PROFESSIONALIZING REAL ESTATE AGENCY PRACTICE IN NIGERIA
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PROFESSIONALIZING REAL ESTATE AGENCY PRACTICE IN NIGERIA
CHAPITRE ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The phrase “professionalising” is formed from the terms “profession” and “professional.” A professional is defined as someone who has specialised knowledge of a certain role or specialty (Ojewunmi, 2005). Such a person would have been trained or gained the requisite training to become a professional in that discipline.
A professional lives within the framework of a profession, which is a distinct discipline or career path with its own requirements and standards for training, qualification, and membership.
Professional bodies exist to ensure that those within its fold have the necessary training/qualification and also follow by its rules and ethical standards in order to establish such standards (Kuye, 1998). A professional in any field is seen as having a specific level of skill expected of a person in that career.
Real estate agency is fundamentally a land-based profession that deals with the purchasing, selling, or leasing of real estate interests, which can be land, buildings, or interests in them. In our context, practitioners of this vocation are commonly referred to as Estate Agents.
Given the importance of housing in man’s hierarchy of wants and the significant shortfall in the housing sector in Nigeria, real estate agents play a vital part in the country’s socioeconomic life.
A real estate agent is generally defined as someone who has the ability to act on behalf of another person in order to establish a contractual connection between his principal and a third party. The person who hires the agent is known as the Principal. There are several variations of real estate Agent/Agency (Olatunji, 2008).
Real estate agency practise in Nigeria is still mostly unorganised, uncontrolled, and unprofessional. Apart from the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, which has established standards for its members’ practise,
the vast majority of those who practise estate agency do so without any basic training in that field, without any certification or qualification, without any regulation, and largely in an unprofessional manner (Gambo & Ashen, 2012).
The practise is normally open to all comers, and admittance and exit are entirely at the choice of the individual. Most estate agents are generally on their own due to the lack of a central professional/regulatory body that will set minimum standards for entry, set standards for its practise, and ensure adherence to a code of ethics (Gambo & Ashen, 2012).
There are numerous local estate agents Associations, but they are mainly local entities with no structure, leadership, or aim to expand the practise of real estate agency beyond the founders’ or originators’ parochial interests (Hemuka, 2002).
The consequences of the current status of real estate agency practise in Nigeria are various. The major consequences are that the consuming public has been on the receiving end of estate agents in terms of very poor services,
fraudulent transactions, and income losses due to the activities of dubious practitioners due to a lack of regulation and requisite competence on the part of the practitioners (Hunter, 1997).
As a result, the public’s view of real estate agents is quite negative. Real estate agents are generally regarded as people who engage in shady practises and with whom you must deal with “all eyes” on you. As a result, practitioners are not recognised in society.
The lack of respect for practitioners has resulted in a scenario in which both vendors and landlords do not perceive the need to compensate them correctly, while a lack of standardisation and regulation has resulted in both landlords and vendors acting as agents.
In most circumstances, many agents are appointed, and due to the lack of standardised practise methods, competition among them is fierce. Because to the lack of standardised practise procedures, the average estate agent performs a phenomenal amount of unsuccessful work.
The police, EFCC, and other law enforcement agencies are going after real estate agents because they believe that a lot of money is laundered through the purchase of houses using illegally obtained riches (Olatunji, 2008).
To achieve professionalism in the practise of real estate agency in Nigeria, the right approach will be to work towards ensuring that real estate agents are appropriately trained and certified to practise, establishing standardised prequalification and registration protocols for prospective estate agents,
maintaining a register of all qualified and certified estate agents, enforcing compliance to a code of ethics and practise through sanctions, and instituting and implementing mandatory training To ensure the protection of members of the public, institute appropriate professional indemnity insurance programmes for members,
set remuneration due to agents whether as single agents or cooperating agents, generally regulate the practise of estate agency, develop and project the practise of estate agency as a respectable brand that will continuously earn the trust of members of the public through quality service delivery by its members. It will also protect and defend practitioners’ interests.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Real estate agency practise in Nigeria, as in other nations throughout the world, contributes significantly to the housing delivery system by helping to meet as well as accommodate for people’s housing/accommodation demands. Because of the important roles that real estate agents play in the housing and accommodation delivery sectors of the economy,
many people have become victims of accommodation fraud at the hands of some of these estate agents who go about duping genuine accommodation seekers, prompting calls from many quarters for the profession to be professionalised in Nigeria. Professionalising real estate agencies in Nigeria will benefit both the consumers and the practitioners.
While the public will benefit from improved or quality agency services from trustworthy and well-referenced real estate agents, practitioners will benefit from proper regulation of the practise,
which will ensure that only qualified and certified individuals practise the trade and that practitioners are appropriately trained, equipped, and compensated.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the study’s objectives:
1. To investigate the difficulties associated with the professionalisation of real estate agent practise in Nigeria.
2. To chart a course for the professionalisation of real estate agent practise in Nigeria.
3. To investigate the issues impeding the professionalisation of Nigerian real estate agent practise.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What are the challenges involved in the professionalisation of Nigerian real estate agent practise?
2. What steps should be taken to professionalise real estate agency practise in Nigeria?
3. What are the elements impeding the professionalisation of Nigerian real estate agency practise?
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The following are the study’s implications:
1. The findings of this study will aid the government and its agencies by bringing practitioners of the trade under one tent, making the regulatory work of government agencies like the EFCC in its fight against money laundering easier.
2. The outcome will educate the general public on the need of using professional real estate agents and the requirements that define someone as a real estate agent, such as qualifications and membership in a professional body.
3. This research will also serve as a resource base for other academics and researchers interested in conducting additional research in this sector in the future, and if implemented, will go so far as to provide new explanations for the topic.
1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This research on professionalising real estate agencies in Nigeria: challenges and prospects will look at the actions of real estate agency practitioners in Nigeria while keeping professional ethics and codes of conduct in mind.
STUDY LIMITATIONS
Financial constraint- A lack of funds tends to restrict the researcher’s efficiency in locating relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as in the data collection procedure (internet, questionnaire, and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will conduct this investigation alongside other academic activities. As a result, the amount of time spent on research will be reduced.
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Profession: a paid occupation, particularly one that requires extensive training and a formal qualification.
Ethics are moral rules that guide a person’s behaviour or the performance of an activity.
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