By Onyebuchi Sampson
Lagos State Government has explained that the new real estate transaction law, recently signed into law by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would be implemented to the letter. Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Ms Toke Benson-Awoyinka, who spoke on its scope, said the law does not exempt anybody doing real estate transactions in the state.
According to her, there is no reason for NIESV members to agitate over whether they already have a professional body regulating them. She stressed that from the onset, the state made it clear that they are not regulating professional bodies and hence NIESV should be partners in progress.
She said: “We all want to stop frauds in Lagos. We want to curb the threat to our citizens and everybody. Our citizens are being defrauded on a daily basis by agents, developers and others. We have no other place to submit rather than what the law said. That is what happens in sane society. We should regulate our society as well as
sanitise the industry.”
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Recall that the leadership of the Nigeria Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), through its president, Emma Okas Wike had expressed reservation of the implementation of the law as it affects NIESV members. Stressing the association’s support to the regulation of real estate transactions in Nigeria, he, however, said the law should exempt members of NIESV because their activities are already being regulated by the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), a Federal Government body.
According to him, there is no way members of NIESV will now be regulated by a state authority at the same time with federal authority as there would be confusion. But Ms. Benson-Awoyinka said as long as estate surveyors and valuers are doing real estate transactions in the state, they will be regulated.
She noted that when NIESV took the state to the Federal High Court, Lagos, the case was thrown out for lack of jurisdiction because the court held that the state has powers to regulate such transactions in her domain
According to her, one of the issues, NIESV raised in court was that their members were self-regulated by ESVARBON, but we have no business regulating professional bodies, we will regulate real estate transactions.
“Assuming a realtor, who happened to be a member of NIESV defrauds a Lagosian. Is that citizen going to get redress from NIESV? He is going to get redress from the law court of Lagos State. They can regulate their members but not real estate transactions. I know that the judgment of the court is clear on that,” she added.
