Estate Surveying and Valuation Practice PDF

Estate Surveying and Valuation Practice: Opportunities, Prospects and Challenges By ESV (Chief) Biodun Olapade M.Sc., RSV, FNIVS, FCArb, Certified Mediator. Delivered During the annual lecture series of Th...

Estate Surveying and Valuation Practice: Opportunities, Prospects and Challenges By ESV (Chief) Biodun Olapade M.Sc., RSV, FNIVS, FCArb, Certified Mediator. Delivered During the annual lecture series of The College of Environmental Sciences of Bell University of Technology, Ota, Nigeria. Featuring: Distinguished Environmentalist in Practice (ENV) Lecture Theatre 2, Downtown Bell Tech. On 27th day of November, 2024. Page 1 of 24 1.0 PRELIMINARIES 2.0 INTRODUCTION Land is the platform of human existence and the foundation of the production of the basic necessity of mankind. It is therefore not a gainsaying that land is the most important resources on earth and the profession that deals with the management of this all important resources is the estate surveying and valuation profession that in turn is a critical aspect of the built environment, particularly in real estate practice. It involves assessing the worth of properties and managing land assets, which is essential for informed decision-making in property transactions. This lecture will explore the opportunities, prospects, and challenges associated with estate surveying and valuation, specifically tailored for built environment students in Nigeria. The paper is divided into nine sections including the preliminary and introduction. The next section after the introduction provides an overview of the estate surveying and valuation profession. The fourth section provides the reasons for the wide range of opportunities provided by the estate surveying and valuation profession while the fifth section consider the career prospects in the profession. The challenges facing the Estate Surveying and Valuation profession is examined in Section Six while the author’s real estate career’s story including some of the challenging job he has undertaken is presented in the seventh section. The next section presents the way forward for the the profession while the last section conclude. 3.0 OVERVIEW OF THE ESTATE SURVEYING AND VALUATION (ESV) PROFESSION This sections provides an overview a general overview of the ESV profession by tracing the history of the profession and providing information on how to be admitted to the profession and different professional group with the profession. 3.1 History of the profession The real estate profession referred as Estate Surveying and Valuation profession in Nigeria started as Estate Management. The profession which is among the oldest in the world dates back to the beginning of time. At creation, God established the Garden of Eden and put Adam and Eve in charge of it (Gen: 2;15). Thus, Adam and Eve were the first Estate Managers since Eden was the first estate known to man. However, the evolution of estate management as a distinct and recognised profession is a Middle Ages development rooted to the feudal societies of Europe. The Page 2 of 24 lords of the Manor of Medieval Europe owned exclusive and sometimes far-flung land holdings. Usually, only a small portion of each of these estates was held and exploited by the direct land owners. The rest, which constituted the bulk of these holdings, was given out to tenants and serfs to use, either for a fee or under some feudal arrangements. On the account of the size and disparate locations of these holdings, each landowners appointed stewards or agents to oversee the estates for them. At the beginning, what was required of these stewards was that they were men of honour who could be trusted in fiduciary relationship. This explains the sobriquet, “Noble” which is attached to the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation. As time went on and the business of managing these estates rose in sophistication, the requirements for the job increased. First, it became necessary that the practitioners should also be lettered in order to keep pace with the demands of ever-increasing record keeping. Next, a knowledge of bookkeeping was required to accommodate the accounting requirement involved. Later on, the ability to tackle various proprietary and commercial relations involved in these estates introduced surveying, law, commerce, economics and statistics into the profession. The modern foundations of what is now known variously as estate management, estate surveying and valuation, or land economics was laid in the mid-18th century. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, a major re-organisation took place in most of Europe. In the UK especially, this resulted in a massive population shift from rural to urban areas and a subsequent redistribution of land rights and property interest. At the dawn of the 19th century, the practitioners of the various skills comprising estate management banded themselves into trade groups or guilds. Later on, there were definite moves to form a distinct professional group to embrace the various classifications. The most serious moves began in London on June 27, 1843 with the formation of the Land Surveyor Club. These were in fits and starts until the establishment of the Surveyor Institution on March 23, 1868, which metamorphosed into the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, RICS, in 1946. The profession of estate surveying and valuation followed in the wake of colonialism in Nigeria, with F.G Gleave, an expatriate, being the first known chartered surveyors to set up a general practice or estate surveying and valuation firm in the country about 1955. In 1954, the first Nigerian Estate Surveyors and Valuer, John Wood Ekpeyong, graduated from the University of London with a B. Sc. Degree in Estate Management. Estate management has a course of study started in University of Nigeria, Enugu campus in 1962 with J. A Umeh (now professor) as the Page 3 of 24 only indigenous academic staff. The profession gained limelight in the country when, in 1969, a group of qualified Chartered (General Practice) Surveyors formed what is known as the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) in Ibadan, as a non-profitt voluntary professional organisation to cater for the interests of the Landed profession in Nigeria., Six years later, it was accorded Government recognition by the promulgation of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers (Registration, ETC) Decree No. 24 of 1975, now CAP III (Laws of the federal Republic of Nigeria) 1990. 