Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called for joint monitoring of the Real Estate Sector to curb quackery, and unlicensed operators and protect citizens against unprofessional practices in the market.
Governor Sanwo-Olu made this call at the 3rd Lagos Real Estate Market Place Conference and Exhibition, themed: “Town Hall Meeting on the Lagos Real Estate Emerging Markets- Mitigating the Potential Risks,” which was held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, stressing the need for collaboration as government alone cannot do this considering the huge real estate transaction going on in the state.
The governor, who was represented at the event by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said the emerging trends and practices in the sector in recent time call for increased vigilance on the part of all genuine practitioners and the government.
According to him, this is in view of the rate of reported cases of dubious acts by some real estate agents; who are taking undue advantage of the market which, he said had become one of the fastest growing in Nigeria and Lagos State in particular as a result of increasing population.
He added that the Real Estate Market can be a floodgate of economic prosperity to the state and stakeholders when potential risks were minimal in the sector, hence the need to restore public confidence and safeguard investments of citizens within the sector.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, however, said the government through its regulatory agency, Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA), had defined minimum operational standards and guidelines for citizens to abide by.
According to him, the guidelines provide a comprehensive checklist for the citizens to correctly identify and have a competitive list of registered individuals/organizations to avoid doing business with unregistered real estate practitioners in the system.
He, therefore, pleaded with Lagosians and everyone interested in the real estate business to be cautious in any financial transaction they engage in by fact-checking the track records of the organizations they were dealing with; to ascertain if the individual/organization was registered with LASRERA and other relevant government agencies in the built sector.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, in her welcome address, stated that the state government was determined to restore sanity to the state’s Real Estate Environment with the review of the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) Law 2022, among other laws, which aimed to protect investors/investees against any potential risks and also to prosecute individuals or organizations.
Mrs. Benson-Awoyinka added that as an integral part of real estate, government regulations must address the ethical standards of potential risk in terms of losses for the protection of the citizenry’s investments.
She emphasized that as professionals/stakeholders in real estate, the market must be rebuilt so that investors/investees’ confidence can be restored and ensure that the state government’s vision of making Lagos a 21st Century Economy conforms to the international best practices in real estate and not be a stand-alone in the market.
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