Quick Hits
Filing a Complaint against an Engineer or Land Surveyor or Unlicensed Person
COMPLAINTS AGAINST A CALIFORNIA LICENSED ENGINEER OR LAND SURVEYOR OR AN UNLICENSED PERSON
The California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors has the authority to investigate complaints of violations of the Professional Engineers Act and the Professional Land Surveyors' Act, such as fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, negligence, incompetence, breach of contract, failure to use a written contract, failure to record a survey map, aiding and abetting, violating the Codes of Professional Conduct, and practicing without a license. Disciplinary actions include, but are not limited to, suspending licenses, revoking licenses, placing licensees on probation, issuing administrative citations, and referring the matter to the district attorney for criminal prosecution.
The Board regulates the practices of professional engineering and professional land surveying and licenses professional engineers and land surveyors. Anyone practicing in the following professions must be licensed by the Board:
The Board also regulates the use of the following protected titles: Agricultural Engineer, Chemical Engineer, Civil Engineer, Consulting Engineer, Control Systems Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Fire Protection Engineer, Geodetic Engineer, Geomatics Engineer, Geometronic Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer, Industrial Engineer, Land Survey Engineer, Land Surveyor, Licensed Engineer, Licensed Land Surveyor, Mechanical Engineer, Metallurgical Engineer, Nuclear Engineer, Petroleum Engineer, Professional Corrosion Engineer, Professional Engineer, Professional Land Surveyor, Professional Manufacturing Engineer, Professional Quality Engineer, Professional Safety Engineer, Professional Engineer - Retired, Registered Engineer, Soil Engineer, Soils Engineer, Structural Engineer, Survey Engineer, and Traffic Engineer, or any combination or abbreviation of those words and titles.
HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT
In order to investigate your complaint, you need to provide the Board with all of the information you have about the problem. We need you to provide a complete chronological description, including dates, of the situation. You also need to provide the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of other persons who know about the situation, including the names of any city and/or county staff if you have had contact with them about your problem. The Board needs all the facts you can provide in order to process your complaint. The Board does not have the staff to investigate inquiries based only upon suspicion or speculation. Be sure to provide copies of all documents about your complaint, including plans, drawings, calculations, maps, reports, plan check comments, letters, contracts, and invoices. Before mailing your complaint, make an extra copy of everything for your own files because we cannot return the documents once the investigation is completed. If you need more information regarding a possible violation of the Professional Engineers Act or the Professional Land Surveyors' Act before filing your complaint, please contact the Board's Enforcement Unit by e-mail at BPELS_Enforcement_Information@dca.ca.gov or by telephone at (916) 263-2251.
To help you file a complaint with this Board, the complaint form is available online.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the complaint form file; it is available for free.