3.2 How to become a member of the Estate Surveying and Valuation Profession Subject to section 15 and to rules made under section 6 (4) of the Estate Surveying and Valuation Act, a person shall be entitled to be registered as an Estate Surveyor and Valuer if: (a) he passes the qualifying examination for membership recognizeded or conducted by The Board under this Act and immediately before the commencement of this Act, he was a member of The Institution (Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers); or (b) he holds a qualification granted outside Nigeria which for the time being is accepted by The Board and he is by law entitled to practice for all purpose as estate surveyor and valuer in the country in which the qualification was granted and, if The Board so, requires, he satisfies The Board that he has had sufficient practical experience as estate surveyor and valuer. (2) Subject as aforesaid, a person shall be entitled to be registered under this Act if (a) he holds a certificate recognized by the Board and has had not less than two years post qualification practical experience in the profession; or (b) he has passed an examination approved by the Board and has had not less than two years post qualification practical experience in the profession. (3) An applicant for registration under this Act shall, in addition to evidence of qualification, satisfy The Board (a) that he is of good character (b) that he has attained the age of 21 years; and (c) that he has not been convicted in Nigeria or elsewhere of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty (4) The Board may in its absolute discretion provisionally accept a qualification produced in respect of an application for registration under this section, or direct that the application be renewed within such period as may be specified in the direction. (5) Any entry directed to be made in the register under section (4) of this section shall show that registration is provisional, and no entry the Board specified in writing in that behalf. (6) The Board shall from time to time publish in the Gazette particulars of the qualifications for the time being accepted for registration under this Act. (ESVARBON, 2024). 3.3 Professional groups in the Profession In order to enhance specialization and the overall growth of the profession, the Institution established a total of fifteen (15) Professional Groups. Page 4 of 24 NIESV Faculties are expected to serve as a veritable platform through which our members can acquire and/or develop specialist knowledge and competency, share ideas and network. Professional Groups are also expected to champion the setting of strategic directions for the future of these specialist fields as well for meeting the information needs of their members. Each Professional Group represents a key market segment of the profession. Every professional member of the institution is allowed to join a maximum of four (4) Professional Groups. Below is a list of the 15 Professional Groups: Agricultural Property Management Professional Group Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Professional Group Auctioneering Professional Group Business Assets & Intellectual Property Valuation Professional Group Compensation and Right of Way Valuation Professional Group Environmental Valuation Professional Group Estate Agency and Marketing Professional Group Facilities and Infrastructure Management Professional Group Housing Professional Group Land Management and Geographic Information Service Plant & Equipment Valuation Professional Group Project Finance and Management Professional Group Rural Property Management Professional Group Real Estate Consulting Professional Group Valuation Professional Group 4.0 OPPORTUNITIES IN ESTATE SURVEYING AND VALUATION PROFESSION The real estate sector in Nigeria offers wide range of opportunities because of the followings reason: 4.1. Shelter is a basic necessity of life Housing is the basic necessity of life after food. Everybody desire and require one form of housing or the other. There will always be demand for housing as commodity and services such as real estate related to housing. Page 5 of 24 4.2. Small number of registered real estate professional After almost five decades of recognition of estate surveying and valuation profession, the registered members as at 12th day of December 2023 when the last induction for the newly registered members was done was 6,833 (Six Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Three). It is surprising how a population of less than seven thousand estate surveyors and valuers would be able to render real estate service effectively to the entire Nigeria population of about 250 million people. CLASSIFICATION OF REGISTERED ESTATE SURVEYORS AND VALUERS BY ESVARBON 2013 – 2023 YEAR NUMBER OF MALE NUMBER OF FEMALE TOTAL 2013 248 91 336 2014 244 61 305 2015 166 34 200 2016 331 89 420 2017 248 56 304 2018 137 38 175 2019 93 24 117 2020 245 72 317 2021 153 38 191 2022 319 85 404 2023 881 300 1,181 TOTAL 3,065 888 3,953 Source: Estate Surveyors & Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria Please note that the numerical list of 6,833 members included those who are dead, those in academics, those in public service, FG/State/MDA, FM, Banks, Trading, Manufacturing companies and those who are neither in private nor public practice/other places and not in active practice. Page 6 of 24 4.3. Housing deficit According to World Bank (2012), Nigeria needs an annual housing stock of 720,000 units for the next 20years in order to overcome the deficiency of about 14-16million housing units. The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria in 2019 has estimated the housing deficit in Nigeria to be 22million. Although, this figure has been disputed but it is evidence that there is huge deficit in housing in term of quantity and quality. As more houses are built to reduce the deficit, the services of real estate professionals of estate surveying and valuation would be required either before construction commences, at the inception of construction, during construction or completion of a house and at post construction stage. 4.4. Availability of many unregistered title document Only about 5% of land in Nigeria has registered titles. This has turn the remaining 95% of entire land in the country to dead capital that might not be useful to attract mortgage finance. Meanwhile, this is a huge opportunity for estate surveyors and valuers to fill this economic gap by acting as consultant for processing or perfection of title document from the government. Not just this, but as an advocate in the negotiation of various land taxes related matter such as land use charge, probate etc. 4.5. Valuation of asset used as collateral is a compulsory requirement for loan application Valuation is usually carried out to determine the monetary value of asset pledge as collateral for credit facility. Valuation services are therefore required by mortgagor and mortgagee for the former to have access to loan. There would therefore be demand for valuation services as long as people apply for loan. Valuation services is an exclusive professional calling of the estate surveyors and valuers. 