Document downloads - Pre-application preparation and validation
Available downloads
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Planning due diligence investigations
A due diligence investigation is a reasonable method of uncovering all facts that would be of material interest to an investor or acquirer of a business. It may or may not uncover all such facts, but it should be done in a manner reasonably calculated to do so. Due diligence is essentially a way of preventing unnecessary harm to either party, or the entity involved, in a transaction.
This form is a planning checklist for a due diligence investigation.
This checklist is provided as a sample only. It is the user's responsibility to check and adapt this as necessary to suit the particular instruction and prevailing circumstances. -
Financial viability in planning (ARCHIVED)
This document has been archived and is available on isurv for information purposes only.
Financial viability has become an increasingly important material consideration in the planning system. While the fundamental purpose of good planning extends well beyond financial viability, the capacity to deliver essential development and associated infrastructure is inextricably linked to the delivery of land and viable development. -
Daylighting and sunlighting
Published: October 2012
Effective from: October 2012
Reissued: October 2023
This professional standard is about daylight, sunlight and shading and, to a lesser extent, how it is dealt with in the design, planning, and environmental impact assessment of developments, and particularly in relation to the Building Research Establishment Report: Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight 2011, which sets out the standards and methods of calculation most usually relied upon by local authorities when assessing planning applications.
Surveyors advising on daylight and sunlight need to ensure that they are familiar with that document and with the planning policy of local authorities to whom reports are to be submitted. -
Financial viability in planning: conduct and reporting
Published May 2019
Effective from 1 September 2019
Reissued April 2023
This 1st edition professional standard sets out mandatory requirements that inform the practitioner on what must be included within financial viability assessments and how the process must be conducted.
This is to demonstrate how a reasonable, objective and impartial outcome, without interference, should be arrived at, and so support the statutory planning decision process. It also aims to support and complement the government's reforms to the planning process announced in July 2018 and subsequent updates, which include an overhaul of the National Planning Policy Framework and Planning Practice Guidance on viability and related matters.
The new policy and practice advice prioritises the assessment of viability at the plan-making stage and identifies existing use value as the starting point for assessing the uplift in value required to incentivise the release of land.
Given that planning applications involve a statutory process that is subject to public scrutiny, the requirements in this professional standard are important in providing public confidence in a process that is inevitably complex, but nevertheless must inform the planning decision-maker.
This document was reissued in April 2023 as a professional standard. It had previously been published in May 2019 as a professional statement. No material changes have been made to the document. -
Assessing viability in planning under the National Planning Policy Framework 2019 for England
Published March 2021
Effective from 1 July 2021
Reissued April 2023
This professional standard is intended to help professionals working in planning and development to apply the government’s national planning policy for England, which is currently focused on delivering 300,000 dwellings per annum. The government is trying to balance the need to deliver local plan objectives that affect us all with ensuring land for development comes forward. It has prescribed a way to assess viability for this purpose and helps professionals in the sector to do this faster and more transparently. It also responds to Judge Holgate’s suggestion that RICS produce additional guidance in this area of practice.
This document was reissued in April 2023 as a professional standard. It had previously been published in March 2021 as a guidance note. No material changes have been made to the document.