How unregulated estate agency practice challenges landlords, tenants
One of the troubles tenants and potential landlords go through while looking for accommodation or property (land or house) to buy is the fear of getting into wrong hands, which is why clients deal with agents with ‘all eyes’ open. And so there is urgent need to educate the public on what to watch out for whenever they want to acquire properties.
When real estate practitioners and professionals gather recently for the second Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Estate, Agent and Commission Agents Association of Nigeria (ERCAAN), Ago-Okota, Isolo zone, the challenges faced by landlords, tenants and estate agents formed the focus of discussion.
“Real estate agency practice still remains largely unorganized, unregulated, and suffering from persistent poor public perception,” said Ewenla Mustapha, who spoke on the theme ‘Real Estate Practice: Ethics and Public Perception’ at the gathering.
Mustapha, an estate surveyor, noted that people see estate agency practice as an all-comers affair, a place to fall-back to because of the economic situation in Nigeria, adding, “because of lack of standardization and regulation, both landlords and vendors are turning themselves into agents.”
This lack of regulation is also responsible for the multiple agents appointed to handle one property, which usually turns into a cut-throat competition amongst them.
Due to unregulated agents and standardized practice procedure, the level of abortive work done by the quack agents is phenomenally high. This situation could be brought under control if the appropriate legislations are put in place to curb the practice of all untrained Tom, Dick and Harry who stumbled into the profession.
In Lagos State, for example, Mustapha attributed quackery in the profession to lack of a centrally organised body with the appropriate legislative backing as such body would “set minimum standards for entry, practice as well as ensure adherence to a code of ethics.” Although Lagos has made progress by enacting Lagos State Estate Agency Regulatory Authority Law in 2007, the legality and constitutionality of the law is, however, currently being challenged in court.
Giving his welcome address, the Okota-Isolo zonal chairman, Akinlosotu Olugbemiro, said the association was determined to put sanity into the profession by flushing out quacks from the system. He advised practitioners of real estate to always update their knowledge in the field.
A major highpoint of the gathering was the merger of Ago-Okota and Isolo zones in one zone known as Ago-Okota/Isolo zone.
Joseph Maurice Ogu