4.6. Nigeria population Nigeria has a population of around 250 Million people. It is the most populated country in Africa and the country with the largest population of black people. A large population connotes a large market with many business opportunities and large patronage for services. There is therefore potential for real estate service in this populated market for residential and commercial properties development and leasing and the accompanying or Page 7 of 24 complementary services of valuation, land regularization & documentation, feasibility & viability studies, property & facilities management and project management. 4.7. Real estate as investment medium More than two third of asset of most nations is held in real estate Many institutional investors are now including real estate in their portfolio because of its comparative advantage over other investment medium and diversification potentials. This has open array of opportunity for real estate professionals to meet the growing need of real estate investors. 4.8. All activities take place on land Land is the platform upon which all human activities take place. 'We are born on a platform known as land and developed as hospital, church or place of abode and when we die, we are also buried or interred under the land'. There will always be demand for land and landed properties as long as humanity exist. Inextricably, there will be demand for service of a profession of real estate that centres on management and allocation of land resources right from the time we are born, throughout our activities while we are alive and even when we are no more. 4.9. Non availability of databank of concluded transaction The lack of central databank on concluded transactions has make valuation of property difficult in Nigeria. This has led to valuation variance (difference in opinion of valuer on the same property) and inaccuracy (difference in valuation and final sales price) with implication of liability for professional negligence on part of the Valuer. Also, as more institutional investor enters the Nigeria property market, there would be need for property data in term of prices and rent of concluded transaction, property price indices, performance indices among others. These needs have created opportunity for supportive service to existing estate firms and real estate investors by supplying them data in the form of research and publication of data in hard or soft copy for end users at a consideration. 4.10. Opportunities offered by and Digitalisation and Sustainability Digitalization offers numerous opportunities for real estate professionals, transforming how they operate and interact with clients. With digitalisation, professional can now make use tools such as virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, software as service, drone, artificial intelligence among Page 8 of 24 others to expand their market reach and improve their services. Similarly, the concern for the environment as a result of climate change has brought the issue of sustainability to the forefront of the global consciousness in recent time. There is also a general awareness among businesses to be responsible for the impact of their operations on the society. These concerns coupled with the need for companies to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has birthed and developed interest in the concept of Environment Social and Governance (ESG). The concept of ESG refers to using Environmental, Social, and Governance factors to assess organisations’ sustainability, fulfilment of societal responsibilities, and corporate governance. The need to improve ESG of organisation has created opportunities for real professional in the area of energy management such as retrofitting of existing buildings and ESG compliance. This is because buildings produce large carbon dioxide (CO2) footprints, consume massive amounts of energy and water and, generate a lot of waste all of which could impinge on the environmental sustainability of the firm. 4.11. Entrepreneurial activities with low start-up capital The estate surveying and valuation profession offers a massive opportunity to be become an entrepreneur with a low start-up capital. Immediately one is register as an Estate Surveyor, s/he can set up his/her firm with little capital and become an employer of labour. 4.12 Article of trade is very important as a store of wealth The article of trade of the real estate profession is landed property. This asset class is the main vehicle for investing, accumulating wealth, and transferring it between generations (Olapade & Aluko, 2023). The most valuable asset held by household in most developing countries is their real estate asset. There will always be opportunity for real estate profession as its article of trade hold significant importance. 5.0 CAREER PROSPECTS IN ESTATE SURVEYING AND VALUATION PROFESSION The career prospects in the profession can be categorised into three namely the private sector, public sector and recently the Prop-Tech start-up. Each of these are discussed hereunder: Page 9 of 24 5.1 Private Sector Some of the areas/industries where graduates of estate management study can take up employment opportunities in the society and labour market are: 5.1.1 Professional Estate Surveying and Valuation Firms The first and major area where graduates of estate management study can take up employment opportunities is the professional registered real estate firms registered by the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) to carry out estate surveying and valuation activities. The graduate would be employed a pupil surveyor and follow the career progression of the firm. 5.1.2 Banks and Other Financial Institutions Graduates of estate management study can also gain employment opportunities in this sector either as an in-house property valuer, maintenance officer, property and facility manager, project manager/officer, property collateral adviser, land officer or bank premises manager. 5.1.3 Oil and Gas Companies Estate management graduates can also take up employment opportunities in the oil and gas sector as a facility/asset manager, real estate project manager/ officer, property manager, maintenance officer, real estate contracts officer. 5.1.4 Property Investment and Development Companies Many institutional investors such as Broll, UPDC, SKYE SHELTER and now in Nigeria property market thereby creating job opportunities for graduates of estate management. An estate management graduate can work in any property investment and development company (private or public) either as a property developer, project manager/officer, estate/property marketer, estate manager, property/facility manager, project appraisal, estate surveyor and valuer, or construction project supervisor/officer. 