Town Planning, Environmental and Sustainability Issues
Expect questions linking planning control, environmental regulation and sustainability to value and to development feasibility.
Planning control
The Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Act 1992 (Decree 88) provides for planning authorities, development plans and development control. Practically, you deal with state and local planning authorities on planning permission, building plan approval, certificate of completion and fitness for habitation, change of use and subdivision. Controls include zoning, setbacks, plot coverage, floor area ratio, height, parking and access. Enforcement tools are contravention notices, stop-work orders, sealing, demolition and regularisation.
Environment and sustainability
The EIA Act 1992 requires an environmental impact assessment for projects on the mandatory list before approval; NESREA enforces environmental standards on pollution, waste and effluent. Sustainability issues affecting the valuer include energy efficiency, green building certification, flood and erosion risk, climate resilience and environmental liability, all of which can produce obsolescence or a green premium.
Worked example
A client wants to convert a residential building to a guest house. Check zoning first; apply for change of use and, if works are involved, building plan approval; address parking, access, fire safety and neighbourhood objections; then reflect the outcome in the valuation. If consent is refused, the value stays residential and the conversion costs may be wasted.
Traps
Assuming planning permission is personal when it usually runs with the land, subject to conditions; ignoring rights of way or government reservations over the site; starting work without approval; missing the EIA threshold; omitting planning status from the valuation report.