Last Updated on September 8, 2026
There are very few professions where a competitor claiming your title commits a criminal offence, the register is free to search, and the prosecutions are published with names and amounts. Architecture is one. Almost nothing on a typical practice website reflects that.
What the Act actually says
Section 20(1) of the Architects Act 1997, in full:
A person shall not practise or carry on business under any name, style or title containing the word “architect” unless he is a registered person.
Section 21(1):
If any person contravenes section 20(1) he commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
Level 4 on the standard scale has been £2,500 for offences committed on or after 1 October 1992, under section 122 of the Sentencing Act 2020. The old citation, section 37 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982, was repealed on 1 December 2020, so if you see it quoted the source is out of date.
Three details that matter commercially:
- Section 20(2) exempts naval architect, landscape architect and golf-course architect. Nothing else.
- Section 20(3) lets a body corporate, firm or partnership use the word in its name where the architecture business is under the control and management of a registered person who does not act simultaneously for another such business, and is carried on by or under a registered person’s supervision at all premises.
- Section 21 extends the prosecution window to two years rather than the usual six months for a summary offence.
ARB’s own statement adds the part that changes the arithmetic: it can prosecute both individuals and businesses, which can amount to multiple charges, and the fine is currently up to £2,500 for each offence.
What it costs in practice
ARB publishes a prosecutions table. The pattern is that costs dominate and fines exceed £2,500 because of multiple charges.
| Date | Court | Fine | Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 November 2019 | Derby Magistrates’ Court | £8,000 | £1,797.74 |
| 30 October 2019 | Southend Magistrates’ Court | £6,400 | £2,078.13 |
| 24 January 2020 | Barkingside Magistrates’ Court | £3,400 | £2,750 |
| 13 December 2019 | Westminster Magistrates’ Court | £700 | £1,000 |
| 22 November 2021 | West Hampshire Magistrates’ Court | 12-month conditional discharge | £5,000 |
ARB publishes names for two years after conviction where a fine is imposed, and one year for conditional discharges or binding over orders. It opened 586 new title misuse cases in 2024.
Why this is a marketing asset and not just a rule
Think about what your prospective client is actually deciding. They have quotes from you and from two other people who produce drawings. They cannot read a drawing well enough to judge quality, they cannot tell an architectural technologist from an architect, and the other two are cheaper.
There is exactly one thing in that situation they can verify in ten seconds for nothing, and it is the register.
The Architects Register is searchable by registration number, forename, surname, company name or address, with advanced filters for country, website, email and distance from a UK postcode. No login. No fee. ARB’s own framing is blunt: if someone is not on the Register, they are not an architect, it is as simple as that.
So publish your registration number, and every registered architect in the practice, as text with a link. Not a logo. A number a client can paste into a search box.
How to say it without sounding like a complaint
The tone matters, because the version of this that reads badly is the one that attacks the competition. Two sentences is enough:
Architect is a title protected by law. Everyone here who uses it is on the Architects Register, which anyone can search for free, and our registration numbers are below.
That is factual, it is generous rather than defensive, and it puts the verification in the client’s hands. It also happens to be exactly the kind of checkable statement an AI assistant can use, which matters more each year: in Whito’s August 2026 work, 38 of 728 AI-recommended UK businesses could not be confirmed as active businesses trading in the town named at all.
What the register does not cover
Two honest limits, because overclaiming would undo the point.
First, ARB registers individuals, not practices. The Architects Register has a company name field, but that is the practice an individual is associated with, not a registration of the business. The only business-level hook in the Act is section 20(3). We looked for an ARB-published register of businesses and did not find one, which we record as not found rather than confirmed absent.
Second, registration is annual and revocable, and lapsing is easier than people assume. The 2026 retention fee is £225, due 31 December 2025, against £205 for 2025. ARB states that architects who have not paid before the collection period closes are automatically removed from the Register and cannot use the title in business or practice. Reinstatement within two years is £355 and after two years £439, on the January to March scale.
RIBA Chartered Practice, and what it costs
Separate from ARB, and worth publishing alongside if you hold it. RIBA’s headline is from as little as £5 a month, and its application form publishes the full band scale, inclusive of VAT:
| Band | Staff | Monthly | Annual inc VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sole practitioner | £5.00 | £60.00 |
| 2 | 2 to 5 | £17.50 | £210.00 |
| 3 | 6 to 10 | £42.50 | £510.00 |
| 4 | 11 to 25 | £90.00 | £1,080.00 |
| 5 | 26 to 50 | £188.00 | £2,256.00 |
| 6 | 50 plus | £376.00 | £4,512.00 |
The form does not state which year the scale applies to, and RIBA has announced a 5 per cent subscription increase for 2026 without publishing practice-specific amounts, so treat those as indicative and check before budgeting.
Chartered Practice requires at least one full-time principal to be a RIBA Chartered Member, at least one in eight staff to be Chartered Members with all architectural work supervised by one, policies covering employment, equality, health and safety, environmental and quality management, and valid professional indemnity insurance. RIBA publishes both over 4,000 and more than 4,100 as the number of Chartered Practices, on two of its own pages.
The other competence regime clients have not heard of
The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023 inserted a new Part 2A into the Building Regulations 2010, covering client duties, appointment of a principal designer and principal contractor, and competence. Regulation 11G sets the principal designer competence requirement: the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary, or organisational capability, to fulfil the duties in relation to the design work in the project.
That is a different appointment from the CDM 2015 principal designer, and both can apply to the same project. For higher-risk buildings, defined by HSE as at least seven storeys or at least 18 metres high and containing at least two residential units or being a hospital or care home, the Building Safety Act 2022 duties apply on top.
Explaining that clearly on a page is genuinely useful to a developer client and almost nobody does it.
Common questions
Is it illegal to call yourself an architect in the UK?
It is an offence to practise or carry on business under any name, style or title containing the word architect unless you are on the ARB Register, under sections 20 and 21 of the Architects Act 1997, with a maximum fine of £2,500 per offence. ARB can prosecute individuals and businesses and publishes its prosecutions.
How does a client check an architect?
The Architects Register at the ARB’s public search, free and with no login, by name, registration number, company name or postcode. It is the fastest and cheapest verification available in the built environment.
What does ARB registration cost?
The 2026 annual retention fee is £225, due by 31 December 2025. First registration on a UK qualification within two years of Part 3 is £40 plus £225. Reinstatement after non-payment is £355 within two years and £439 after.
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