The job profile of the publicly appointed surveyor
Publicly appointed surveyors are qualified partners concerning all surveying issues. They are appointed liberal professionals and consider themselves as comprehensive service providers for all property services. The specific feature of publicly appointed surveyors is that the state has charged them with sovereign responsibilities. Functionally, publicly appointed surveyors represent public authorities. Among other things they provide sovereign surveying services for the land register and they are authorised to authenticate documents and to issue certifications.
The duty of publicly appointed surveyors involves a high degree of responsibility. Therefore the responsibilities assumed by publicly appointed surveyors are defined in the profession rules. The occupation of publicly appointed surveyors requires an appointment by a board of control. Publicly appointed surveyors may only be appointed if they are qualified to carry out a profession of the executive or administrative grades of the Civil Surveying Service and if they have several years of experience of carrying out cadastral surveys.
The important system for security for land ownership, which is guaranteed by article 14 of the German constitution, helps to ensure that sovereign responsibilities are guaranteed by the state. The model of appointing freelance surveyors represents the most permissible form of charging freelance professionals with public responsibilities in terms of constitutional law. Services provided by freelancers, who are under public supervision, are ensured by the public appointment of freelance professionals. According to their public appointment publicly appointed surveyors are bound to the public fee regulations, according to their private-sector work they are bound to the fee scale for architects and engineers. It is to ensure the consumer’s interest in a performance-related competition and avoid a ruinous price war.