7 TYPES OF ESTATE AGENTS IN NIGERIA

In my last post, I wrote on the need for a statutory regulation to be promulgated for estate agency practice in Nigeria. 

So today, I will be writing on the seven (7) different types of estate agents in Nigeria, who are carrying out estate agency activities in one way or another in the estate surveying and valuation profession.

Before I go ahead with my explanation on the different types of estate agents in Nigeria, let me quickly explain to you who an estate agent is, as this will help give you a better insight and understanding as to the meaning and concept of estate agency practice.

MEANING OF ESTATE AND ESTATE AGENT

Estate and Agent are two different words coined together to represent a descriptive appellation for the person or business entity carrying out estate agency activities.

Estate is referred to as large piece of land owned by an individual or group of persons. It is also described to mean a piece or large piece of land with different types of buildings/structures been developed on it.

The legal meaning of estate refers to the amount, degree or nature of a person’s interest in land or other property.

An Agent is referred to as the person or business entity authorized and/or instructed to act on behalf of another person – client – in a business transaction with third parties based on an agency relationship they have created.

Estate Agent on the other hand is regarded to mean the person who carries out business activities in estate agency practice and whose duty is to sell, acquire, lease and manage various classes of land and landed properties on behalf of the client in consideration for monetary compensation usually referred to as commission.

Estate agents can specialize in either one or all of the following areas of estate agency practice; sales, lettings, acquisition, property management and valuation, but this will be based on their level of education, qualification and professional training.

The seven (7) types of estate agents in the Nigerian real estate management profession are:

·         Sole/Exclusive Estate Agents

·         Joint Estate Agents

·         Multiple Estate Agents

·         Sub- Estate Agents

·         Contract/Vendor Estate Agents

·         Owner - Estate Agents

·         Quack Estate Agents

SOLE/EXCLUSIVE ESTATE AGENTS: As the name implies, sole or exclusive agents are those types of estate agents that are specifically appointed and given the full mandate by the client to act on his/her behalf.

Sole or exclusive estate agents can/will act on behalf of the client in all matters relating to sales, acquisition, letting and management of land and landed properties based on the instruction or mandate given to them.

This is why you always find/see a single advertisement board of an estate agency firm on a land or landed property either for sale or letting because the estate agency firm and the client to the property has a sole/exclusive agency relationship/agreement between them.

Where a sole or exclusive estate agent successfully carries out the instruction and real estate needs of the client, he/she will be paid a monetary sum – commission – which was agreed upon between them during the creation of the estate agency relationship/agreement as compensation for their services.

Where a sole or exclusive estate agent has been appointed, the client can not employ the services of other estate agents on the same real estate matter which he/she has given his mandate or instruction to the sole or exclusive estate agent to act on his/her behalf except when such sole or exclusive estate agency agreement is terminated between them.

The services of a sole or exclusive estate agent can be sought after by individuals, corporate organizations or government parastatals.

JOINT ESTATE AGENTS: These are estate agents that have been jointly appointed and instructed together by the same client in order for them to act on behalf of the client on a particular real estate business transaction. 

Unlike where sole/exclusive estate agents are given a sole mandate or instruction by the client, joint estate agents as the name implies are jointly given the same mandate and instruction by the client to act on his/her behalf for a monetary compensation – commission – to be shared among the joint estate agents so appointed by the client.

Whenever a joint estate agency agreement/relationship is to be created, the estate agents to be jointly appointed by the client are usually formally introduce to each other so as to spell out the contractual obligations and duties of all parties involved in the estate agency transaction as they are all expected to cooperate together to achieve the goal of the client.

One of the rules of estate agency practice as been established by the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) is that it is prohibitive for professional Estate Surveyors and Valuers who have been appointed joint estate agents in estate agency matter relating to either sales or lease, to hang their separate advertisement boards on the same land or landed property but instead, should use a joint advertisement board on the property bearing the names of their estate firms as well as their contact details. 

Each estate agent in a joint estate agency agreement will be compensated according to the agreement reached upon during the joint agency agreement/contract they signed with the client. 

The services of joint estate agents can also be requested for by individuals, corporate organizations or government parastatals based on their particular real estate demand.

MULTIPLE ESTATE AGENTS: This is where five or more estate agents are instructed and appointed individually and/ or continuously by the client to act on his/her behalf in an estate agency matter relating to land or landed property sales, acquisition and/or lettings until when these needs are met by either any or all of the multiple estate agents been instructed.

Multiple estate agents that have been appointed and instructed by the client will most times not know themselves as the instructions and mandate of the client’s real estate agency need is directed specifically to different estate agents. They may however get to know themselves when their advertisement boards are displayed on the property in question.

Multiple estate agents are usually appointed when the client has a special preference for a particular class of land or landed property within a particular geographical location but which he/she is finding it very difficult to get. 

It is only the particular estate agent that is successful in fulfilling the mandate of the client among the other multiple estate agents that will be compensate at the end of the transaction.

SUB- ESTATE AGENTS: These are estate agents who are appointed by another estate agent to assist them in carrying out and fulfilling the instruction and mandate of the client on a particular real estate transaction. Sub- estate agents don’t usually have the direct instruction or mandate of the client to carry out a particular real estate transaction on his/her behalf, but only act as an assistant or colleague to the sole estate agent who has been given the client’s instruction and mandate. 

The sub-estate agent and the head estate agent will normally agree on a fee-sharing ratio to be apportioned to each other when they are able to successfully carry out the client’s instruction.

CONTRACT/VENDOR ESTATE AGENTS: These are those types of estate agents that are registered real estate contractors/vendors with a particular company or organization in offering their estate agency services. 

Contract/vendor estate agents would need to be registered with the particular company or organization if they are to offer their real estate agency services to them.

It is only those contract/vendor estate agents who are registered with the particular organization or company that are given instructions and mandate to act and carry out a specific real estate transaction on behalf of the client.

The fee to be paid as commission would have been communicated and agreed to between the particular company/organization and the vendor/contract estate agents prior to them acting on the instructions of the client.

Vendor/contract estate agents work in various sectors of the economy such as: financial institutions, telecommunication companies, government parastatals, oil and gas companies, etc

OWNER - ESTATE AGENTS: These are special estate agents that are finding their way into the real estate agency practice of the estate management and valuation profession. 

They are referred to as owners of residential and/or commercial properties to be let out while also acting as estate agents in marketing and finding suitable tenants to the same property. They usually don’t appoint estate agents to act on their behalf on the property to be let out or sale, but rather, they act on their own selves.

Any advertisement board and/or information displayed on the property to be let or sale usually belong to them.

What is usually encountered with these owner-estate agents is that they always demand for estate agency commission/fee from anybody that wants to occupy their property apart from the rental amount which will be paid by the prospective occupants.

QUACK ESTATE AGENTS: This refers to those people who are without any formal training, education or qualification in real estate management and valuation but are carrying out estate agency activities to the general public.

They have no professional expertise and/or skills in the act and science of estate surveying and valuation but have encroached into the profession in one way or another to carry out estate agency activities.

Due to their numerical advantage in the real estate surveying and valuation profession, they are widely consulted by the general public for most of their real estate agency – property sales, acquisition, lettings and management – needs as that is the only major area of their activities and practice in the estate surveying and valuation profession in Nigeria.

ABOUT ME

Adeniyi Akinjiyan is a Higher National Diploma (HND) holder of Estate Management from the prestigious Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos state, Nigeria. He possesses a Professional Practice Certificate in Estate Surveying and Valuation from the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV).

He is 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 professional services in meeting clients’ real estate needs.

Feel free to contact him at: aakientconsultants@gmail.com