10 Persons entitled to be registered
(1) No person shall be entitled to be registered as a surveyor unless he or she has attained the age of twenty-one years, and satisfied the board that he or she is of good fame and character.(2) Subject to this Act, a person shall be entitled to be registered as a surveyor who:(a) holds a subsisting licence to survey issued before the commencement of this Act by the Surveyor-General or Chief Surveyor of the Department of Lands,(b) has obtained the prescribed certificate of competency after the prescribed examination, or(c) is entitled to practise as a surveyor in any reciprocating State, and has otherwise complied with the conditions of this Act, or(d) has passed in any country outside New South Wales, not being a reciprocating State, an examination approved of by the board, and has also passed such further examination or has gained such practical experience with a surveyor in New South Wales, or both of these, as the board may require:Provided that:
(i) the board may refuse to register any person who being the holder of a subsisting licence to survey has been refused a special licence to practise as a surveyor under the Real Property Act 1900 or whose special licence to so practise has been cancelled,(ii) any person who does not hold a subsisting licence to survey at the commencement of this Act but who has been engaged in the practice of surveying within the State of New South Wales as a principal for not less than five years continuously immediately before the commencement of this Act, or any person who has been engaged solely in the business of surveying within the State of New South Wales for a period of not less than eight years continuously immediately before the commencement of this Act may, within a period of eighteen months from such commencement, apply to be registered as a surveyor under this Act.If such person satisfies the board by evidence that he or she is competent to survey, the board shall register such person as a surveyor without the necessity of passing the examination prescribed by this Act.
(3) An application to the board for registration shall:(a) be made as prescribed,(b) be supported by such evidence as the board may require, and(c) be accompanied by a fee in accordance with the prescribed scale.(4) Every surveyor shall before or in the month of July in each year pay to the registrar the prescribed roll fee.(5) If any surveyor does not pay the prescribed roll fee before or in the month of July, in any year, the board shall notify him or her, by letter addressed to him or her at the address appearing in the register, that if the fee is not paid before the last day of October next following his or her name will be removed from the register. If any surveyor who has been so notified fails to pay such fee before the said last day of October, the board shall remove his or her name from the register.(6) If the name of any surveyor is removed from the register under this section, the board shall restore his or her name to the register upon payment of such fees as are prescribed.(7) A surveyor who changes his or her address as appearing in the register shall, within three months thereafter, notify the board of his or her new address and the board shall thereupon alter the entry in the register relating to that surveyor accordingly.(8) A surveyor who fails to comply with the provisions of subsection (7) shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 0.5 penalty unit.(9) A surveyor who, before the date of assent to the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992, paid the prescribed roll fee for 1992 is, on further payment of half the amount of that fee, taken to have paid the prescribed roll fee for the period ending 30 June 1993.
11 Reciprocal arrangement by board with other countries etc
(1) The board may enter into a reciprocal arrangement with the Surveyors’ Board or other competent authority of any country for the recognition of the status of any person authorised by such board or other authority to practise as a surveyor in such country, and for the registration of such person as a surveyor under this Act.(2) Any such arrangement may contain a condition that any such person applying to be registered under this Act shall furnish additional evidence of character and competency to the satisfaction of the board.(3) Any reciprocal arrangement entered into by the board for the purposes specified in subsection (1) and subsisting immediately before the commencement of the Surveyors (Amendment) Act 1964 shall be deemed to have been entered into pursuant to the provisions of that subsection.(4) In this section country means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Dominion of New Zealand, any State or Territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and any other prescribed country, state, territory or place.
Division 2 Powers and duties of surveyors
(1) No person, unless registered under this Act, shall practise as a surveyor.(2) Any person who acts in contravention of the provisions of this section, or who takes or uses any title, initials, addition, or description implying that he or she is registered under this Act when he or she is not so registered, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 20 penalty units.(3) This section shall not extend to:(a) a person who is enrolled as a candidate in accordance with the regulations and is gaining practical experience under the supervision of a surveyor,(b) a surveyor’s assistant or draftsman acting in the course of the duties usually performed by surveyors’ assistants or draftsmen, as the case may be.
(1) In making any survey or for any purpose relating thereto, a surveyor with his or her assistants, upon giving the prescribed notice, may enter any land, and for that purpose may open any fence, may insert any survey mark and may enter any building for the purpose of determining the position of a wall or for defining a boundary which is otherwise inaccessible.This section shall not exempt any surveyor from liability for any damage he or she or his or her assistants may commit; but the employer of the surveyor shall be liable to reimburse the surveyor or the assistants if the act occasioning such damage was necessary for the due making of the survey.
(2) Any person who unlawfully and wilfully obliterates, removes, or defaces any survey mark, or obstructs a surveyor or his or her assistants in the exercise of the powers hereby conferred, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 5 penalty units, and in addition may be ordered to pay the costs of re-establishing such mark.
