ESV Mike Mbagwu,
In this short story,ESV Mike Mbagwu, a registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer, argued from the professional point of view on why professionals alone should be allowed to manage properties in the Nigerian real estate space.
Property management is concerned with the management of landed assets, otherwise known as landed properties. These include the land, building, and other economic or monetary value assets that are associated with the building like plants and equipment.
Property management procedures involve the selection of occupants/tenants, property letting, control over the properties, rent review and lease renewal if the property is under lease. Other procedures are; insurance of the property function, regular repairs, service charge functions, marketing and branding of the property, sewage management, security function, just to mention but a few.
In the real estate industry, professional property managers – those with expertise in estate management and other allied professions ought to be the only class of people saddled with the management of properties. But the lucrative and booming nature of the industry, among other factors, has attracted so many non-professionals into property management which is a unit in the real estate ecosystem. Activities of these non-professionals, otherwise known as quacks has distorted the property management arm of the real estate business, and thereby causing challenges emanating from unprofessionalism in the property management business.
For professional property management to be achieved in the industry and in the near future, those who have been professionally trained and certified by relevant professional bodies should be allowed to do the jobs. A situation where other professionals are mass veering into the real estate space does not augur well for the industry, professionals, and the country as a whole.
On why real estate professionals are the best set of people to manage properties, they have received the relevant training and education. They have the well -withal to professionally discharge property management functions like property operations – rent collections, tenant relations, maintenance, property marketing and branding services, space planning, accounting and financial services.
When professionals are hired to carry out property management functions, it brings about professionalism in the industry, fraud and sharp practices are reduced to the barest minimum, and appropriate land and property charges are paid to the government.
No doubt, getting rid of quacks in the property management space is a difficult task. But with concerted efforts of all stakeholders in the industry, this can be achieved. To kick start this process, the government, corporate organizations, and private individuals should stop patronizing quacks when it comes to property management. Professional bodies in the real estate space should come up with training programmes and courses that will incorporate more persons into their folds and drastically reduce the incidence of quacks.
There should be adequate campaigns and advocacies programmes by professional bodies in the built environment on why the market participants should patronize only professionals. As a matter of fact, this task should be a collective effort of all stakeholders in the industry.
ESV Mike Mbagwu, is a registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer. He is the Principal Partner of Mike Mbagwu Consulting, a leading Nigerian firm of estate surveyors and Valuers in Nigeria. He sent in this piece from Asaba, Delta State.
