Real estate professionals in the country have advocated Federal Government’s amendment of the real estate laws and regulations as a way of mitigating the economic hardship in the country. They are unhappy that the high handedness of the regulations, has forced many to run from the sector leaving it for quacks who now manipulate the process to get what they want without regulations.
Mr. Chinweike Nduforo, a Lagos- based property developer said that the Land Use Act does not favour operators hence the monopoly of the sector by quacks with the real professionals who wants to maintain the rules feel shortchanged. “The laws regulating real estate in Nigeria can be classified into Federal based laws and state-based laws. At the federal level are laws that govern the country as a whole. There are also regional laws governing some sections of the country,” he stated.
According to him, some of the federal and regional laws which could be discussed for the purpose amendment include but not limited to; “the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Section 43 of the 1999 Constitution provides s follows “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, every citizen of Nigeria shall have the right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria.” Pursuant to this provision, the right of every Nigeria, either individual or cooperation is guaranteed.
“Land use Act of 1978. The Land Use Act changed the arrangement of land ownership before 1978 upon its coming into being. Prior to this law, land used to be owned by families or communities. After the coming into being of this law, lands in the urban areas were vested in state governments and the lands in the rural areas of the country became vested in the local government. The freehold systems of the past were abolished by this Land Use Act and replaced with a leasehold. Every landowner invariably became a lessee to the state government for a specific period of time. Another expert, Mr. Oghewhviro Barnabas, as Estate Surveyor said that the moment Land Use Act is amended to give land owners rights of ownership and facilitation of ownership transfers, the real estate sector will become really lucrative.
“The law also provided that the state and local government have the duty of issuing a statutory right of occupancy to lands. The words ” statutory right of occupancy ” shows that the land is not outrightly owned by the person but that it will expire after a period of time certain. The law further provides that land cannot be sold or alienated in any way by the holder of a statutory right of occupancy without the consent of the governor first sought and obtained and there is a penalty for anyone who breaches this provision of the law.
“Consequently, it will be unlawful for any person whose interest in the property has been vested by virtue of a Deed of Assignment or Deed of Conveyance to decline to obtain the consent of a governor of the state where the property is located. The Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Act should be rejiggled. This act governs the management of urban and regional planning in Nigeria. It also takes care of complaints and grievances on issues like the demolition of houses and the likes. Rent control and Recovery of Premises Act as part of the amendment . This Act provides steps to be followed by landlords in evicting tenants from his building. The law is strictly against self-help in the eviction of tenants and the landlord must follow the required procedure set down by the law in achieving this.
Source: sun news online
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