5.1.5 Facilities Management Companies Companies in this category mainly employ estate management graduates to take up various positions relating to the business activities they carry out within their organisation. Some of the employment opportunities that exist for estate management graduates in various property Page 10 of 24 management companies are property manager, estate agent, facility manager/officer, maintenance officer, real estate marketer, estate officer, etc 5.1.6 Other Corporate Organisations Various organizations (private, multi-national, manufacturing and production, etc) also provide employment opportunities for estate management graduates in their set-ups depending on the work force, organizational settings and activities been carried out. The various employment positions opened to estate management graduate in corporate organizations includes facility manager, property manager, premises manager, maintenance officer, estate surveyor and valuer, appraisal, etc. 5.2 Public Sector 5.2.1 Local Government Authority Another area where graduates of estate management study can gain employment is the various local government authorities spread across the country as either property rating valuer, rating officer, property accessing officers, project managers, land officer, project supervisor/officers, property inspection officer or property valuation officer. 5.2.2 Government and Quasi-Government Agencies Various employment opportunities exist for successful graduates of estate management study in any of the arms of government and its quasi-government agencies. The various areas were graduates of estate management study can find employment opportunities in any of these two arms of government are: ministry of works and housing, land bureau, ministry of works and infrastructures, national ports authority, railway corporation, new town development authority, asset management corporation of Nigeria, bureau of public enterprise, etc. 5.3 PropTech Start-up Property Technology (PropTech) is refers to the use of technology and software to innovate and improve the real estate industry. It encompasses a wide range of digital tools and platforms designed to enhance various aspects of real estate transactions and management. PropTech Page 11 of 24 (Property Technology) start-ups are revolutionizing the real estate industry by leveraging emerging technologies to create innovative solutions. This includes automated system for property management, platform for virtual tours and remote inspection. Others include real estate investment platform, application for data analytics and market insights, platform to improve tenant experience, smart contracts among others. among others. The use of technology to solve real estate problem has created a new career opportunity in real estate 6.0 Challenges of Estate Surveying and Valuation Practice in Nigeria There are many challenges that bedevilled the estate surveying and valuation profession in Nigeria. This includes the following: 6.1 Quackery A quack is one who pretends to a skill or knowledge he does not possess, a person or group of persons who undertake a business, trade or vocation for which they have no training, and for which they have no legal authorisation to undertake and practise. So anyone who perform any of the roles of Estate Surveyor & Valuer and is not registered as Estate Surveyor & Valuer by ESVARBON is a quack. The activities of quacks have dented our profession as members of the public might not be able to differentiate from quack and professionals. 6.2 Poor remuneration Many clients are not willing to pay the stipulated fees stated in the scale of professional fee. This led to poor remuneration for services render. This has reduced the quality of professional services render by the Valuer. For instance, a Valuer who is based in Lagos is engaged to carry out a valuation in Port Harcourt for an agreed fee of N150,000.00. These fees might not be able to cover the air ticket not to talk of the professional services. If the Valuer accept such an assignment, s/he may be forced to engage someone to conduct the inspection on his behalf while she prepare the report. Such a situation will impact on the quality of valuation report prepared. 6.3 Lack of central databank of concluded transactions The lack of central databank on concluded transactions has made valuation of property difficult in Nigeria. This has led to valuation variance (difference in opinion of valuer on the same property) and inaccuracy (difference in valuation and final sales price) with implication of liability for professional negligence on part of the valuer. Page 12 of 24 6.4 Unhealthy rivalry among professional colleagues There is high level of competition and unhealthy rivalry among practitioners within and between professional in the built environment. This makes many professional firms to quote for job below the stipulated scale of charges to secure the job ahead of their colleague. There is also incursion into roles other members of the built environment wherein. 6.5 Lack of synergy between the academics and practitioners There is lack of synergy among the academics in school and practitioners on the field. I do not know of any institution apart from The Bell University of Technology that design a course like this where environmental scientist in varying discipline in practise can impact their knowledge on students with cross learning to all irrespective of course of study in the environmental studies college. Meanwhile, there is need for more collaboration between the academics and practitioners in order to move the profession forward by way of expanding this programme better than this and exchange of ideas with other institutions offering environmental sciences nationwide. 6.6 Lack of specialization “Jack of all trade and master of none” goes the usual saying. The professional body should encourage specialization for member in some aspect of the profession. It is a known fact that specialization brings about efficiency. Within estate management, specialization at post graduate level to project management, facility management can be introduced if only at professional master’s level (not academic). The course content at undergraduate level can also be reviewed for specialization of certain aspects of the profession at part four & five. Although the institution encourage specialization by setting professional groups, this effort has not yielded much. Most ESV firms still operate as jack of all trades and master of none. 6.7 Small size of registered members With close to 50 years of existence, the property profession in Nigeria as coordinated by the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) should boast of a better presence in the property market. Membership size presently has barely crossed the 7,000 mark which is rather too thin when viewed against the over 5,000 Estate Management graduates turned out yearly by more than forty-seven (47) institutions such as universities and polytechnics offering the course in Nigeria. The relative small size of property professionals does not avail the property profession Page 13 of 24 enough leverage to promote standardised practices in the property market and cover the market effectively. 