INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Real Estate agency is essentially a land based profession that deals with the business of buying, selling and leasing of interests in real estate, which may be land or building or the interest therein. Practitioners of this trade are generally addressed as Estate agents in our environment. Considering the importance of housing in mans hierarchy of needs and the huge deficit that exists in the housing sector in Nigeria, Real estate agents generally play a very important role in the socio-economic life of the country, Generally a real estate agent is a person, who possesses the authority to act on behalf of another person with a view to establishing contractual relationship between his principal and a third party. The person, who employs the agent, is usually called the principal (olatunji, 2008)
Commercial activities have been on the increase in Nigeria in the past few years. This is also reflected in the fact that there has been an increase in real Estate activities. The Real estate agency practice has therefore in the recent time  become a business for all comers; mechanics, market men, lawyers, taxi driver etc. The practice of real estate Agency in Nigeria at present remains largely unorganized, unregulated and unprofessional. Apart from the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers that has set standards for its practice by its members i.e the Estate Surveyors
 and Valuers, the large majority of those who practice estate agency do so without the basic training in that field, without any certification or qualification, without any regulation and largely in an unprofessional manner (Gambo & Ashen, 2012)Â
In Nigeria, Section 25&26 of Decree 24 of 1975 empowers the Estate Surveyor and Valuer in carrying out operations as an estate agent. The organized body recognized for the regulation of practice is the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON). However, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), body statutorily empowered for registration of every business outfit in the country, regards estate agency as a business concern and classifies it under general business practice (Akomolede, 2006; Oni, 2009).
The agency practice is regarded as an all comers’ affairs as lawyers, engineers, accountants and even laymen learned in numeric details carry out this operation. An expression has become synonymous with the estate surveying profession calling every other profession dabbling into agency as quacks. However, there are no clear cut-out edicts granting the estate surveyor and valuer the exclusive preserve of operation even when series of protest has been made to that effect.( Iroham et al, 2011)
A multiplicity of local estate agents associations exists but these are essentially local bodies without the right structure, leadership or plan to advance the practice of real estate agency beyond the parochial interest of the founders (Hemuka, 2002).
The real estate agency is one major and vital aspect of estate management practice that deserves some level of decorum and adequate attention to be given to it so as to ensure that real estate agency practice in Nigeria maintains its course, goals, vision, mission and objectives with regards to the real estate market.
1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Real estate agency practice in Nigeria like other countries of the world contribute massively to housing delivery system for residential and commercial purposes. It helps to meet as well as cater for the accommodation, office space, and shop demand of people. Due to the important roles real estate agents play in housing and accommodation delivery sector of the economy, in recent times real estate agency has experienced the influx of untrained and unqualified agents in the real estate practice. So many people have become victims of fraud and other related activities that are not internationally regarded as best practices from the hands of some of these agents who go about duping genuine property seekers, which has been the reason for calls from many quarters on the need to professionalize the profession in Nigeria. Identifying the challenges associated with real estate agency in Nigeria will benefit not just the consuming public but also the practitioners.
1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study is to examine the challenges associated with Real estate agency practice in Ilorin, Nigeria
- To assess the various types of agency practice in the study area.
- To examine the system of real estate practice in the study area.
- To examine the challenges associated will real estate agency practice in the study.
- To recommend a reasonable solution to the challenge above
1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is to examine the challenges associated with real estate agency practice in Ilorin, the study will cover the activities of real estate agency professionals (The Estate Surveyors and Valuers) in Ilorin in dealing with real estate agency practice considering the policies been set aside to guide practice of real estate agency in the country with the aid of administering questionnaires to sample the opinion of selected Professionals.
