From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders of Nigeria, at the weekend, declared war on fraudsters and quacks operating within the real estate sub-sector, vowing to use every legitimate means to eliminate them and restore sanity in the ecosystem.
In a press statement issued in Abuja, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Adeleye Jasper, said the institute is determined to deepen professionalism in the industry, insisting that the field of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders should exclusively be for Certified Estate Agents.
His words: “This law that regulates the practice is good. First of all, we have to eliminate fraudsters from the industry. We are trying to put professionalism in this institution. “We are trying to see that those who are fit to practice actually come into the field.”
He noted that the Act that established the real estate, mortgage brokerage business and the Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders makes provision for determining the standard of knowledge and skill to be attained by persons seeking to be Chartered Estate Brokers, Certified Mortgage Agents and Certified Estate Agents.
He added that the institute, which is now empowered by law to regulate the industry, will weed out the quacks in the real estate business.
The law, he noted, has also mandated the institute to regulate the agents in the mortgage industry.
“In order to do this seamlessly, the institute has also planned to embark on an awareness campaign about the existence of the new law, according to him. The institute has also planned to train its agents.
“You find a lot of people practicing Real Estate Agents without training.
“With this, we will train them. We will ensure there is professionalism in it and we will have to keep them so that we can actually move this country forward,” Jasper added.
He lamented that aside from the Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs) and mortgage brokers in the country, the government lacks a database.
The CEO explained that there is no data that can readily display who lives in an estate, the number of occupants and even the number of houses.
He said: “Do you know in this country, for you to be an Estate Agent, the government doesn’t even have the database of those who live in a house in this country. “That is very bad. With this law, we will have a database of those who live in a house.”
He said profession should be for you to get someone who needs a house and from somebody who wants a house.
In order to prospect perfectly in the field, the CEO said “you must be able to get the database of the person. If I want the database of someone who lives in a house.”
Jasper vowed that the institute will create a server that will contain the data.
He added that: “We are going to create a server where we can actually put all those things.”
Continuing, Jasper said: “In the next few years, we will see this profession booming in this country. We will be able to see the output which is going to be great for us in this country.”
He explained that an Estate Agent is someone who manages a property, who looks for someone who looks for a house and someone who wants to let his house out and connect them.
According to him, Real Estate Brokers are those who look for those who want to buy property through a mortgage.