view report

Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee
Amendments to the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 - view report

The Energy and Tourism Committee
Stage 1 : Land Registration (Scotland) Bill - view report

RICS have posted a full response to the Chancellor's budget statement yesterday. View response.

RICS will be making a detailed submission to the Budget 2012 and we are looking to gather some member contributions for the Budget 2012

• What do you think RICS should say to Government? 
• Has the Autumn Statement done enough to kick start the construction sector in both the short and medium term? 
• Did the Housing Strategy go far enough to deliver affordable housing for all and investment in the private rented sector? 
• What else can be put in place to help small surveying businesses? 
• Do more measures need to be put in place to deliver more energy efficient homes? 

Email your comments to budget2012@rics.org

Commenting on phase 2 of the National Housing Trust initiative announced today, Graeme Hartley, RICS Scotland director said:

"The £100m investment for the National Housing Trust initiative is great news for people in need of affordable housing and with a dream of one day owning their own property.

"It also provides a much needed boost for the construction industry. The latest RICS Construction Market Survey shows that construction projects in Scotland are stalling with the risk of losing skills for the future. This injection of funds will go someway to slowing this decline in expertise."

If you have staff working in land, property or construction, the RICS Associate qualification could be of benefit to you both!

AssocRICS is an entry-level grade of membership that provides an opportunity for those with relevant work experience and/or vocational qualifications, to gain recognition for their skills. It can also provide a stepping stone to advance to chartered status.

AssocRICS is achieved online by demonstrating RICS competencies are met through submission of evidence of work experience gained in the day-to-day role.

Associate membership is currently available to those working in the follow areas;

• Quantity Surveying and Construction
• Facilities Management
• Project Management
• Residential Estate Agency
• Residential Survey & Valuation
• Residential Property Management
• Commercial Property Management
• Valuation
• Land/Engineering Surveying
• Hydrographic Surveying
• Building Surveying
• Building Control

RICS Scotland will be running free information workshops for potential candidates and those interested in finding out more. The workshops will cover the process, registration, a guide to the online Managed Learning Environment (MLE), evidence requirements and the next steps.

Date:  7 December 2011
Time:  1600 – 1700
Location: RICS Scotland, 9 Manor Place, Edinburgh

Or
Date:  17 January 2012
Time:  1600 – 1700
Location: RICS Scotland, 9 Manor Place, Edinburgh

If you would like to find out more about all the routes to RICS membership or to book a free place for your staff on one of the workshops above, please contact; Gail Hunter on ghunter@rics.org or t +44 (0)131 240 0892. Workshop places are limited, so book your free place today.

RICS Scotland is partnering a submission to run a tenancy deposit scheme in Scotland. If successful, the SafeDepositsScotland will have the backing of landlord, agent and tenant groups.

The Scottish Parliament has introduced new regulations which require landlords and lettings agents to transfer the tenancy deposits they hold to an Approved Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme. These schemes will hold the deposits until the end of the tenancy and will repay it to the landlord and tenant and agents in accordance with the agreement of the parties. If the parties can’t agree, then the Scheme will look at the evidence supplied by all parties and the Scheme itself will decide how to allocate the deposit.

SafeDepositScotland will be a not-for-profit organisation and any surpluses it makes will be gift aided to a new Charitable Trust who will make grants to help assist that improvement.  They are using the services of an experienced provider of tenancy deposit protection services, The Dispute Service, who run the biggest scheme in England and Wales also a not for profit company.

RICS Scotland will be represented on the board of SafeDepositScotland.

The members of SafeDepositScotland have recognised that landlords, agents and tenants are understandably anxious to know more about tenancy deposit protection and the adjudication of disputes. 

SafeDepositsScotland are running a series of information seminars across Scotland to provide further information:

“The Dark Art of Adjudication”

The workshops will be held on:

•     October 25th in EDINBURGH

•     November 3rd in INVERNESS

•     November 10th in GLASGOW

•     November 25th in ABERDEEN

•     November 29th in DUNDEE

There will be workshops at 10.30am and 2.30pm and are expected to last for  approx. 2 hours

If you are interested, please contact SafeDepositsScotland on 0845 838 2267 or email info@safedepositsscotland.com to either book a place or for more information.

Property factors in Scotland will be required to adhere to a new code of practice, a draft of which has been published by the Scottish Government for consultation. RICS Scotland met with Scottish Government ahead of the draft's publication to discuss its content. 

Under the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011, anyone providing block management services for residential properties will need to adhere to the code and enrol on a central register.  The Act applies to those managing common property on behalf of multiple owners, but not those managing property in a letting agent capacity for individual landlords. 

