ESTATE SURVEYORS AND VALUERS FOR PROPERTY RATING, A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

ESTATE SURVEYORS AND VALUERS FOR PROPERTY RATING IN ABAKALIKI, A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Good day readers. I hope we all are doing well. I want to welcome all of us to another blessed week in Lent. I know that God has been our guide and our guard in this truly harsh environment we find ourselves in. Just the way He has been there for us, I know He will never allow us to stray so far away from Him unguided and unprotected.

I am really glad writing this piece today. If the rumour I am hearing is true, it is really a welcome development. To appoint an estate surveyor and valuer as consultant to handle property rating matters in the state is the right thing to do. There are so many reasons why that is so, and I shall point out a number of them here.

Firstly and foremostly, estate surveyors and valuers are the only professionals who can handle property rating. The reason is that property rating involves valuations. In other words, in order to determine the rate to be charged on a building, that building should first of all be valued. it is only after the value of the building is determined that the rateable value can now be calculated. Now, valuation is an integral part of the study of Estate Management in Universities and Polytechnics in the country. So, estate surveyors are well trained in the science of valuations. Added to that, the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), one of the regulatory bodies for the profession in Nigeria, organizes mandatory Continuous Professional Development (CPD) seminars which are held in most states of federation at least once every year. This training and retraining of estate surveyors and valuers ensures that they are equipped and well positioned to handle the intricacies and challenges of conducting valuations for rating and other purposes.

The second reason why no meaningful rating and taxation exercise can be conducted without estate surveyors and valuers is that the law which establishes the profession in Nigeria, the Estate Surveyors and Valuers (Registration ETC) Decree No. 24 of 1975, now CAP III (Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) 1990, states that only estate surveyors and valuers registered under the Act can carry out valuations in Nigeria. In effect, this means that when people other than estate surveyors and valuers are called upon to handle property rating, they are indeed breaking the law! That is the simple truth and is a fact!

The third reason I will state is that where estate surveyors and valuers are involved in the determination and administration of property rates, their computations and estimates are final. I am sure that members of the Internal Revenue Board hearing this will find it interesting. Yes. Such figures from the computation and valuation for rating exercise would be final when estate surveyors and valuers are involved. This is especially so where both parties to the rating exercise are represented by different estate surveyors and valuers. The both parties to a rating exercise are the tax authorities and the tax payers. As long as both parties are well represented in the determination of the rateable value, their figures when computed would be final.

All these reasons I have stated above result in the fourth reason why an estate surveyor and valuer should be used in every property rating exercise. Where there are estate surveyors and valuers representing each party to the a rating exercise, the issue of going to court to challenge the figures arrived at is precluded. This would therefore make it easier for the tax authorities to start enforcement of the tax or rate payments immediately.

The fifth reason I will give is that tax payers will be more willing to pay their property rates where an estate surveyor and valuer is there to represent them during computation. At such times, they are sure that their interest is being protected. They check the excesses of the tax authorities who would want to ensure that property rates are fixed very high. Their estate surveyor and valuer would work to ensure that property rates are brought to as low as possible.

There are many more advantages that appointing an estate surveyor and valuer for property rating and valuation would achieve, but I will stop here knowing fully that those mentioned above have driven my point home. There is no meaningful property rating regime or exercise that can be done without the involvement of estate surveyors and valuers.

Please, call, text or email me with your criticisms, comments, questions and suggestions on this or any of my earlier write-ups.

Have yourselves a great week.