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Tag: NIESV

  • N529b vote for infrastructure inadequate, says NIESV

    N529b vote for infrastructure inadequate, says NIESV

    The N529 billion allocated to Power, Works & Housing in the 2017 Budget is not enough, Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors &Valuers (NIESV) President Bolarinde Patunola-Ajayi has said.

    He told The Nation that the allocation is a drop in the ocean, if any development is to be achieved in the sector.

    He said to produce one megawatt of electricity costs almost N1 billion. “If the government put money into infrastructure provision, it will benefit a lot of people from the professionals to artisans, vendors, manufacturers and traders.

    ‘’It will affect the whole gamut of the economy and stimulate the economy as farmers would be able to bring in their produce from the hinterland and businesses can flourish because people will be able to move around to transact their businesses,” Dr.  Patunola-Ajayi said.

    The NIESV chief regretted that the government did not involve professionals in the built environment sector in budgeting for infrastructure and skill upscale.

    He queried the number and types of houses that the budget provided for, saying this was for lack of reliable statistics for housing gaps.

    He asked: “What type of house is the government going to provide? Is it for the young people, young graduates, middle class, poor or the upper class? The truth is that the government has not shown sufficient commitment to infrastructural upgrade, housing provision and good and motorable roads.”

    He also criticised the situation where the government preferred to give jobs to foreigners as against local professionals insisting that the indigenous professionals can only grow and upscale their skill through continuous patronage by government.

    NIESV Chairman, Lagos State, Mr. Offiong Ukpong said he does not believe the government can implement the budget successfully no matter how much is budgeted for the sector.

    He criticised the government for its neglect of estate surveyors and valuers, noting that the sector cannot move forward if the trend continued.

    He reiterated NIESV call for the creation of the office of the Valuer-General.

    He argued that the government would value its asset yearly as it is done in advanced countries, adding that the issue of corruption that arises each time public assets were being sold off would be addressed as politicians and other money bags will no longer be able to buy up the assets at cheap prices.

    He stressed that the Code of Conduct Bureau will never be efficient without the input of estate surveyors who are trained on valuation, insisting that no other professional body is qualified to do this other than the NIESV.

  • NIESV assures of high ethical standards

    The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has pledged to uphold high ethical and professional standards.

    The 22nd President of the Institution, Dr. Bolarinde Patunola-Ajayi, stated this at the inauguration of the body’s executive council in Lagos, last week.

    Patunola-Ajayi, who spoke on behalf of other executive members, said the body would, more than before, ensure conformity with ethical standards and best practices of the profession.

    “Good image is very essential in the professional ratings of any profession. The perception of the public and the clients about our services is one of the strong yardsticks to determine the level of patronage to our services. Profession negligence is a breach of duty or care between the professionals and their client. Our advocacy to members on professionalism will be intensive to ensure that we maintain the enviable standards required by the users of our services,” he said.

    He advised prospective property owners to always seek the guidance and services of estate surveyors and valuers to broker property acquisition on their behalf.

    The President, Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), Mr. Gabriel Fasoto, in his keynote address, condemned the practise of the profession by non-professionals, noting that such act dents the image of the body with disastrous results. He urged the body to collaborate with other bodies on effective structures to checkmate and penalise erring individuals.

    The chairman of the investiture and 11th president of NIESV, Mr. Joe Idudu, advised the institution to seek government’s protection against the invasion of the body.

  • NIESV urges FCT Minister to revoke undeveloped lands

    NIESV urges FCT Minister to revoke undeveloped lands

    The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers has called on the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello to revoke all landed properties allocated over a long period of time but are yet to be developed within the city centre.

    It condemned a situation where landed properties are left idle for years without developing them and described such as against the vision of government in making the city one of the best in the world.

    The President of the institution, Mr James Omeru, stated these when making the FCT Minister patron of the NIESV in accordance with its constitution.

    Omeru told the FCT Minister that “we observed that some of the plots in the Central Area Phase II are not developed. It is our suggestion that a deliberate attempt should be made to revoke those areas that are yet to be developed and to be allocated to allotees who are ready to develop immediately.”

    Omeru also appealed to the FCT minister to make land available to the institution to enable it build affordable mass housing for Nigerians.

    According to him, “as a player in the real estate and building industry, it has always been our desire to build a modern housing estate in the FCT. We appeal to you to allocate land to us for this purpose.”

