The estate surveyor and
valuer trained in the art and science of estate management to direct and
supervise an interest in landed properties with the sole aim of obtaining
optimum returns for the owners of such properties has an important role to play
in the wellbeing of people and overall development of the society at large.
As members of the three
(3) arms of government have various roles they play and perform in attaining
better wellbeing and living standards for the people, so also does the Estate
Surveyors and Valuers, whose roles and duties in the society cannot be
overlooked or ignored.
For the benefits of
those that might be wondering the roles Estate Surveyors and Valuers actually
play in the society, I have identified and explained some of these roles below:
·
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:
Wikipedia defined
infrastructure as “the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the
operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary
for an economy to function. It also defined it in military parlance to mean
buildings and permanent installations necessary for the support, redeployment,
and operation of military forces”.
Public
infrastructures/assets are important terms used in judging a country or
region’s development status because they are physical components of
interrelated systems providing commodities and services essential to enable,
sustain, or enhance societal living conditions.
The physical state and
conditions of public infrastructures/assets in Nigeria is nothing to write home
about or befitting to us - a nation – as giant of Africa. I’m very sure most of
you know the state in which the country’s public infrastructures/assets are in
today presently.
It must be sadly said
at this juncture that public infrastructures/assets in Nigeria has been in
serious decay and deteriorating state over the years due largely in part to
mismanagement and inadequate or poor maintenance, which has left some of these
infrastructures/assets in dismal state of repairs and abandonment.
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 will/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:
One
of the major determinants of a country’s development rate, standard of living and
social wellbeing is massive investment in infrastructural development schemes
by the government and private sector. Land economics for infrastructural
development schemes focuses on the allocation of land in a particular region
within a state/country for residential, commercial or other uses.
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: Trained in the art and science of
estate management to deal with all matters relating to the maintenance and
management of land and landed properties within a country for the overall
beneficial interest of the citizenry, Estate Surveyors and Valuers should be
engaged always because their level of expertise and training spreads across
various aspects of real estate discipline.
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.
Some of the roles
expected of Estate Surveyors and Valuers while acting as custodians of land and
landed properties in the society include:
·
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:
Right from the creation of man, the issues of land and property disputes in
various forms have been rampant among people of different backgrounds and
ethnicity.
Different categories of
land and landed properties’ disputes ranging from land alienation, rightful
ownership claims, compensation for land/property acquired compulsorily by government,
tenant – landlord issues, etc are continuously been presented and determined in
various law courts of the land. Some and if not most of these land disputes
have been dragging for a long time without any positive outcome.
To curb and minimize
the time taken to determine and give judgements 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: As medical practitioners cannot perform
the roles and duties of legal practitioners, so also are the various roles and
duties of Estate Surveyors and Valuers in the society can’t be performed
professionally as expected of them by non-real estate professionals, except the
professional Estate Surveyors and Valuers themselves.
It is the sole role of
Estate Surveyors and Valuers to offer professional expertise, advise, services
and opinions to people of different classes in the society based on their
individual real estate needs and wants.
The various roles
Estate Surveyors and Valuers play in the society on all matters relating to
issues of land and landed properties has made them to be very relevant in the
development of a nation’s economy and social wellbeing of the total populace.
This is so because there is no person or institution that will not require the
professional services of Estate Surveyors and Valuers for various individual
purposes and needs.
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: This is another role Estate Surveyors
and Valuers performs in the society for the betterment and training of those
aspiring to become future Estate Surveyors and Valuers, or those that wants to
gain an understanding and knowledge about the concepts and principles of estate
management as a discipline.
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.
It is the training and
education given by Estate Surveyors and Valuers to prospective and future real
estate professionals/practitioners that will equip such people to also become
vast in knowledge, understanding, practical skills and experiences in
performing exceptionally well in any capacity they find themselves as real
estate professionals in the society.
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.
With the statements I
have written above to buttress my point on the roles Estate Surveyors and
Valuers play in the society, you will agree with me that the professional
services and expertise of Estate Surveyors and Valuers can and should not be
under-estimated or ignored towards achieving economic development and social
wellbeing of the populace.
ABOUT
ME
I am a Higher National
Diploma (HND) holder of Estate Management from the prestigious Yaba College of
Technology, Yaba, Lagos state, Nigeria. I also possess a Professional Practice
Certificate in Estate Surveying and Valuation from the Nigerian Institution of
Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV).
I am the principal
consultant of Aakient Consultants Ltd, a highly progressive and consolidated
property and construction project management company, which is committed to
providing the highest level of professionalism and services in meeting clients’
real estate needs.
Feel free to contact me
at: aakientconsultants@gmail.com
