CEM REPORT, REAL ESTATE | The government of Lagos State has called for necessary regulation and enforcement of laws to restore sanity and instil public confidence in the state’s real estate sector.
Speaking at the third Lagos real estate marketplace conference and exhibitions organised by Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) the Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said emerging fraudulent trends and practices in the real estate sector in recent times calls for increased vigilance on the part of all genuine practitioners.
“As a government, we owe it a duty to safeguard the investments of people who may be unaware of some unprofessional practices in the market.
“The need to restore public confidence in this sector led to the establishment of the Lagos State Real Estate transaction to protect citizens and investors from the potential risks emerging in the market.”
The governor who was represented by the deputy governor, Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, at the event tagged ‘The Lagos Real Estate Emerging Markets-Mitigating the Potential Risks,’ appealed to Lagosians and everyone interested in real estate business to be cautious in any financial transaction they engage in by fact-checking the track records of the organisations.
He advised that real estate business should be conducted with LASRERA-registered individuals/organisation and other relevant government agencies in the building sectors.
Furthermore, governor Sanwo-Olu reassured Lagosians that the resolve to commence the monthly rentals payment has not been jettisoned.
“We have returned to the drawing board to re-examine the appropriate timing and best strategy that can be adopted to make the policy sustainable.”
Speaking at the event the Special Adviser to the Lagos State governor on housing, Toke Benson-Awoyinka, said fraudulent activities and proliferation of such activities in the real estate market are impacting the reputation of individuals/ organisations, including state’s regulating agencies.
Benson-Awoyinka said the state’s regulations must address ethical standards of potential risk in terms of losses for the protection of the citizenry’s investments.
She noted that the government is determined to ensure sanity is restored to the state’s real estate sector by reviewing the agency’s law.
Meanwhile, the immediate past president of, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Olutoyin Ayinde, said “our values have dwindled, we have shown less concern, people are concerned more about the gains they would make from their investments rather than the benefits that would come for investing, the benefits that would come to humanity.”
“We have also lost the value of professionalism where people do not realize their limit and invite a professional to go about his own duty.”
Ayinde noted that it is the inability to properly conceive and think through projects that are responsible for collapses and it has to be discovered to put things right.