Surveyors’  body draws the line for professionals

“While pharmacies can be owned by someone outside the practice they must have licensed pharmacists operating them. Unlike pharmacies, according to the surveyors code of conduct, a surveyor cannot partner with a non-surveyor or be employed by one that is not a registered surveyor,” he says.

Nathan Kabwani, the president of Institution of Surveyors Uganda (ISU), says before becoming a registered surveyor one has to graduate from school, become a professional associate, then a professional member and finally a registered surveyor.  Unregistered surveyors, according to the law, should not earn a salary but can receive an allowance or commission for their work.

The rules, he says, are aimed at streamlining the quality of surveying and eliminating irregularities. For example, if an unregistered surveyor such as a graduate trainee does shoddy work for a client, the client has no recourse for compensation because the surveyor is unrecognised by the board. 

“Even when the work bears a stamp of a registered surveyor, the surveyor will not be held responsible for the complaint since they have no contract with the client. This causes chaos,” Masereje says.

Regulations

It is unlawful for a non-registered surveyor to procure work for the registered person. The law stresses that work should be directly procured and with attendant liability by a registered surveyor.

 “The act gives the board power to update a few things to suit the profession because as the law is at the moment, practice is constrained. For example, bodies such as National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) employ surveyors who are crucial in aiding their work. We have continually lobbied organisations and government parastatals to have registered surveyors on their building units such as Ministry of Lands and Urban Development.” Kabwani adds:“Moreover, these departments cannot be closed because that hampers the daily activities of the entities. It is better to work out a way in which we can legalise and formalise the work environment rather than simply saying what is wrong and should not be done. Therefore, the board has to work out a way of registering departments within wider organisations as long as there are registered surveyors working in them to handle surveying work.”

This arrangement according to Kabwani means that a surveyor registered under NWSC cannot carry out surveying work outside the organisation.

“The challenge is that one registered surveyor’s stamp can appear  on several works, under different firms. That way, in case of professional negligence, it is difficult to hold that person accountable. We also believe that the information that the board requires will enable it to understand and see how they can license and attach one’s license to their place of employment and ensure there is no practice outside the given organisation,” Kabwani says.

To be  a registered surveyor

A university degree is the first step in qualifying to become a surveyor. Next you must pass the professional competence test before they are registered by the board. To legally qualify as a surveyor, a graduate surveyor requires not less than two years of working under the supervision of a registered surveyor and during that period, they fill out a competence logbook which amounts to an assessment of professional competence.

Thereafter, ISU presents them to the board which has the power to give an examination. However, currently, they go through an interview and if all goes well, you get approved. At that point they can run independently, accountable for all their actions. Thereafter, one must get a practising licence on an annual basis alongside a stamp duty of Shs100,000.

Kabwani says as a professional body, they understand that a lot has not been going on well in the practice and the board woke up to reaffirm an already existing law to streamline the profession.

“Probably the rules seem to have been issued on short notice but they must be adhered to. We expect those running companies to either register or update their partnerships, provide all the information needed. Those that do not understand are advised to contact us for more guidance,” he add.

He, however, urges the board to understand that a lot must be done in steering the profession forward. “That calls for its openness to guide its members so that this does not constrain the profession,” Kabwami notes.

Stakeholders’ reactions

Moses Lutalo, the executive director of Broll Uganda, says while they are trying to follow the law to the letter, he wonders why the law that has been very agreeable is being deemed ineffective after 20 years or so. 

“Our neighbours in Kenya allow for limited company partnerships and the only requirement is to have a partner as a registered surveyor. In the 21st century, sole proprietorships cannot work as they are too regressive. It sounds as if people are trying to ring-fence work for themselves, a move to restrict new players because there is no way you will tell a listed company that their valuation arm must be a sole proprietorship or solely run by registered surveyors. They will just move on,” he says.

These valuation companies were previously under limited companies that offered them professional indemnity insurance cover (PIIC). Now that they are starting out, Lutalo wonders how they will be able to afford it. 

“Being under a limited liability company allows you to have a blanket cover thus taking on bigger risks. It also brings in more business and clients are safer. These new rules will simply get in the way of all that,” Lutalo says.

“These sole proprietorships and partnerships are starting from scratch – new accounts, stationery, PIIC, and the like so they will charge standard fees. However, our market is still growing but how does it grow this way? Even while the service charge of the surveyor is stipulated, now that they are sole proprietorship, economies of scale will not come into play. That is something that works when a company is big so that rather than charging you say, 0.6 per cent of the value of the property, they will charge lower,” Lutalo shares.

While this clause is being enforced to reduce offences, a surveyor that preferred anonymity says the way the board handles indiscipline cases is still wanting. “Surveyors have provided land titles in wetlands, fake land titles. However, not so much has been done to them save cancellation of the land title. Inasmuch as the law is the law, it can be amended so that the SRB is empowered to reprimand surveyors that err in their work. Is cancelling titles the only solution? What then becomes of banks which often lose lots of money owing to a wrong valuation report? If registration certificates are revoked for some years, surveyors will be more careful when carrying out their work. Currently, the law does not bite.”

What are the Duties of a Surveyor?

● Surveyors shape our roads, bridges and tunnels, our skyscrapers, stations and stadiums. They work in mines and in fields, on cliffs and on beaches. They value the houses we live in and the places we work in. They create safer homes and happier communities.

 ● Surveyors work closely with a wide range of people: architects and engineers, bankers and ecologists, town planners and property developers. And they use the latest technologies: flying drones to map land and measure buildings, creating virtual reality models of buildings, and using Big Data to tackle global issues like climate change, migration and urbanisation.

● The surveyors have to measure the distance and the angles between specific points on the earth surface.

    ● Based on reference points, certain important features points are located by traveling.

    ● Detailed research is carried out on the records related to the land, survey, and the titles of the land.

    ● The boundary lines are to be located by searching for the past boundary present in the site.

    ● The surveying is conducted and the obtained results are recorded. Later they are verified for accuracy and corrections.

    ● Based on the surveyed records plots, maps, the respective reports of the surveyed site is prepared.

    ● The findings obtained from the surveying is presented to the clients and the respective government agencies.

    ● The official land needs and water boundaries are established. These are established either for lease or deeds.