    In his acceptance speech at his investiture, Bello agreed to work with the institution in reducing the amount being charged as property rent.

    He said one of the ways which this could be achieved is for the institution and it’s members to reduce the amount charged as commission on properties.

    The minister urged the institution to consider reducing the commission as it would go a long way in alleviating the sufferings of the people.

    By this conferment, the minister would be playing a key role in the institution’s 46th annual conference holding this week.

  • Collect Land Use Charge on income, surveyors urge Lagos

    Collect Land Use Charge on income, surveyors urge Lagos

    THE Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has asked the Lagos State government to stop charging Land Use Charge on capital gains but on income.

    The association said even in charging income, some incomes are allowable. The institution said these errors have gone unchecked because its members are not involved in the administration of landed matters in the state.

    The group noted that since Lagos has remained a pacesetter in all sectors of the economy, it should correct itself so that the practice will be replicated in other states of the country.

    At a meeting with the Permanent Secretary, Land Bureau, Mr. Bode Agoro, the group’s   Chairman, Mr.  Offiong Sam Ukpong in the company of other executives of the body, stressed the need for the government to partner estate surveyors in on land administration.

    He said the nation’s land administration will continue to be in parlous state except there is policy direction in the right place.

    While calling for the establishment of the Office of Estate Surveyor–General, Ukpong said smaller countries such as Papa New Guinea and Ghana have come up with such policy that has seen the real sector grow in leaps and bounds.

    He said in Ghana, before a land transaction can be effectively concluded, a surveyor must sign to give legality to the transaction, lamenting that in Nigeria, surveyors are not involved in policy formulations and transactions. Furthermore he said his association should be allocated 100 hectares of land to build an estate that will exclusively be inhabited by surveyors to showcase professionalism in land matters and facility management of  buildings, plant and machinery.

    Agoro agreed that Land Use Charge should be on income and not on capital gain, promising that the government would review it soon. He promised to engage more surveyors, stressing that the state government is not unmindful of the strategic importance that estate surveyors and valuers occupy in any modern economy.

    He said in developed economies, the growth of the economy is measured by the robustness of the real estate sector and the state government is poised to benchmark on international best practices. He added that the state government plans to register  land and estate brokers, noting that government needs to identify those doing business with her in order to protect the public.

    The PS decried a situation where the innocent public is defrauded by those who purportedly act as interface between them and the government and stressed the preparedness of government to deal with any bad egg in her system and any member of the public who engages in fraudulent activities.

    He said: “If anybody or group henceforth wants to transact business with government relating to land, the person must submit himself to registration; we intend to curb the permissive illegalities we noted in the Bureau when we came in. We need to, as a matter of urgency, register all land and estate brokers so that when there is a dispute or misdemeanor we will readily know the culprit. As responsible government we owe it to every Lagosian to protect their lives and property.”

    According to him, government is working tirelessly to reposition the Bureau to meet modern demands of professionalism in landed matters and real estate business.

    On the proposed Surveyors Estate, he said the government will fulfil its promise by making land available for them to build the model estate but was non committal on the size of the land that will be given by government for the purpose.

  • ‘Why FESTAC Town can’t be replicated’

    Former President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV)  Bode Adediji has said replicating FESTAC town is no longer feasible.

    He said what the government needed to do is to have the right policy and enabling environment for the private sector to thrive in the real estate sector by liberalising land and property ownership through the reduction of bureaucracy and other associated costs.

    Adediji, who is also and Managing Partner Bode Adediji Partnership, urged the government to formulate policies that would make what he called ‘indigenous Nigerian housing’ possible through the manipulation of locally available materials by research institutes to make housing affordable to the populace.

    He further called for the resuscitation of moribund brick factories scattered around the country since the administration of President Shehu Shagari to reduce the cost of housing construction should not be too expensive for the average Nigeria.

    He said: “There should be tailor-made Nigeria housing scheme, as a country we have not re-engineered ourselves our taste to having indigenous housing. In the United States for instance, most houses are built with wood and other materials but here we are stuck with brick and mortar. We can’t possibly bridge the housing gap if there is no deliberate policy shift in design and construction method including our taste.”

    The former NIESV chief criticised the dumping of fake and substandard building materials into the country, calling on the regulatory authorities to protect the nation’s economy by discouraging the importation of such material.

