An expert and prac
titioner in the real estate sector, Dr (Mrs) I.B. Kakulu, has urged estate surveyors and valuers to always give professional advice to their clients for the purpose of redevelopment especially on the issue of valuing property or land considered contaminated.
She said what should be upper-most in the mind of the valuer in such situation is the loss in income to the owner or occupier of the land.
Kakulu, a lecturer in the estate management department of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), who was speaking in a forum on valuation in Port Harcourt, said what should be the focus of valuers on such valuation challenge is the highest or best use of the contaminated land.
Other things, she said, should be of importance to the valuer is determine whether the land is stigmatised as to find out the risks involved.
She said “you can not tie a valuer to one method of valuation.
The valuer as a professional will use his discretion to determine the best approach to valuation.”
The university don admitted that compensation and valuation is a major challenge all over the world, and not limited to Nigeria, stressing that a report on contaminated land is what the valuer will use as a tool for his valuation report.
On the land use act, she posited that the assumption that the land use act has transferred land ownership to state governors is not true, pointing out that there are still traditional land in communities.