‘Surveyors Not Responsible For The Huge Housing & High Rent’

The Lagos Branch Chairman of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr. Offiong Ukpong has said that Surveyors and Valuers are not responsible for the huge housing deficit and high rent.

He was reacting to the claim of Works, Power and Housing Minister Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s that surveyors and valuers should be blamed for those problems.

Ukpong, who led a delegation to visit Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos, said surveyors and valuers were often accused of being responsible for several anti-tenancy activities, high cost of renting properties; tenants’ inability to pay rent; fixing of high rent and charging high fees.

According to him, NIESV, which ought to have been a development partner to the government, is not treated as such by relevant authorities, considering that when major decisions are taken, the body, according to him, is not represented.

“The cost of land, its preparation, taxes and levies paid are not under our control nor advice. We do not determine accommodation density nor are we involved in the design of the building, yet we shall be managing it when all others exit. We are not involved at the construction stages, neither is our advice sought on areas of cost savings or elimination of dead spaces or unnecessary facilities. Our opinion is not sought on whether the housing provision is for social housing or investment considerations,” Ukpong said.

He said often estate valuers were called at the completion of a project to do the marketing and management, sometimes, at a predetermined rent. Besides, property owners, most times, shun the advice of valuers, who are easily relieved of the job if they advise anything to the contrary.

He said in other countries, real estate development attracted 2 to 4 per cent interest rate per annum at a tenor of between 15 to 25 years.

“Is government giving mortgage? For what duration and at what rate? If rent is high what of Land Use Charge? What is the return to land as a factor of production, and should it not be competitive? Instead of any blame game, we should be thinking of synergies and partnerships rather than the neglect our profession has suffered these past years,” he said.