The register
One list decides who may legally do the work. The Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria keeps the Register of Licensed Surveyors, as required by section 15 of the Surveying Act 2004. Licensed Surveyors are registered by that Board.
The Board's stated purpose for the register is to help a person confirm that whoever carries out their property survey, or advises them about property rights, is qualified for it. Once you have a name from a sign or a quote, this register is the check that name has to pass.
As a minimum, the register shows each currently registered surveyor's name, registration number and registration status. Anyone may also look at the register at the Board's office, free of charge, during ordinary office hours, and if something in it looks wrong, the Board asks that the concern be raised with its Executive Officer.
Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria, Check if a surveyor is registered · Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria, FAQ
The renewal window
Registration runs on a calendar rather than indefinitely. A registration expires on 31 December, and it may be renewed by 31 March.
The second date matters most, because of what it does to the register. A practising surveyor whose status shows as expired may still carry out cadastral surveys, and may do so until 31 March. If the renewal fee is paid by that date, and the Board is satisfied that the surveyor has met the further professional education or training obligations for the year before, the status is changed back to practising.
So there are two dates to hold on to, 31 December and 31 March, and one thing to check before you engage anyone: the status the register shows on the day you look at it.
Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria, Check if a surveyor is registered
The statuses
The Board prints the range of statuses a registration may currently show, and what each of them means:
- Practising. Surveyors with this status are authorised to carry out cadastral surveys.
- Non-practising. Not authorised to carry out cadastral surveys.
- Suspended. Registration suspended after disciplinary action by the Board.
- Expired. The registration ran out on 31 December, and can be renewed up to 31 March.
For anyone about to engage a surveyor, the reading is direct. Practising means the person may do the work. Non-practising means the person may not. Suspended means the Board has stopped them. Expired means they may still be authorised until 31 March, which is why the status is worth checking on the day rather than assuming from a card or a letterhead.
Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria, Check if a surveyor is registered
Who is not a licensed surveyor
The Board publishes a list of people who are not licensed surveyors. Only a licensed surveyor, meaning a surveyor authorised to perform cadastral surveys, may lawfully take on the work of defining and marking a property's boundaries. The following people are NOT licensed surveyors:
- Builders
- architects
- engineers
- building surveyors
- fencing contractors
- landscape gardeners
- building inspectors
- property developers
- mining surveyors
- engineering surveyors
- people who produce maps
- marine surveyors
- utilities tradespeople
- statistical or market surveyors
- people who produce plans
The consequence is not a technicality. Anyone who is not a licensed surveyor and takes on a boundary definition survey, which the Board calls a cadastral survey, can be prosecuted; the Board says such a survey is illegal and carries no legal standing.
What the licence protects
The register exists because the record under every boundary rests on the cadastre. The cadastre is a parcel-based system for the administration of land, made up of physically delineated boundaries and of datasets holding the public record of the rights, restrictions and responsibilities attached to those parcels.
The government and the community put the care of that cadastre's integrity in the hands of licensed surveyors; confidence in the property market, and the economic development that rests on it, depends on that integrity. That is the stake behind the four statuses: the register is how the trust is checked, name by name.
Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria, About cadastral surveying
The renewal timeline
| Date | What the register shows | Where it is read |
|---|---|---|
| 31 December. | A registration expires on this date, and it may be renewed by 31 March. | The Board |
| By 31 March. | A practising surveyor shown as expired may still carry out cadastral surveys until this date. | The register |
| On renewal. | With the fee paid by 31 March and the education and training obligations met, the status returns to practising. | The Board |
Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria, Check if a surveyor is registered
See also The fence, the title, or the survey and A neighbour disputes the line.