2 months ago
5
Chairman of Royal Estate, Williams Adeyemi, speaks on how residents are collaborating with Lagos State agencies to tackle illegal structures in this interview with OLASUNKANMI AKINLOKAN
How has Royal Estate, Phase 1 resolved the issue it had with the Lagos State Building Control Agency?
First and foremost, I would like to appreciate the General Manager of LASBCA, Arc. Gbolahan Oki, for being magnanimous enough to set up a committee to look into our matter and ensure all grievances were adequately attended to. And it is important to categorically mention here that, Arc. Sayo Omisore was wrongly alleged in the publication that came out on July 27, 2024, where some Royal Estate, Phase 1 stakeholders made unverified comments about making unreceipted payments. The allegations were discovered to be baseless, misconstrued and unfounded, as the claimed payments made were revealed to be penalty charges levied against the affected building owners for not doing the needful as required by LASBCA provisions while their buildings were ongoing. Hence, any inconveniences caused against the reputation and name of Omisore are highly regretted.
The statements made in the publication do not reflect the collective views or intentions of the residents of the Royal Estate. I acknowledge that the claims made in the article were not only factually inaccurate but also conveyed sentiments that were neither fair nor just to the persons and institutions involved.
Also, during the intervention period on the issue that happened between the enforcement unit of LASBCA and some members of Royal Estate, Phase 1, it was unveiled by one of the estate members who happened to be at the place of incident that the vehicle that carried Omisore had already driven outside the estate before the matter degenerated, which unfortunately led to the harassment of some stakeholders of the estate. While she apologised for some of the issues reported that happened in her absence, she further clarified that it was not in their practice to harass or brutalise any person during an enforcement process.
What do you think needs to be done to prevent a clash between regulatory agencies and builders/residents?
Knowledge, they say, is power. All the stakeholders in the estate need to familiarise themselves with the provisions of the regulatory government agencies and by so doing, it will be easier to implement without any form of unnecessary discord.
Specifically, on LASBCA, we have understood that the agency is set up to ensure that basic minimum standards are maintained in building construction and renovation to ensure that existing and new buildings are safe, healthy, accessible and habitable for present and future generations.
We have also been adequately briefed during the crisis resolution under the mandate of the LASBCA general manager about the functions of LASBCA, which we have further discussed with the estate stakeholders. We were also brought up to speed on things we need to contact LASBCA about before commencement so as not to be charged a penalty.
How is your association planning to collaborate with government agencies to address the challenges of illegal structures?
Illegal structures are structures without government approval yet. As we are aware, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has requested all building owners in Lagos to get all necessary building approvals from appropriate agencies while giving amnesty on penalty payments. This is no doubt a laudable opportunity given by Mr Governor and we are working tirelessly to ensure every stakeholder in the Royal Estate keys into this window and obtains their building approvals without having to pay any kind of penalty whatsoever.
Part of the effort made to collaborate with government agencies was to invite officials from the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority to come to enlighten our stakeholders on the documentation required to obtain building approval. This is taken seriously to prevent our stakeholders from getting into the wrong hands.
Also, moving forward, the estate will ensure all stakeholders strictly follow the guidelines given by LASBCA as highlighted above to prevent tagging any of the buildings within the Royal Estate as illegal structures.
How do you think regulatory agencies can improve enforcement?
The Lagos State Government has been making an effort to ensure compliance with the building regulatory agency. We cannot help but give kudos to the Lagos State governor for the ongoing amnesty window period, which we believe many building owners are taking advantage of right now. Also, we are aware of the website platform created by LASPPPA to ensure compliance.
I think regulatory agencies need to place a premium on sensitisation about the need for compliance and the consequences of enforcement. As I said earlier, knowledge is indeed power. Furthermore, I feel enforcement should start from the point of purchase of property; landed or built-up property. A proper search tool made available to investors/purchasers of a property can easily point to the current position of the property to know if it is not in contravention of the required setbacks, the purpose of the structure and so on.
What are some of the challenges in the Royal Estate?
All the development so far in the Royal Estate was achieved through self-help. We would like to use this medium again to appreciate Mr Governor for recognising and rewarding us with a prize gift of an 18-seater bus for coming 1st runner-up out of all the registered CDAs in Lagos State during the last community day that was celebrated on December 14, 2023.
However, we are humbly requesting the governor to assist in completing our major road (Palaceway Road), of which we have already completed half and the road is also a connecting route to the Baruwa and Ipaja axes. This will no doubt reduce the congestion of vehicles on the already existing roads.
Also, we are pleading with the governor to assist with the streetlighting of the estate to aid security.
Lagos State some time ago enacted a law mandating landlords to collect monthly rents. Why has it not worked?
This is what is applicable in most advanced countries and as we all know; Lagos State is a mega city.
The number one challenge is the current state of the economy. Governor Sanwo Olu has been making tremendous efforts to mitigate against the harsh reality of the economy. Enforcing such law at a time like this may create unnecessary unrest in the real estate industry
Secondly, we still don’t have a proper effective credit system in Nigeria, where a landlord can have access to the credit history of the prospective tenant. Hence, it will be difficult for a landlord to predict which tenant would likely default.
Finally, there is the tenancy law and court process in Lagos. You can rest assured that once the law in respect of monthly rent is enforced without addressing the current long list of tenancy matters in court now, landlords and investors will likely run at a loss, which will invariably affect the booming real estate market in Lagos.
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