NIESV PPE common mistakes
NIESV PPE · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Quoting a single 'market value' figure for a property without stating the basis of value, the valuation date, the assumptions and the special assumptions, as required by IVS 101/103-style reporting and NIESV practice.
Candidates memorise the definition of market value but treat the report as a narrative essay; they conflate basis, date and assumptions, and under exam time pressure omit the qualifying clauses that make a valuation defensible.
What to do instead
Draft a fixed opening template for every valuation answer: basis of value, valuation date, purpose and intended user, property identification, extent of investigation, assumptions and special assumptions, then the figure. Practise writing the template from memory in under five minutes so it becomes automatic before you analyse the comparables.
Applying the investment method to a leasehold or reversionary interest by capitalising the current rent in perpetuity, ignoring the term, the reversion and the rent review pattern.
Candidates learn the years' purchase of a single rack rent and then force every problem into that single-stage model; they do not read the lease terms carefully and miss that a term-and-reversion or hardcore/layer approach is needed.
What to do instead
Before computing, write out the cash flow timeline: lease term remaining, review pattern, current passing rent, estimated rental value, and what happens at expiry. Then select the model (term and reversion, hardcore, or DCF) explicitly and show the YP factors for each layer separately.
Answering ethics scenarios by naming the correct principle (integrity, confidentiality, conflicts of interest) without applying it to the facts and stating the required course of action.
Candidates revise the code of conduct as a list of virtues and then write a moralising paragraph; examiners award marks for identifying the specific breach, the rule engaged, the parties affected and the action the member must take, not for reciting values.
What to do instead
Use a four-step structure for every ethics scenario: identify the conduct issue; cite the relevant obligation (fidelity to client, avoidance of conflict, confidentiality, competence); state who is harmed and why; prescribe the concrete action (decline the instruction, disclose and obtain consent, refer on, report to the institution).
Treating Certificate of Occupancy as the only or conclusive evidence of title in Nigeria, and ignoring the Land Use Act 1978 framework of statutory and customary rights of occupancy, governor's consent to assignment, and registration under state land instruments laws.
The C of O dominates public discussion, so candidates assume it settles ownership; they overlook that it is evidence of a right of occupancy, not a guarantee against prior claims, and forget consent and registration requirements on transfer.
What to do instead
Build a title chain checklist: root of title, statutory versus customary right of occupancy, governor's consent to assignment or mortgage, stamp duty, registration, and searches (land registry, probate, corporate affairs, court). Practise explaining what a C of O does and does not prove, and why unregistered instruments are inadmissible as evidence of title.
Confusing estate agency duties to the principal with duties to the buyer, and failing to explain the legal effect of the key agency terms: sole agency, sole selling rights, joint sole agency and ready, willing and able purchaser.
Candidates learn agency as a sales routine and not as a contract of agency; they cannot distinguish when commission is earned under each instruction type, so they give vague answers about 'finding a buyer'.
What to do instead
Tabulate the four instruction types against three questions: who else may be appointed, when is commission payable, and what happens if the owner sells privately. Memorise the ready, willing and able purchaser test and the duty to disclose personal interest in the property.
Describing property management as a list of activities (collecting rent, arranging repairs) rather than addressing the service charge budget, sinking fund, recovery mechanism and statutory obligations owed to leaseholders or tenants.
The syllabus overlaps with facilities management and candidates blur the two; they write generic lists and omit the financial and legal mechanics that distinguish professional management.
What to do instead
For any management scenario, structure the answer around the management agreement, the service charge cycle (estimate, demand, actual, reconciliation), the reserve or sinking fund, recovery and enforcement, health and safety obligations, and reporting to the owner. Learn the difference between landlord's obligations, tenant's covenants and the manager's delegated authority.
Calculating development appraisal residual land value without testing sensitivity, and presenting a single profit figure as if it were certain.
Candidates treat the residual method as arithmetic and stop when they get a number; they omit finance costs timing, contingency, professional fees, void periods and the effect of a change in construction cost or sales value.
What to do instead
Always present the appraisal as a table with gross development value, build cost, fees, contingency, finance, marketing and developer's profit at a stated percentage of GDV or cost. Then run at least two sensitivity cases (for example cost +10 per cent, value -10 per cent) and comment on viability and the risk of the residual being negative.
Treating compulsory purchase compensation as a single global sum, instead of itemising the heads of claim under the relevant Nigerian statute and general principles: market value of the land, disturbance, severance and injurious affection, and the statutory disregard rules.
Candidates remember 'compensation for land taken' and forget that disturbance and severance are separate heads with their own evidence requirements and that betterment and the value of the claimant's retained land must be considered.
What to do instead
Use a fixed claim schedule: land taken at market value, disturbance (removal costs, loss of profits, professional fees), severance and injurious affection to retained land, less betterment, plus interest and costs. For each head state the evidence needed and the statutory provision or principle relied on, and note the rule against including items too remote.
Writing expert witness and arbitration answers that describe the process but never address jurisdiction, the distinction between arbitrator and expert determiner, or the expert's overriding duty to the tribunal.
Candidates revise arbitration as a sequence of steps (notice, appointment, award) and treat the expert witness as an advocate for the client; they miss that jurisdiction is the first question an arbitrator must decide and that an expert's duty to the court overrides the paying party's instructions.
What to do instead
For every arbitration question, start with the arbitration agreement, the scope of submission, separability and competence-competence. For expert evidence, state the duty to the tribunal, independence, the contents of a proper report (instructions, facts, assumptions, opinion, declaration), and the difference between expert determination, adjudication and arbitration.
Giving town planning answers that recite planning legislation without applying the development control process to a specific proposal: permitted development, planning permission, conditions, enforcement and the basis for a compensation claim following revocation.
Candidates memorise statute names and the meaning of development but cannot trace a planning application through to decision, condition, appeal and enforcement, which is where the marks sit in scenario questions.
What to do instead
Practise a one-page planning flow: is it development? is it permitted development? apply for permission with plans and supporting documents; decision and conditions; appeal; enforcement notice and remedies. Link this to valuation by explaining how planning status, conditions and hope value affect the value you would report.