Quinn Insurance, which provides lawyers with professional indemnity insurance (PII), has been removed from the preferred PII list of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Gazette has learned.

RICS, whose preferred insurer list mirrors the lawyers’ preferred insurer pool, removed Quinn after it withdrew from its credit rating contract with agency Moody’s.

Quinn said it withdrew because a ratings upgrade was ‘unlikely’ given the current ­economic downturn. A RICS spokeswoman said that because Quinn was no longer rated, it did not qualify as a listed insurer under their criteria.

Quinn is one of the 21 lawyers’ PII insurers remaining in the market and has a market share of more than 5%.

Quinn issued the following statement: ‘We have always offered PII to the surveyor profession that meets the minimum policy wording of RICS, regardless of their membership of RICS, and will continue to do so. Therefore, meeting approval as a listed insurer by RICS has little or no impact on Quinn Insurance.’

A Solicitors Regulation Authority spokesman said it was ‘monitoring the situation’.