An Estate Surveyor and Valuer, ESV Nwokoma Nwankwo has advised members of the public to be cautious and avoid falling victim of fraudsters masquerading as Estate Surveyors and Valuers.
He also advised them to always seek the advice and guidance of qualified professionals as to what they need, especially in respect to their surveying and property valuation matters.
Speaking to Journalists on the sidelines of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) 2025 MCPD Seminar in Port Harcourt, Nwankwo, who is the Rivers State Branch Chairman of the Institution, explained that the seminar was to bring members abreast with mandatory professional capacity development so as to upscale their practice and enjoy greater future prospects.
The seminar, which had as its main theme: ‘Navigating Property Management Complexities: Legal Insights and Practical Solutions, Rent Reviews/Defaults, Landlord-Tenant Relationships’, witnessed the best of eggheads in the profession as they gathered to chart the way forward, especially in the area of training and retraining of members and other vital matters affecting the institution.
Mr. Nwankwo, observed that one of the challenges facing the profession in term of Estate Surveyor and Valuers in the country, is that there is no law that regulates agencies practices, hence some of the issues about quakery in the management and buying of property by unsuspecting members of the public which he said is not only peculiar to the Estate Surveyor profession alone.
According to him, to tackle the issue of quackery in the profession, the Institution has midwifed a body called Association of Estate Agencies in Nigeria (AEAN) to properly organize, guide and tutor non-professionals on agency practice and professionalism.
He maintained that for one to be recognized as a registered and certified Estate Surveyor and Valuers, he or she must have attended and obtained a higher diploma or degree from a recognized polytechnic or university, and he or she must equally have attained all the professional requirements stipulated by authorized regulatory body.
On the issue of constant increase of rent, ESV Nwokoma responded thus: ” It is market forces that determine the price, because where there is little or no demand, the price will fall”.