    On security of tenure, Adediji criticised the government for not doing enough to protect the rights of individuals who buy land from land speculators.

  • NIESV’s recipe for housing deficit

    The Nigerian Institution of Estate Valuers (NIESV)’s Faculty of Housing, has announced the fourth edition of its annual summit. The theme for this year’s summit, which holds on November 19, at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Conference Center & Suites, Abuja is “Effective housing delivery models through community development.”

    The 2015 Conference chairman, Elder Biodun Odeleye, explained that the NIESV’s Faculty of Housing strategically chose the theme because its research and practical experience on housing problems, which have brought to the fore potent and effective methods to tackle the problems militating against effective housing delivery in Nigeria.

    The fourth edition, according to the chairman, promises to bring to the fore, for the benefit of the general public and the government, realistic models, which shall be affordable and provide a veritable tool for reducing the deficit in the housing sector in Nigeria. The World Bank has put the deficit at 17 million.

    The lead paper at the summit, titled: “Effective Housing Delivery Models through Community Development Concept”, will be delivered by Professor Olumide Olusanya of the Department of Architecture, University of Lagos. Other papers to be presented include: “Affordability for Informal Housing Clusters” by Mr. Bode Afolayan, the immediate past president, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN); “Arresting Urban Decay through Effective Housing Management Strategies”, to be presented by Mr. Darlington Uzu, CEO, Crown Estate Limited, Lekki, Lagos.

    Lead discussants at the summit include NIESV’s second Vice President, Rowland Abonta; Professor Timothy Nubi of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Lagos; and Mr. Akin Olawore, principal consultant, Akin Olawore & Co, Lagos.

  • Institute to Bureau: Demand valuation certificates from public servants

    Institute to Bureau: Demand valuation certificates from public servants

    As the issue of asset declaration rages, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has called on the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to demand for the valuation of assets certificates from outgoing and incoming public office holders if the fight against corruption is to be taken seriously.

    The institute made the call in Abuja at a press briefing to remind the incoming government of its pledge to fight corruption.

    President of the NIESV Olorogun James Omeru said: “It is constitutional for all public officers to declare their assets when coming into and leaving office. Code of Conduct Bureau is responsible for this.”

    He said that there was ongoing discussion with the CCB, “that if declaration of assets is to be credible, it should be followed with valuation certificates presented by public office holders.”

    Nigerians, he said, are concerned about the level of corruption which is traceable to greed by public officers aided by those in the private sector.

    To stem the rate of graft in the system, Omeru impressed on the CCB, the need to make it compulsory that all public office holders to engage professionals to carryout valuation of their assets to ensure probity.

    “Public office holder’s carryout anticipatory asset declaration which is illegal and it becomes impossible for anticipatory declaration if the valuation is carried out earlier,” he said.

    When leaving office, the earlier certificate of valuation will tell the whole story of assets stating the old and new values of the assets.

    The NIESV he said “wants to partner with the incoming administration on valuation of assets if they are serious in the fight against corruption as valuation will also help check money laundering.

    Also of concern to the NIESV is the practice of auctioning off seized properties by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) without proper valuation of the properties.

    Omeru lamented that both anti corruption agencies have “confiscated a lot of properties and we have offered to value these properties but they have refused to invite us to value these properties. These properties have been auctioned without valuation.” The Institution he said is worried that asset declaration and auction of properties in Nigeria are shrouded in secrecy. “Nigerians don’t know the value of these assets, they have never called us to value these assets/properties and some properties have been sold below their true values.”

    Omeru also took a swipe at the privatisation and concessioning of public assets by carrying out a proper valuation of the assets. Omeru said Nigerians will know the ownership of public assets as well as “know the worth of the asset so that nobody will be short changed from the investment. We need to know the overall value of the asset. It will improve transparency if the public knows what is coming to them.”

  • APBN chief urges govt to regulate agencies

    APBN chief urges govt to regulate agencies

    The Chairman, Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, Mr. Bolarinde Ajayi, has urged the Lagos State government and estate agents in the state to come up with a fixed rate of charges payable as “agency fees” to operators in the property industry in the State. This comes on the heels of the indiscriminate fees now being collected on property sales and rents by estate agents.

