This slideshow requires JavaScript.

An Estate Surveyor and Valuer is a professional in the field of Estate Management which in itself is the supervision and direction of interest in landed properties in order to secure the maximum returns.

One of the popular components of professional functions of the estate surveyors and valuers is the valuation of assets- both movable and immovable assets. The Estate Surveyor and Valuer does not just put value on such assets. He must first of all, inspect the asset to ascertain its state (i.e. condition) and thereafter, he carries out market survey and analysis to acquaint himself with the levels of demand and supply of the asset as well as prices of comparable assets in the market. It is only after undergoing the two stages that he carries out valuation of the asset to determine its value.

Practitioners of the profession in other countries are known and referred to by other different names. In the United States of America, they are called appraisers, in the United Kingdom, they are known as Chartered Surveyors, and in other countries they are simply called valuers or estate valuers.

However, the name in Nigeria must have been as a result of the need to essentially capture and reflect the significant functions the valuer performs in the task of valuation in his name and, moreover, to distinguish him from other surveyors.

In Nigeria, an Estate Surveyor and Valuer is one who by his training and experience has been elected as a corporate member of the Nigerian Institution Of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), registered and empowered by the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVRBON) to practice estate surveying and valuation in Nigeria. The Board (ESVRBON) issues any registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer official stamp and seal which carry his registration number. The valuer is expected to validate his accent to all his official report of valuations with the instruments.

The Estate Surveyor and Valuer offers a number of professional services to both individuals and the society at large which no one else can provide without professional skill and expertise. The functions include among others the services such as  property management, Valuation of assets, Feasibility and Viability studies, Estate agency, Public lands administration, Land use planning and Management, Project Management, Property deal counseling, Arranging finance for investment, Arbitration.

Below is detailed explanation of some roles of estate surveyors and valuers:

• Maintenance of public infrastructures/assets
• Act as land economists for infrastructural development schemes
• Custodian of land and landed properties
• Land dispute arbitrators
• Professional property consultation and expertise
• Act as Educators and instructors
• Employers of labour

Maintenance of Public Infrastructures/Assets:

Estate Surveyors and Valuers trained in the art and science of estate management has important and inevitable roles to play in the management and maintenance of the nation’s public infrastructures – land and buildings, plant and machinery, furniture and fixtures – based on their professional expertise, training, qualification, years of working experience and the knowledge they possess in all matters relating to land and landed properties.

Some of the roles Estate Surveyors and Valuers can perform in the course of managing public infrastructures/assets in Nigeria are:

• Formulate a well detailed planned preventive maintenance policy to the government for managing public infrastructures/assets
• Help to identify and establish the operative life span and renewal of the component parts that makes up such public infrastructures/assets
• Carry out continuous renovation and remedial works on some of the infrastructures’ component parts that require minor or early repairs before they affect other parts of such assets/facilities
• Continuously act in the capacity of a facility/asset manager of public infrastructures/assets on behalf of government for the overall beneficial interest of the government, citizens and nation as a whole

Act As Land Economists For Infrastructural Development Schemes: In the provision of infrastructural development schemes, Estate Surveyors and Valuers have important roles to play because they act and serve as land economists through their education and training in the concept, theory and principles of land economics – rural and urban – to give expert opinion and advise on the various locations within a region where different types of land uses – residential, commercial, agricultural, etc – can/should be developed based on the  needs of the populace, as well as other urban and non-urban land issues.

The roles expected of Estate Surveyors and Valuers as land economists in relation to infrastructural development schemes are:

• Analyze organization of activities in a region
• Establish factors that determines prices of land in a region
• Examine intra-location choices of firms and households
• Formulate policy for various land-use control
• Identify all the various urban and non-urban issues inherent in carrying out infrastructural development schemes in a particular region
• Assist in formulating a region’s development master plan

Custodian of Land And Landed Properties: Estate Surveyors and Valuers while acting as custodians of land and landed properties performs the role of ensuring that those classes of land and landed properties been entrusted onto them are continuously properly managed and maintained in order to improve their aesthetic value, monetary value and lifespan, as well as achieve the expected optimum returns which are in varying forms for the owners of such land and landed properties. They are:

