Nigeria Content Online

Prospective
investors in real estate have been advised to go for “house hunting”
during rainy season to ensure their desired properties are not prone to
flooding.

Some project
managers said the recent floods in some parts of the country call for
proper investment education on real estate acquisition, particularly
landed properties.

Olayemi Shonubi, a
quantity surveyor and project development consultant at DWAB
CostPrudence Company, a project management firm, said it is difficult
to get a signpost on flood levels for a particular neighbourhood unless
one has a friend or relations who is familiar with the place to ask
necessary questions as to level of flooding.

Proper inspection

Mr. Shonubi, who is
also the spokesperson for the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors,
Lagos Chapter said, “I have always jokingly though advised people that
the best time to go house hunting is at the peak of the rainy season,
which used to be the second week in June; that period will reveal areas
prone to flooding. But I reckon maybe with the benefit of hindsight,
the best time might be October after the release of water from Oyan
Dam.”

“It is my humble
opinion that prospective buyers should always, in course of their
viewing and inspection of any property prior to signifying interest in
same, look out for signs of rising damp as well as tell tale signs of
mark of previous flooding on walls -both in the interior and exterior
of the house as well as the fence,” he said.

Mr. Shonubi said if
the buyer is in doubt, the person should engage a competent
professional, preferably a building surveyor, to checkout for property
hunting clues and other defects before making any commitment on price.

Climate change

A building
consultant at TeeA Investment, a real estate management company, Toyin
Adedoyin, also said that the best time for investors to buy property is
during raining season.

Mr. Adedoyin said,
“We often tell our clients to be patient before paying for any
property, particularly those who like highbrow areas that are prone to
flooding. Because you like a water viewing house does not mean you
should risk your life.”

He said a proper
inspection and evaluation of the property must be carried out by
professionals before, during, and after raining season to assure safety
for the owners.

However, Mr.
Adedoyin said, “Some clients still don’t mind buying properties in
areas that are prone to flooding probably because those areas are
highly valued,” adding that “to those clients, flooding is not a new
phenomenon because they believe it’s a seasonal occurrence that will
soon pass away.”

Meanwhile, a recent
study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an
organisation established by the United Nations Environment Programme
and the World Meteorological Organisation for the assessment of climate
change, shows that as the global temperatures continue to rise, many
cities will be threatened by flooding.

“As global
temperatures rise, oceans get warmer. And when water heats up, it
expands and sea levels rise. Densely populated, low-lying areas, such
as large river deltas and small islands, are at the greatest risk from
flooding,” IPCC warned.

Manageable situations

Jamiu Fatomi, a
retired real estate agent and a landlord in Lagos State, said areas
with flooding that occurs as a result of drainage problem are good for
prospective investors because such flooding is rectifiable.

Mr. Fatomi said
flooding in areas with drainage channels resulted from clogging of
those drainages. He said when people do not do the needful to ensure
the free flow of drainages in their areas, such attitude come back to
hurt them in the form of environmental problems like erosion and
flooding which will eventually result in loss of valuable property.

He said in many
part of the country, most drains are more than half full with refuse
from homes and shops, adding that when the rain comes the water has no
path through which to flow; it eventually takes over homes and roads as
pathways.

Mr. Fatomi said, “For such problem to be controlled, landlords must
ensure that their houses have the proper soak-away or septic system
that guarantees that every waste from the kitchen and bath goes into
the system.”