Division 3 Charges against surveyors
14 Power of board to deal with offences
(1) Upon a charge made as hereinafter prescribed and after inquiry, if it is shown with respect to any surveyor that:(a) he or she has certified to the accuracy of any survey, knowing the same to be inaccurate, or without having taken reasonable precautions to verify its accuracy, or(b) he or she wilfully or by culpable negligence or through incompetence has made, or caused to be made under his or her supervision, any survey which is so inaccurate or defective as to be unreliable, or(c) his or her certificate of competency has been obtained by fraud, or(d) his or her certificate of competency had been issued in error, or(e) after registration, he or she has been convicted of an indictable offence, or of any offence which, if committed within this State, would be an indictable offence, or(f) he or she does not possess the qualification in respect of which he or she was registered, or(g) he or she has failed to comply with any of the provisions of this Act or the regulations made thereunder, or(h) he or she has been convicted of an offence relating to the duties and functions of surveyors, the carrying out of surveys or matters incidental to or consequent upon surveys, under any Act or regulation, other than this Act and the regulations made thereunder, or under any ordinance or by-law, or(i) he or she has been guilty of misconduct in a professional respect,the board may:(j) remove the name of such surveyor from the register, or(k) suspend such surveyor from practice as a surveyor for any period not exceeding three years and the details of such suspension shall be entered in the register.(1A) Without limiting the meaning of the expression “misconduct in a professional respect” in paragraph (i) of subsection (1), a surveyor shall be deemed guilty of such misconduct if:(a) after the expiration of twelve months from the commencement of the Surveyors (Amendment) Act 1964, and except where this Act otherwise provides or the board permits, he or she practises surveying:(i) on his or her own account under a name other than his or her own name, or(ii) in partnership or association under a name other than his or her own name and the name of each other person in partnership or association with whom he or she is so practising,(b) in connection with the practice of surveying he or she uses or allows the use of his or her name at premises at or from which, in the opinion of the board, he or she or his or her partners or associates, if any, do not regularly practise surveying,(c) without the permission of the board, he or she allows his or her name to be joined in connection with the practice of surveying with the name of a person not registered under this Act, except where the name is that of a deceased or retired partner who was a surveyor at the time of his or her death or retirement, and the registrar has been so notified,(d) he or she uses or publishes, or allows the use or publication of, any title, name, words, or letters which are capable of being understood to indicate that he or she is qualified in surveying, or as a surveyor, other than such title, name, words, or letters as truly indicate a qualification in surveying or as a surveyor which he or she in fact holds or possesses, or(e) he or she directly or indirectly gives or offers, or agrees to give or offer, any person any commission, gratuity, service or other consideration whatever for securing or attempting to secure for him or her any instructions to make surveys or any work in connection with surveys.(2) The board may in addition to suspension or as an alternative thereto make all or any of the following orders:(a) impose a fine on such surveyor not exceeding 20 penalty units by way of penalty,(b) order such surveyor to pay the cost of the correction of his or her work,(c) order such surveyor to pay such sum as the board thinks adequate as compensation to his or her client,(d) order such surveyor to pay a specified sum as costs in the case.(e) (Repealed)(2A) Nothing in this section shall authorise the board to impose a fine:(a) in any case coming within paragraph (e) or (h) of subsection (1), or(b) where a surveyor has been convicted by a court as a result of his or her failure to comply with the particular provision of this Act or the regulations made thereunder in respect of which a charge has been made pursuant to paragraph (g) of subsection (1).(2B) In any case coming within paragraph (g) or (h) of subsection (1), no person shall be liable to have his or her name removed from the register or be suspended from practice if his or her failure to comply with the Act, regulation, by-law or ordinance concerned does not, either from its trivial nature or the circumstances under which it took place, render such person unfit in the public interest to practise surveying.(2C) The board may suspend from practice any surveyor whose entitlement to practice in a reciprocating State is suspended under the law in force in the reciprocating State. The board shall not impose a period of suspension under this subsection which expires later than the period of suspension imposed by the Surveyors’ Board or other competent authority of the reciprocating State.(3) The board may in the case of an order of the board not being complied with suspend the surveyor until the order is complied with or may remove his or her name from the register.(4) The board may for sufficient cause reinstate a surveyor whose name has been removed from the register or who has been suspended from practice.The removal of a surveyor’s name from the register, his or her suspension from practice or his or her reinstatement shall be notified in the Gazette.
(5) Any person whose name has been removed from the register or who has been suspended from practice who practises as a surveyor before his or her reinstatement has been so notified in the Gazette and his or her name, if removed from the register, has been restored thereto shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding 20 penalty units.
(1) Every charge against a surveyor under the last preceding section shall be submitted to the board in writing, signed by the person making the charge, and shall, except where the charge is made by a person authorised in writing to make such charge by the Institution or by an officer of any Government department or statutory authority constituted for public purposes, be accompanied by a deposit of twenty dollars; and, if it appears to the board that the charge is one into which an inquiry should be held, the board shall fix a time and place for that purpose.(2) At least thirty days prior to the date fixed for such inquiry, notice in writing shall be sent by certified or registered mail to the last-known postal address of the person so charged, informing him or her of the time and place fixed for the inquiry, and supplying him or her with a copy of all charges proposed to be considered at such inquiry.(3) At such inquiry, the person charged shall be entitled to be heard in his or her defence and to be represented by counsel, solicitor or agent.(4) Where the board is of the opinion that the charge is vexatious or frivolous it shall so declare and thereupon the sum deposited shall be forfeited. In the absence of any such declaration the sum so deposited shall be refunded to the complainant.
16 Reviews by Administrative Decisions Tribunal of decisions of board on inquiry
Any person dissatisfied with any decision of the board on an inquiry under this Part may apply to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal for a review of the decision of the board.