6.8 Challenges of Digitalisation While digitalisation brings numerous benefits to the real estate industry, but it also poses several challenges such as data security as a result risk of cyberattacks and data breaches grows. In addition to this, digitalisation such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) can make some professionals lose their jobs. For instance, landlords and property sellers are getting access to tenant and property buyers using social media and other online platform thereby cutting off the influence of agents and other professionals 6.9 Harsh Economic Condition The harsh economic conditions as a result of Naira devaluation and increase in the cost of energy has negatively affected the real estate profession. For instance, the rising cost of building materials, logistics and labour are significantly impacting the cost of building thereby affecting affordability. Also, the economic condition is affecting accessibility to finance limiting the ability of developers and buyers to secure necessary funding. Again, the economic instability and inflation are causing fluctuations in property values and rental prices, making the market unpredictable and risky for investors. 6.10 Informality The level of informality in the Nigeria property sector is very rife. From land acquisition, building construction to disposal informal processes is the order of the day. For instance, the informal institution of omo onile (literally translated as children or relatives of the original descendants of the first settlers who claim rights to the land under customary law) constitute a major albatross to property development even when the land has been registered and building permit has been obtained. 7.0 MY REAL ESTATE CAREER’S STORY This section provides my real estate career’s story by presenting a short bio sketch of the author and some of the challenging jobs he has undertaken during his career. Page 14 of 24 7.1 A Short Bio Sketch of the Author It was by God’s providence that I found myself in the real estate profession. My journey in the profession started about 45 years ago when I was admitted to study Estate Management at the The Polytechnic Ibadan, Nigeria. I developed myself from this very sound background that was not only theoretical based but practical oriented system of education. Beyond this formal education, I offered myself to training by serving pupillage in a first-class indigenous private practice firm even when I had opportunities to join oil company or central bank offering higher remuneration of about N10,000 to N12,000 basic salary per annum as against N5,000. After post pupillage and qualifications as an estate surveyor and valuer, I attended the prestigious Lagos Business School (now Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria) and University of Ibadan, Nigeria where I respectively obtained Advanced Management Programme (AMP) and a Masters of Science degree in Housing & Development. Both institutions assisted me greatly for capacity knowledge on marketing and business/managerial studies using case studies, business policy, information technologies, total quality management, comparative analysis, research methodologies and indeed on good and better way of presentations of papers and reports/job delivery. Above all, I gained tremendously on networking with high net worth of people in the upper echelon, learnt and understand business & public relations, high ethical standard. All these assisted me to attract and retain clients and what I gained were not taught in the regular college where I read estate management as a course. Still on capacity building aside from Estate Surveying and Valuation where I qualified as professional Associate and Fellow of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers / Registered Estate Surveyor & Valuer with Estate Surveyors & Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria, I pursued arbitration at professional level to the peak as a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria and have been on that apex level for over a decade. Strengthening my capacity further as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practitioner, I attended an intensive training to certification with Lagos Multi Door Court House in Lagos, Nigeria. This assisted my practice as dispute related matters on tenancy and land were resolved in my Chamber without going to court. Generally, I have worked uninterruptedly in real estate private practice firm for close to 40 years. About eleven (11) years of which was in a leading indigenous firm of Jide Taiwo & Co (Estate Surveyors & Valuers), first as a Pupil Surveyor and rose to become an Equity Partner. I served in Page 15 of 24 various capacities as Estate Surveyor, Senior and Principal Estate Surveyor, Branch Manager since 1986 and most times I have double promotion in a year and for three consecutive years, I won the prize of the Best Estate Surveyor of the Year. I was Associate Partner from 1991 to 1992 and an Equity Partner for 4 years. During my Partnership years, I doubled as Managing Director of Flowers Engineering, a construction firm of Jide Taiwo & Co and was also an Executive Director of Cornerstone Mortgage Bank, owned majorly by Jide Taiwo Co. I later started a professional practice in the name of Biodun Olapade & Co (Estate Surveyors & Valuers), at the age of 36 years, not just as a proprietor for the past 28 years without blemish as a professional and entrepreneur taking all the risks and challenges. I have worked for high-net-worth individuals, national and international organisations, banks where my firm is retained as Consultant Service Provider or Estate Surveying and Valuation, governments at Local, State and Federal and many other ones and as Arbitrator and Mediator as well as ADR practitioner on real estate related matters. May I add hsere that many perceive real estate practitioners or other professionals to be rich or so comfortable but the reverse is the case. Honest professionals worldwide may not be so rich as perceived but full filled. With modesty and with humility, I say here that I am one of those successful in real estate business as an Estate Surveyor & Valuer and ADR practitioners who started with nothing. No silver spoon in my mouth. I started as a son of “(Mr. Nobody in the Nigeria classical context)” and got to the peak of my career with successes. 