Membership of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) is open to any person interested in the housing profession, as set out in our Charter and Byelaws. An individual seeking membership will be accepted as a member of CIH on receipt and processing of the required registration application and appropriate fees.

All CIH memberships are for sole use of the registered individual for whom payment is made and are nontransferable. CIH membership runs for a term of 12 months.

CIH has a responsibility to maintain professional standards in the housing industry and to ensure housing professionals are equipped to make effective decisions in challenging situations. CIH's core values, code of ethics and code of conduct provide a profession-wide shared view of the standards of ethical and professional behaviour that are expected of others working within housing and related sectors. All members are required to adhere to the principles of the code of conduct. The code of conduct also provides information about complaints handling and the disciplinary process that will be followed if an allegation of misconduct is made against a member. The complaints process can be found here.

There are four grades of CIH membership, through which individual members can progress as they accrue skills, knowledge and experience over the course of their career.

These are:

• standard membership (CIHM) – available to anyone with an interest in housing
• certified practitioner membership (Cert CIH) – available to anyone who has:
  • completed a level 3 or level 4 CIH qualification
• chartered membership (CIHCM) – available to anyone who has:
  • completed a level 5 or above CIH qualification
  • completed the experienced professional route to chartered membership
  • completed the executive route to chartered membership
  • completed an undergraduate or postgraduate university course recognised by CIH as meeting the requirements for chartered membership
• Fellowship (FCIH) – reserved for those who can show that they have experience in a leadership role and have made a significant contribution to the housing sector, assessed through an application submitted to the Fellowship Admissions Panel.

Any future changes to these grades will be made at CIH’s Annual General Meeting and will be approved by members.

To enable members to visibly demonstrate their commitment to their own professional development, they are encouraged to use the relevant set of designatory letters on their CVs, business cards and any other appropriate place. These are CIHM, Cert CIH, CIHCM or FCIH, depending on grade. The higher grades are therefore intended to deliver a greater level of professional recognition.

Our member grades

Membership fees are charged annually, and most are based on a calendar year, January – December. All membership fees are non-refundable and subject to change at membership renewal time. A member agrees to pay and remain current in the payment of fees upon expiry of the membership term to continue as a member. Members will be notified by email when their membership renewal is due.

If a member wishes to terminate their membership part way through the membership term, no refund can be offered, and full payment still needs to be made for the duration of that membership term. If a member lapses and reinstates their membership during the same membership term, full payment for that membership term will still apply. This does not affect your statutory right to cancel within the 14-day cooling off period following purchase.

To make payment as easy as possible for members, CIH offers the following methods of payment:

• via an invoice sent to the member’s employer
• card payment, either online or over the phone
• direct debit from a UK bank account, with payments being made on either a monthly, quarterly or twice-yearly basis.

There are three price points for UK members:

• a concessionary rate – available to specific groups and currently set at £78 per annum
• a standard rate – for standard members and certified practitioners, currently set at £262 per annum
• a higher rate – for chartered members and fellows, currently set at £394 per annum

This fee structure is intended to:

• ensure that membership remains affordable for groups who might otherwise be excluded from CIH membership
• recognise the greater level of professional recognition associated with chartered membership and fellowship
• balance affordability for members with the financial viability of the organisation

Membership fees are reviewed annually, and changes are approved by CIH members at the Annual General Meeting.

Changes can be made to the qualifying criteria for the concessionary rate without member approval.

International members are charged a percentage of the full UK fee, based on their country of residence. Countries are sorted into high income economies, upper middle-income economies and lower middle- and lower-income economies. CIH publishes a list of countries in each group and the relevant fees associated with them on an annual basis.

Our member fees

In addition to the permission to use designatory letters to demonstrate professional competence, all categories of membership come with a variety of benefits, intended to provide information, advice, knowledge, and professional development opportunities. Membership benefits can be revised at any time without consultation with the wider membership.

As part of membership of CIH, members are entitled to attend CIH events free of charge. The events included as a membership benefit are determined by CIH. CIH reserves the right to cancel, postpone or vary the events included as membership benefit without notice to the wider membership. CIH will determine which events a member shall be entitled to attend by virtue of their membership.

Our member benefits

All members have access to an online CPD account and are encouraged to use the service to manage their own professional development by recording CPD activity and reflecting on their own learning. Chartered members are required to undertake at least 20 hours of CPD a year.

CIH membership can be removed:

• at the member’s request
• for non-payment
• for a breach of the CIH code of conduct

A member can contact CIH at any time to ask for their membership to be lapsed at the end of the calendar year. In these circumstances the member will continue to receive their membership benefits for the remainder of the year.

Where a member contacts CIH to ask for their membership to be lapsed immediately, CIH will not offer a refund of any fees.

CIH’s approach to removing membership from anyone who does not provide payment for their fees is set out in our Charter and Byelaws.

The process for handling allegations of misconduct against a member is outlined in the CIH code of conduct.