RICS Scotland would welcome any comments on the draft and these can be sent to Neil Freshwater (nfreshwater@rics.org).  The consutlation period ends 16 December 2011.

Click here to view the draft consultation.

The RICS Scotland Annual Report 2010/11 has now been published.

Page 2 is given over to John Edwards (immediate past RICS Scotland Chairman 2010/11) who gives an overview of his time in office and lists what John says are his 'key achievements'.

Page 3 highlights RICS Scotland achievements 2010/11 in the areas – advancing the profession, extending membership, promoting the profession and developing members.

Page 4 is the all important income and expenditure statement.

For more information, please view the RICS Scotland Annual Report 2010/11.

RICS Scotland Letting Agents - new online forum 

An online forum has been created for RICS members practising as letting agents in Scotland. 

This allows members to share views and suggestions with fellow surveyors and will help feed into RICS Scotland's public policy unit and Scottish Residential Professional Group Board.

If you would like to join, please e-mail Neil Freshwater (nfreshwater@rics.org). 

RICS Scotland Public Sector Forum seeks new members

RICS members working in Scotland’s public members are being invited to join the RICS Scotland Public Sector Forum.  Following the survey result of public sector members, it was agreed to encourage new members.  The forum meets quarterly to discuss issues in the sector and has an online discussion group. 

If you are interested, please e-mail Neil Freshwater nfreshwater@rics.org.

RICS Scotland is supporting an event with Scottish Government discussing 'Moving forward with compulsory purchase: working together to promote good practice'. This event is free but must be booked (further information on booking below).

The conference is aimed at property professionals who deal with compulsory purchase. The event will be of interest to both experienced practitioners and those with little or no experience of compulsory purchase.

Date: Tuesday 25 October 2011
Venue: Verity House, 19 Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh, EH12 5BH (COSLA)
Time: 1000 - 1630
Opening address: Ms Aileen Campbell MSP, Minister for Local Government and Planning
Chaired by: Professor Jeremy Rowan-Robinson

Contributors include:
• Aileen Devanny, North Lanarkshire Council
• Colin Frame, Falkirk Council
• Patrick Layden QC, Scottish Law Commission
• Dan Macdonald, Macdonald Estates
• Jim Mackinnon, Director and Chief Planner, Scottish Government
• Jackie McGuire, Brodies LLP
• Charles Revolta, Scottish Borders Council
• Archie Rintoul, Chief Valuer Scotland, Valuation Office Agency
• Chris Skinner, NpLaw (formerly of Great Yarmouth Borough Council)

Demand for this conference is expected to be high so places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Booking form available from Scottish Government http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cpo.
Please contact Ann Niven t +44 (0)131 244 7080 if you have any questions regarding this conference.

Susan Ferrol, MRICS will be taking over as RTA Scotland from Alan Melvin who retired at the end of August 2011. Susan formally starts on 19 September 2011.

Susan is a chartered QS with over 20 years' experience in contracting in both the private and public sector and has also worked in Dubai.

Susan is already an RICS APC Assessor, APC Doctor and APC Chairman so comes with good a background and experience.

Contact Susan at RTAScotland@RICSonline.org.

A number of the pieces of legislation affecting the land, property and construction sector were announced by First Minister Alex Salmond as part of the Scottish Government's legislaltive programme for 2011-12.

Included in the line up are bills for the following:

• Agricultrual Holdings  - to encourage more landowners to provide agricultural tenancies
• Long Leases - to abolish ultra long (150+ year) leases with 100 or more years remaining on them
• Land Registration  - to enable improvement to be made for the process of property register in the Land Register
• Water  - to develop the use of hydro-energy in Scotland
• Aquaculture and Fisheries - plans to improve management measures in fish farms
• Empty Homes - plans to encourage people to rent our second properties rather than keeping them empty

The full programme can be viewed by clicking here. 

--- 

Neil Freshwater
nfreshwater@rics.org
Policy and Practice Manager - RICS Scotland

This report is an analysis of responses to 'Guidance on the use of compulsory purchase: a consultation' which sought feedback on two new circulars containing guidance to authorities with compulsory purchase powers on using compulsory purchase (Circular 1), and the amendment of the Crichel Down Rules (Circular 2). Scottish Ministers approved a review of compulsory purchase law, however these circulars are to deliver more immediate improvement until the law is reviewed.

The consultation took place between 14 February and 6 May 2011.

Overall, the majority of the respondents welcomed the publication of the circulars, despite knowing that the Scottish Government is still awaiting the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission on compulsory purchase law. However, most of them asked for clarification in specific areas.

RICS Scotland is continuing to work with Scottish Government.

Further information is available from the Scottish Government Social Research website.