7.2 Drawing Lessons from Challenges Jobs I have Handled in the Past I will be sharing with you some of the challenging jobs I have handled in the past. Some of these experiences are documented in my forthcoming book “Chronicles of Experience of Four Decades of Real Estate Practise”. I want you to listen attentively as I will be sharing you of the lessons from the cases. 7.2.1 Agency Letting: Due Diligence Prior to Acceptance of Letting Instruction. My experience on ignorance to carrying out due diligence before accepting letting brief was unique. This was in respect of a warehouse in Ogba Industrial Estate, Ikeja Local Government Area. A Nigerian Lebanese indigene walked in to my office which was then in 55, Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja in 1999. He claimed to be the owner of the warehouse which was partially vacant. Un knowing to us in the firm he was not the owner but a lessee of long years lease of 10 Page 16 of 24 having only six months to expire. Part of his machinery and goods were in the Warehouse making us not to suspect his fraudulent activities. Ogba Industrial estate is a unique and central location and demand for warehouse is very high. This made us to conclude letting within one week of receipt of the formal brief. Condition for remittance was tied to evacuation of few machinery and goods to the knowledge of the tenant sourced which he did urgently and N5,000,000 rental proceed as two years advance was remitted to the purported owner. No sooner the tenant moved in that the original owner who was the lessor to the man we paid rent to came and accused the tenant in occupation. This was followed by arrest of the tenant in occupation by the Police. In turn, I was equally arrested but was later released same day after statement was obtained from me with the condition to produce the Nigerian/Lebanese who posed as owner within 24 hours after which I will be re-arrested while the tenant was also released. The tenant who was a Lebanese assisted in getting him arrested. Police insisted that he must pay the rent collected fully before his release. He was there for 3 days before the wife was able to raise the fund. The refunded rent was given to the original landlord while the tenant who had spent money renovating the warehouse was allowed to continue his occupation. 7.2.2 Agency Letting: Loss of Brief Prior to Completion of Assignment irrespective of Formal Instruction I assisted a client whom I do not know but with link to the wife of a well established client to buy a plot of land at Kuyasi Awuse Estate in Opebi, Ikeja many years ago. I continued my service to arrange surveying of the land and indeed perfect the title by acting as an Agent that procured the registered title. Got an Architect that prepared the drawings for approval at Town Planning Authority and monitored the process to completion. I assisted in the choice of a Contractor for the completion of two wings of duplex promptly within six months. As it was expected, having rendered all the aforementioned services mostly free with agency fee of N100,000 paid only for purchase of land, that my firm shall continue letting and management services of the property. I made her to endorse letter of instruction on behalf of the owner since I have no direct access to the owner. I continued the services by replacing our old To Let board placed for premarketing. A week later, I got a call from the Client representative that, the real owner needed to retain one wing of the property for himself while the other wing rent had been collected by her. It was discovered later that a tenant that we had pre-qualified to take the place three days earlier met the owner's Page 17 of 24 representative at the weekend during the dedication service of the house over the weekend had paid. Again, we lost retainership of the property which we had worked to secure. I met the owner's representative with proof of letter from my office duly acknowledged by her for consent to accept the tenant. I demanded for my fee which she turned down. She refused. Pleaded with the husband to intervene without result. I was advised to take a legal action which I turned down after weighing the options of cost and time of litigation and future relationships. 7.2.3 Agency Sale: Need for Confirmation and obtaining Land Information as part of pre requisite condition and due process on Sales of a landed Property Any document like purchase receipt and survey plan need to be properly verified before sales transaction is initiated or concluded at The Office of Surveyor General. It should also be extended to title like Deed of Conveyance. This is so, as after the registration of the Conveyance before 1978. This is because the Government might have acquired the land. Irrespective of availability of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) especially, those on private land, confirmation of land status by chatting and processing of land information is very important as the C of O may have been fraudulently obtained. A good experience that readily come to mind on this is a land sold at one of the exercised villages close to Agungi in Eti Osa Local Government. The survey of the land was stamped FREE FROM GOVERNMENT ACQUISITION by a registered Land Surveyor who is a professional in the Built Environment. Relying on this, we concluded the sales transaction. The seller was secured by my Abuja Office while the buyer was secured by my Ikeja office. Trouble began when the buyer took possession and in the process of obtaining approved Building Plan, discovered that three quarter portion of the land was within committed government acquired land via a land information obtained from Surveyor General Office as a prerequisite for building approval process from the Town Planning Authority. The buyer requested for refund of money paid for the land which was about N2, 000,000 about twenty years ago from me as a professional who ought to know better. The seller in turn who had spent the money refused to refund and latter could not be located. I had no money to refund, and we decided to initiate a legal action against the seller to relying on the indemnity clause on the transfer paper signed for the buyer. The case was between the seller and the buyer as I obtained a power attorney to prosecute the seller. The buyer was not interested in any litigation other than his money. The matter was diligently defended Page 18 of 24 for over five years before Judgment was obtained and luckily we were able to recover sizeable sum back from the seller to the satisfaction of the buyer. 