Make a checklist of the six things RICS says your terms of engagement must say about AI, with blank answer cells you complete yourself

Since 9 March 2026 the RICS standard says members and regulated firms that use AI with a material impact on a surveying service must make clear to clients, in writing and in advance, when and for what purpose AI will be used, and that the terms of engagement must detail six points: when AI is involved, which parts of the process, the extent of PI cover for AI if available, how to contest its use, how to seek redress and how to opt out if at all. A checklist makes sure none of the six is missed when you update your terms. The AI lays out a table of the RICS headings and blank cells. The answers, the clause wording and any statement about insurance are yours, checked by your solicitor and your broker, and the AI writes none of them.

An AI chat tool you already use, then your own word processor (no client or property detail goes in; the checklist is blank until you complete it)

Steps

1. First decide and write down whether your firm uses AI in a way that could have a material impact on how a survey is delivered. RICS says this is a question of judgement and gives AI-written emails to clients as a possible grey area, so complete the register and material-impact record on this page first. If you use no AI on client work, your terms may simply say so; write that sentence yourself.
2. Open the RICS standard at section 4.3 and copy the six bullet points into your own note exactly as written. Have your current terms of engagement open, but paste only their clause numbers into the AI, not their text.
3. Paste the six copied points and your clause numbers into the prompt. The AI returns a table with one row per point, exactly as copied, and blank columns for where it appears in your terms, wording status, who checked it and the date.
4. Complete every row yourself. For insurance, write only what your broker has confirmed in writing, or write that it is not confirmed. For contest, redress and opt-out, name the process your firm really operates; the Home Survey Standard already requires a complaints-handling procedure to be named in your terms.
5. Have your solicitor check the clause wording and your broker check the insurance row, date and store the checklist with the terms, and re-open it whenever your AI use changes.

The exact prompt

I am an RICS member running a residential survey firm in the UK. Below are the six points from RICS's AI standard, section 4.3, that terms of engagement must detail when AI is used, copied word for word, and the clause numbers in my current terms.

Task: lay out a one-page checklist as a table with six rows, one per point exactly as I give it, and these blank columns: "Clause number in our terms", "Wording status (not started / drafted / checked by solicitor)", "Checked by", "Date". Under the table add a "Before these terms go to a client" list of five tick boxes: terms issued before the inspection; the AI wording matches what the firm really does; the insurance row matches what my broker confirmed in writing; the contest, redress and opt-out routes exist and are named; date and version recorded. Plain English. Do not write any clause text, any example clause or any statement about insurance cover. Leave every answer blank.

RULES FOR THIS CHAT: I will give you only headings, blank fields and my own firm-level text that I have typed in. I have not included, and will not include, any client name, address, email or phone number, any property address, photograph, survey note, finding, report text or report extract, or any other private or confidential information. Use the blanks [CLIENT], [PROPERTY] and [SUPPLIER] only. Do not ask for them and do not invent any. You must not make or suggest any surveying judgement: no view on defects, causes, condition ratings, risks, repairs, value, what a report should say, or whether anything is reliable, compliant or fit to use. Do not decide whether any use of AI has a material impact under the RICS standard, do not say what any insurer or policy covers, and do not write terms-of-engagement or other legal wording. Do not fill in any entry for me: where a fact, date, decision or name is needed, leave the field blank or write [SURVEYOR TO COMPLETE]. Everything you write is a blank layout or a draft that a named RICS surveyor will read, complete and approve before it is used.

THE SIX POINTS (copied from RICS section 4.3): [PASTE]
CLAUSE NUMBERS IN MY TERMS (numbers only, no text): [PASTE]