• Management and maintenance of land and landed properties for the owners
• Advise on the highest and best use of any land and landed properties
• Act in the overall beneficial interest of owners of land and landed properties
• Help to formulate a master plan for infrastructural development projects in the society
• Determine the monetary value and worth of land and landed properties

Land Dispute Arbitrator: To curb and minimize the time taken to determine and give judgments on some of these land disputes, government has set up civil mediation centers acting as an alternative to dispute resolutions, mandated to handle and cater for cases relating to various land and property disputes in a non-judicial manner through the appointment of an arbitrator.

The roles Estate Surveyors and Valuers perform in the society when appointed as land and property disputes’ arbitrators by the aggrieved parties are:

• Act as intermediary between the aggrieved parties to the land and property dispute
• Act as a neutral umpire without taking sides to any of the aggrieved parties to the land and property disputes
• Form member of a land dispute tribunal to determine arbitration cases relating to land and property disputes
• Proffer professional and expert opinion on compensation valuation cases as well as all matters relating to land and landed property disputes

Professional Property Consultation And Expertise: Some of the roles performed by Estate Surveyors and Valuers as professional property consultants and experts which make them to be very relevant in the development of a society as whole are:

• Advise on various types of real estate investments that can be embarked upon
• Management and maintenance of both public and private real estate facilities and assets
• Provide an opinion of value for all land and landed properties, plant and machinery, furniture and fixtures on property valuation matters
• Serve as property managers to clients’ properties
• Serve as professional estate agents to clients on matters relating to land and landed property sales, acquisition and lease

Act As Educators and Instructors: Estate Surveyors and Valuers act as teachers and trainers in various capacities either in private practice, public sector or institutions of higher learning where they continuously perform the role of educating people about the nitty-gritty of real estate management as a profession and course of study. They are able to do and achieve this task based on their level of experiences, skills, training and technical know-how in all matters relating to land and landed properties.

Employers of Labour: Estate Surveyors and Valuers who have set up their own private real estate firms are directly performing the role of employers of labour in the society as they create jobs in this regard by employing different kinds of people to work in various departments within their firms.

While performing this important role as employers of labour, Estate Surveyors and Valuers are helping government to curb the issue unemployment which is very rampant in the society through the creation of paid employment opportunities to the citizens that desire to work in real estate and surveying firms.

Our correspondent visited the Chairman of Nigerian Institution Of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), ESV Emmanuel Alao, to have his view on how members are upholding the tenets of the profession. He said the services of the profession are underutilized. This he attributed to the activities of quacks.

According to him, people patronize quacks to avoid paying the professional fees. He noted that those who do business with quacks often fail into trouble and will later seek their services. He said that it is the agency aspect of their services that quacks have infiltrated, because it does not require much investment start. “The agency aspect of the profession is a loose one, once you are able to know the buyer or the seller, you are into buying and selling of properties”, he disclosed.

He went on to say that these quacks who operate from under mango trees cannot be reported to anybody in when problems occur. But in the case of a professional registered estate surveyor and value any wrong dealing with a client might cause on his professional practicing license. “But in our own case, we have a regulatory body and we have disciplinary measures for errant members. So if any member is caught erring, he will be reported to the authority for appropriate disciplinary measure”, he revealed.

The Principal Partner at Peter Eke, ESV Peter Eke corroborated the chairman on the activities of quacks in the profession. He said quacks are not only outsiders to the profession but those who read the course and are yet to be recognizes by the institution.

He said a university graduate of the profession has to write Professional Practicing Exam (PPE) to become chartered. On the other hand a polytechnic graduate will write Professional Qualifying Exams (PQE) one to three before writing the PE.

He said the profession has about 4000 registered members and that there are about 500 of them in Abuja.

On the issue of professional fees, he said the maximum of 10% of cost the property is charged and that the fee goes down as the price of the property goes up. He said that if the value of the property is in billions, the fee can be as low as 0.01% or less.