RICS professional guidance > Surveyors acting as expert witnesses

Surveyors acting as expert witnesses

The current (3rd edition - combined RICS practice statement and guidance note) of Surveyors acting as expert witnesses applies to surveyors when providing expert evidence, whether oral or written, before a range of courts and tribunals in the United Kingdom. The 3rd edition came into force on 1 January 2009.

The practice statement sets out the mandatory duties of a surveyor in providing evidence, while the guidance note provides further information on good practice, including: the need for clear instructions and terms of engagement; fees; guidance on what to do in situations of conflict of interest; an outline of the written report format; clarification of the differences between the roles of expert witness and advocate; and the immunity of the expert witness.

A stand-alone electronic version of this practice statement (without the guidance note) is also available for potential use with clients in connection with the particular requirement of PS 3.3.

The 50th amendment to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) was recently introduced and amended rules came into force on 1 October (unless otherwise provided in SI 2009 No. 2092). RICS has produced a combined briefing and addendum to Surveyors acting as expert witnesses. The briefing section sets out some of the recent changes to the expert witness provisions of the CPR, and the addendum features amendments that should be read into the published 3rd edition Practice statement and guidance note.

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