    Ajayi, who was also the first vice president, Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV),  also called for the regulation of the sector, insisting that this has become necessary in other to bring sanity into the estate agency sub sector of the property industry.

    “There is no uniformity at the moment. We have different types of agents here. The profession is not what is picked on the road as it is being touted; it is a profession that requires training and that is what we want to do and get estate agents properly grounded and instil code of conduct that will make them practice professionally,” he said.

    Ajayi explained that the need for regulation and professionalism made the NIESV to establish the Association of Estate Agents of Nigeria, which aims at absorbing all estate agents in the country, not only to regulate, but also to train them and imbibe in them professionalism and ethics of estate agency practice.

    The association, under NIESV, he explained, is regulated by the “scale of charges” approved by the federal ministry of lands and housing.

    The NIESV’s former vice president argued that it is more appropriate to base such fees on percentage of the transaction, rather than on what obtains presently, which he contends breed serious disparity.

    He argued that it should be made a rule as this will put a stop to the issue of ambiguity ravaging the industry at the moment. NIESV, he disclosed, encourages its members to charge 10 per cent on rent transactions and also 10 per cent on property sales transactions.

     

     

     

    These fees, he clarified, is payable by whoever instructs the agents to execute such transaction, or shared by both sides to the transaction. He chastised agents who are in the habit of charging both parties for the same transaction, advising them to be transparent to the two parties.

    “When you are talking of scale of charges, then fees to be charged have to be made a law and it has to be made operative by everybody on a level playing ground. We, as NIESV, have given suggested what to charge professionally, but that is our view as a stakeholder in the industry. So it is left to the agents and Lagos State government to decide on what they feel it should be in the state,” he reasoned.

    Ajayi also encouraged estate agents to join the Association of Estate Agents in Nigeria so as to benefit from professional training on the job and also for proper regulation.

  • ESVARBON inducts 163 estate surveyors

    NO fewer than 163 new members of the Nigeria Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) have been inducted by the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) in Lagos.

    The new members, who were urged to be good ambassadors of the profession, were given seals and stamps at the 34th induction ceremony held at the Senate Chambers of the former National Assembly Complex, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.

    The chairman of ESVARBON, William Odudu, said the induction has pushed the number of estate surveyors in the country to 3395.

    According to him, the number was considered low and should be worked upon. He noted that one of the major challenges of the board was how to accelerate the registration of new entrants into the profession in order to meet with the rapidly growing population of the country.

    He said the stamps, seals and certificates given to them were the properties of the board and that it reserved the right to withdraw them any time the board feels it has been abused by members.

     

  • Curbing the menace of estate agents

    Curbing the menace of estate agents

    Accommodation seekers dread them, but estate agents remain an evil they must live with. Many have fallen prey to them while searching for shelter. Now the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers(NIESV) appears set to curb their menace, writes Assistant Editor MUYIWA LUCAS

    For three days, Toun Ogunsanya, a mother of two and trader in Oshodi market, Lagos locked up her shop. She did so not because of ill-health but she had in order for an estate agent in Mushin, who she gave money to help her, get a one-bedroom apartment.

    Unable to locate the “estate agent” after a three-day search, she returned to her business. Ogunsanya said she paid N150,000 to the agent, known simply as Baba Ibeji, after he showed her an apartment under renovation. She promised to balance, after taking possession of the apartment. To her surprise, she learnt that the property shown to her had been occupied by someone else through another agent. For now, Ogunsanya only lives on the hope of finding Baba Ibeji sometime in the future.

    Olumide Akintunde, who owns a property in Ojodu-Berger in Lagos State, would also not forget in a hurry the ugly experience he had with the estate agent managing his property. He recalled that for one year, the agent did not remit any money to him as rent collected on his property. So, on the last Saturday of November, last year, he visited the tenants himself.

    He said: “I was surprised when they all showed me their receipts for rent payment, some of them even till March 2014. It was then I realised that the agent in charge of the house had collected the rent but not remitted same to me.” For now, he has parted ways with the agent, while his money remains unpaid. His hope of getting his money has dimmed as the agent has since relocated to an unknown area. The experiences of Ogunsanya and Akintunde are a few of the cases of fraudulent activities of estate agents across the country, which have left their victims helpless.

