RICS Chief Executive, Louis Armstrong has met with Richard McCarthy, Director General of the Places, Planning and Communities Group at the UK's Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), formerly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. 

The main topic on the agenda was the Home Information Pack and the possibility of increasing the RICS role in training home inspectors and allowing experienced surveyors to undertake a shorter training scheme to become home inspectors. 

In particular, the Chief Executive was keen to stress that he thought the Government’s estimate of 5-10 days additional training for experienced surveyors who wanted to become home inspectors was wrong and that five days would be a maximum for the majority of RICS members. 

The need to set up an experienced professional route to qualify as a home inspector, which is currently being studied by consultants working for the DCLG, was also discussed and Richard McCarthy accepted that such a route would be welcome in the longer term.

Louis Armstrong followed this with a one-to-one meeting with Housing and Planning Minister, Yvette Cooper.