Lagos State Govt set to deal with fake real estate operators
The activities of fake real estate agents and their official collaborators which have been on the rise have drawn irk of Lagos State Government as it has perfected plans to clamp on them.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Housing, Mrs Toke Benson-Awoyinka, gave the warning during a press briefing in Lagos, adding that henceforth, government will deal decisively with anybody caught in these untoward activities.
Benson-Awoyinka disclosed that hundreds of reported cases of alleged frauds involving those in real estate business were being addressed across the state.
The erstwhile department under the Ministry of Housing, she said, formerly known as Lagos State Real Estate Transaction Department has been upgraded to a full agency and now transformed to Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority to be supervised by her office.
She said while unveiling the agency’s logo and a website/registration portal database of credible real estate practitioners that the initiative was launched “to create, provide, develop, continuously capture and update a unified central database of real estate practitioners and their activities within the state, among others.”
According to the special adviser, the initiative would enable residents to be well-informed of the importance of patronising registered real estate practitioners and property developers.
She affirmed that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu approved the transition of the department to an agency last February in its bid to transform Lagos into a 21st-century economy with the mandate to prepare rules and regulation for the practice of estate agency and other connected matters in the state.
The agency, Benson- Awoyinka also noted has as part of its mandate to identify persons eligible to be licensed as estate agents and renew licences annually, as well as maintain a register of licensed estate agents and sanction unlicensed estate agency practitioners in the state, among others.
She stated further that the agency would organise monitoring teams and conduct inspections to ensure compliance with the law as well as investigate complaints, petitions against licensed estate agency practitioners and
curb fraudulent practices in this sector.
She lamented the trend of fraudulent practices of some real estate agents/property developers, stressing that this is reflected in the complaints received by the agency in recent time from residents who had fallen victims to fake real estate practitioners/property developers while seeking for accommodation, purchasing/selling of properties.
She said the state government had worked tirelessly to curb the increasing fraudulent practices in the sector over the years since Lagos has been the commercial and economic nerve centre of Nigeria and Africa with investment opportunities.
She advised residents to support the agency in its effort to curb fraudulent practices by patronising only real estate agents with valid Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority licence in the state.