    These agents most times leave more to be desired. They have been blamed for the high cost of rent in some cases because of the commission they are paid on every transaction. Most times, against the wish of the property owner, estate agents cause a higher price to be paid for properties, especially in cities where there is high demand for houses

    Determined to stop this scourge, Governor Babatunde Fashola has established the Lagos State Real Estate Transactions Department (LASERETRAD). The functions of this body include sensitising the public about estate agency and attendant rules, risks and benefits; keep a register of qualified estate agency practitioners who voluntarily registered with the department; ensure protection of citizens from illegal trade practices; create a forum for affected members of society to lodge complaints against unscrupulous agents; monitor compliance with the state tenancy law and other legislation on land transaction; and prosecute agents suspected of having violated he applicable laws.

    Last year, an estate agent, Michael Olabameji was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by an Ikeja High Court for defrauding 100 accommodation seekers of N29.8 million. In the verdict, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo observed that the convict inflicted untold hardships on the victims, depriving them of their money under the pretence of getting accommodation for them.

    Last week, the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) took a bold initiative to regulate estate agency in the country. At its 20th yearly John Ekpenyong Memorial Lecture in Lagos, with the theme: “Estate Agency: Have we lost it”, the body noted that estate agency was an important aspect of NIESV work. Its President, Mr. O. J. A. Idudu, observed that the way quacks operate in the estate agency sub-sector of the industry calls for serious concern. “They are proud; they are unfriendly, impolite, insulting because they believe we are in competition. They are not trained, not disciplined, and some of them can be fraudulent, but the estate surveyor who is regulated by NIESV cannot do that,” Idudu said.

    Estate agency, Idudu continues, came into being through Decree 24 of 1975; and is an aspect of the profession under the supervision and regulation of NIESV. Therefore, he said, to practise as an estate agent, such a person is expected to register with the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), failing which such a practitioner is portrayed as a quack.

    Several reasons also make it impossible for effective regulation of the profession. Olayinka Omotosho, in the blamed the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which he contends, regards estate agency as a mere business concern by classifying it under general business practice. This, he reckons, has made it difficult for the NIESV and ESVARBON to put their feet down to control the activities of these quacks. Idudu said in May 2007, the Lagos State Estate Agency Regulatory Authority was established by law.

    He, however, observed that if the real professionals had taken the initiative early enough to control and regulate in all its ramifications, the profession of estate surveying, there would have been sanity and unscrupulous estate agents would not have had the chance to thrive.

    NIESV Registrar, Thomas Audu, reckons that the solution lies in the establishment of an estate agents association with the NIESV playing a prominent role in. This thinking obviously gave birth to the Association of Estate Agents in Nigeria, launched four months ago in Lagos by the NIESV.

    President, NIESV, Emeka Eleh told The Nation that estate agency is one of the things the Institution does, but which, unfortunately, tends to be the one that gives the body a bad name because housing is very key to man’s survival. Eleh agrees that estate agency business has been unregulated before now, making everyone to claim authority.

    “We have been concerned about this and before now we had established a new body known as Association of Estate Agent in Nigeria, it is a body to regulate activities in this area,” he noted.

    Eleh said the idea is that anybody can practice as an estate agent but such a person should go through a process that would ensure minimal training and certification to be a practitioner. This is how it is done globally. For the NIESV, this initiative is a consumer protection function considering that there is a need to protect the public because everyday people are being duped by agents, either by renting an uncompleted building to an unsuspecting client or eloping with one’s money.

    “Our idea is to standardise this aspect of our profession; the new body has been launched in Lagos and over a thousand agents have joined; it will also be launched in Abuja for the northern zone shortly. We have multiple agents body here but what we now have is a national body of estate agents that will use our own network all over the country that would ensure that our members are working with their agents to grow the practice. Our own idea is to develop the practice so that people can have confidence in an agent,” Eleh explained, adding that today, anyone dealing with an estate surveyor and valuer has the confidence that if anything goes wrong, the Institution will intervene and sanction its member if found wanting.”

    Laudable as this initiative is, it still appears to be a long walk to self actualisation for the NIESV. This was by Idudu in his lecture when he observed that there is an “external invasion” on the estate agency scene by way of practitioners from the United Kingdom, Dubai, France and the United States. These prospecting practitioners, he noted, check into some good hotels, advertise in newspapers their presence, and invite prospective Nigerian investors to visit them in their suites to “arrange” property investments abroad. This is the new challenge for NIESV.