Professional Practice, Ethics and Regulation
Regulatory architecture
Professional Practice, Ethics and Regulation tests the rules that let a valuer's signature carry weight. The Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) registers practitioners and firms and hears discipline through its tribunal; the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) sets membership grades, the code of conduct and the scale of fees. Practising without registration, or through an unregistered firm, is an offence. Continuing professional development, professional indemnity insurance and separate client accounts are practical requirements.
Ethical rules
- Integrity and objectivity: value on evidence, not on the client's desired figure.
- Independence: a valuation fee must not be contingent on the value reported or on a loan being granted.
- Confidentiality: client information is not disclosed without authority or legal compulsion.
- Competence: decline or declare limits where the instruction is outside your expertise.
- No secret commissions; disclose any interest; do not act for both parties without informed consent.
Worked example
A borrower offers a bonus if you value a property at ₦500m to support a loan; your evidence supports ₦380m. The correct response is to decline the bonus, report ₦380m with comparables and reasoning, record the approach in the file, and tell the lender if pressure continues. The reasoning: a contingent fee destroys independence, and a knowingly inflated valuation exposes the valuer to disciplinary action and the lender to loss.
Traps
Accepting contingency fees; acting for buyer and seller without disclosure; hiding a lack of competence behind caveats; paying introducers; discussing a client's affairs publicly; ignoring the current scale of fees and engagement terms.