7.2.4 Property Management: Issue of Sub-letting One is in respect of a property in Victoria Garden City (VGC), Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State. The property was not my management property but is in the portfolio of a senior colleague. The tenant who was introduced to me by another Client who has relocated abroad was his in law. He needed an accommodation in an eyebrow location pending the completion of construction of his building. The lease was for a period of two years certain. Unknown to me, the tenant who was on and off to America sub-let the boys quarter for a term longer than his own by six months. It happened that the tenant came to Nigeria six months to the end of his lease and travelled back became sick and died in America. All members of his immediate family live abroad and no distant members was known in Nigeria. The time came and the lease expired by effluxion of time. Like most practitioners’ usual habit, it was time for either renewal or payment of rent or vacation of the apartment that the managing surveyor realized that the tenant cannot be contacted. Efforts made to reach is family from available file record proved abortive. The professional Managing Agent was becoming impatient after one month of over stay. Trouble started when it was discovered the boys quarter was sublet with different expiration period to the main lease. I got solution after my cousin who was the late tenant Contractor got consent of the deceased in law to pack the loads in the duplex at the developed property of the late tenant in Nigeria. The tenant in the boys quarter was later persuaded to move out after reimbursing her unexpired three months rent by me from practice income on other briefs. 7.2.5 Property Management: Handling issue of Illegal Conversion by tenants This is an experience on a property at Mafoluku, Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Are of Lagos State. It was a terrible experience warranting my arrest by policemen before I was release unconditionally. The issue was as a result of a landed property under my management that a tenant of a vacant land behind built upon a brothel of a 2-bedroom bungalow without my consent and to which the owner living abroad petitioned me to Area F Police Station as a connivance in my sitting position as her Agent in diaspora and as somebody who lost presumed trust as a professional Agent. I got out of the challenge after The Town Planning Authority and their official on patrol Page 19 of 24 marked the building for contravention and demolished the house. I managed the place for a while after the junior brother of the owner put a mechanic and was later sold without further reference to me. 7.2.6 Ejecting/Handling issue of a distressed/Sick Tenant from Management Property A top officer of a Federal Government Agency occupied a management property in Shasha Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State from my firm, living there with her 7-year-old daughter developed mental illness while in occupation. She was breaking other tenants' cars windscreen and at times violent with her neighbours in a block of flat with class. She broke all the window glazed panels. Her employer, guarantor could not be reached. Landlord was on my neck as well as co tenants and neighbours were after me to get her out of the premises. The Police and Government Welfare office could not assist also. Succour later came when I got a link to a Special Adviser on Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation who directed the Permanent Secretary of her Ministry to look into the matter and who in turn gave us a letter to a rehabilitation home in Epe for admission and care of the woman. The woman along with her daughter were relocated to the rehabilitation under a very tight security. The Police supervised the locking of the premises while Lagos State Government took care of the woman by paying custody of her with full treatment for a period over one year later rehabilitated her back with Lagos State Government back to her relations. Her belonging was later moved from the locked premises on my insistence. The landlady suffered loss of rent for few of the months of luck up as the tenant always pay her rent several months in advance. My firm repaired the house back and repaired all the damaged cars in the premises and thereafter lost the brief. 7.2.7 Insincerity on the part of Service Delivery Team. Estate Surveying and Valuation jobs are team players group. Having an insincere one in a group; be pupil or professional estate surveyor & valuer or administrative/ accounting professionals or otherwise can destroy the practice. The problem of loyalty, under cutting and grouping into pressure group are few of the challenges I experienced and faced by Nigerian practitioners. It is like building a house and destroying it and starting again and all over again. Having relations in a group is worse. Under my watch, two relations colluded to defraud the firm while two Surveyors ran parallel practice within the firm. Page 20 of 24 All these personal experiences provide a practical example of challenges facing the estate surveying and valuation profession. The next section examines how these challenges can be surmounted. 8.0 WAY FORWARD FOR ESTATE SURVEYING AND VALUATION PROFESSION IN NIGERIA In order to improve the Estate Surveying and Valuation profession in Nigeria, the following are recommended: 8.1 Acquisition of Necessary Skills and Training There is the need to acquire necessary blend of both soft and hard skills to be able to navigate the many challenges that could be encountered in Estate Surveying and Valuation profession. Such soft skills include verbal and non-verbal communication skill, negotiation skills, commercial awareness among others. Similarly, hard skills such as market analysis, legal knowledge, marketing, technical proficiency among others. 8.2 Reduction of Informality in the Property Market Reducing informality in the Nigerian property market requires a multifaceted approach involving policy reforms, improved regulatory frameworks, and community engagement. This could be through the strengthening of land registration system, enforcement of property law and incentivising formal development. The issue of omo onile need to addressed to curb their excesses and reduce fraudulent activities on property. 8.3 Creation of a Data Bank on Concluded Transactions Accessibility to comparable evidence will be made much more efficient and more effective through the creation of a databank of concluded transaction in the property market. A databank of concluded transaction would provide a pool of comparable evidence databank into which Valuers could record details of transactions and from which any valuer could retrieve these transaction details. Once a property transaction is complete it would be recorded onto the databank; this comparable evidence is then available to any valuer that has access to the databank. In this way, one firm is involved in the transaction and records the details but these details become available to all estate surveying and valuation firms instead of just the firms involved in the deal as is Page 21 of 24 presently the case. This will prevent the issue of valuation variance and inaccuracy presently plaguing the profession. 8.4 Cooperation among professional members in the sharing and pooling of data Lack of cooperation within member of the professional and unhealthy rivalry among members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers should be discouraged with proper advocacy and enlightenment of members. Cooperation among members will improve the quality of service to clients and help to restore and improve the reputation of the valuation profession. 8.5 Improve digital literacy of members A high percentage of Estate Surveying and Valuation firms in Nigeria have not tapped into the benefit of digital technology, for example, many firms still use computer for word processing alone. The use of computer for data capture, analysis, display, sharing and storage is still new to real estate practice in Nigeria. As rightly advocated by Lee et al (2024) there is an urgent need for property professionals to enhance their digital literacy and embrace technological innovations. The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers and Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria in partnership with Universities offering estate management courses in Nigeria, need to ensure the running of designated specialist courses in the use of ICT in real estate activities especially in the area of data management. Refresher courses should also be organised for practicing surveyors in this wise. 8.6 Training and re-training of members through CPD, seminars and workshop The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers and Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria should organise regular mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD), seminars and workshops among members on different aspects of the profession. Members should actively participate in lifelong learning initiatives. There should also be cross fertilisation of idea among practitioners and academia on devising ways of improving accessibility to data. Also, quacks especially the un-organised real estate practitioners should be encouraged to the profession by creating a platform for them to train them in agency which they have nearly hijacked from the professionals. Page 22 of 24 8.7 Easy Access to Public Land Registry Government should allow easy accessibility to data in Land registry. The land registry data should be computerised and designed in manner that search could be conducted on the internet. It should be made public through online access by computer and include details on price paid as well as tenure. In addition to this, government should lower official fees and taxes for consent to assignment of land which is between 15% and 30% of the consideration; this will encourage people to declare the true consideration in which the property exchange hand. Data from Land Registry will be an addition to data in national databank especially in deals where Valuers are not involved. 8.8 Encourage merging of firms instead of sole proprietorship The profession cannot continue to allow most firms to run on sole proprietorship. Groups of existing firms should be encouraged to merge and form partnerships. By so doing, such groups would have the capacity to penetrate the market effectively as per their collective knowledge, skill, experience and social leanings thereby checkmating the invasion of the industry by quacks. 8.9 Expansion of the property profession Massive membership drive should be pursued by both the NIESV and ESVARBON. This could be done through the creation of College of Estate Management in the style of Nigeria Law School to allow registration of more members. Apart from this, different category of memberships should be created in order to reduce the stringent measures of becoming an Estate Surveyor and Valuer. 8.10 Improved synergy between practitioners and academics There should be a close collaboration between gown and town; the researches in our institutions must be able to address the problems in the market. Practitioners should be call upon (as we are doing today) to share their knowledge with the university community while the academics should also spend their sabbatical study in practice. As advocated by Lee et. al. (2024), the property industry should also strengthen collaborations with educational institutions to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical skills. Page 23 of 24 9.0 CONCLUSION The field of estate surveying and valuation presents numerous opportunities for aspiring professionals within Nigeria's growing real estate market. However, students must also be prepared to face various challenges that come with the profession. By equipping themselves with the necessary skills and knowledge, they can navigate these complexities effectively and contribute meaningfully to the built environment. This lecture aims to inspire students to pursue careers in estate surveying while understanding both the potential rewards and the challenges they may encounter along their journey by keying to this year theme of lecture series of 'Life Outside the Campus as Professionals'. Bibliography Lee, C.L.; Yam, S.; Susilawati, C.; Blake, A. (2024). The Future Property Workforce: Challenges and Opportunities for Property Professionals in the Changing Landscape. Buildings 2024, 14, 224. https://doi.org/10.3390/ buildings14010224 Olapade, D.T., Aluko, B.T. (2023). Tenure Insecurity in Informal Land Delivery System of Lagos State, Nigeria: Causes and Manifestations. Urban Forum 34, 31–52 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-022-09463-x Olapade, B. (2016). Interactions of the built environment professionals in real estate service delivery: and Estate Surveyor and Valuer view point. Being a topic in the faculty/college lecture series on course titled: Environmental Scientists in Practice (ENV 406) Olapade, B. and Olapade, D. T. (2018). Economic Recovery through Property Development: Whither the Estate Surveyors and Valuers. Proceedings of 48th Annual Conference of Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers held at Ibadan, Oyo State, 20th to 24th March, 2018 Olapade, B. (forthcoming). Chronicles of Experience of Four Decades of Real Estate Practise ESVARBON (2024). www.esvarbon.gov.ng Page 24 of 24