From Surulere, Gbagada, Yaba, Jibowu, Ebutte-Metta all the way to the Island (Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, particularly in Lekki/Ajah axis), almost 65% built houses have remained un-occupied due to high rents.

Lagos hinterland like Ikorodu, Ipaja, Alimosho, Ayobo, Oke-Aro, Abesan, Ijaiye-Ojokoro etc. are no better. Property owners remain king and fix rents arbitrarily without recourse to the prevailing dwindling economic situation, control or regulation by the government. Considering that property appreciation is dependent on government’s provision of amenities like good roads, drainages, pipe-borne water, electricity etc., why is the government quiet when the citizenry are being fleeced so brazenly?

The government has been accused of not doing enough in housing provision especially for the low-income earners. It is common knowledge that the houses being built by the government presently is far beyond the capacity of the majority of citizens, particularly salary earners. Since government is a social service and not for profits, then it behoves on it to look inward for delivery of mass houses with a social template. This will surely mitigate the continued arbitrariness of property owners in Lagos State.

I call on the governor of Lagos State, AkinwunmiAmbode to resume work on the unfinished housing estates left behind by his predecessor, specifically in Ijora, Surulere, Ilubirin/Osborne, Gbagada, Lekki, Akerele, Imota, Ikorodu etc. Completion of these estates must be with a social intent that will benefit the majority, mostly low-income earners.

The government owes it a duty to the citizens to protect their interest from inconsiderate property owners who want to exploit them. More than before, the Lagos State government needs to intervene in the control of rents so as to protect the citizens from predators. The government will need to revisit its edicts and tenancy laws, some dating back to the regime of Mobolaji Johnson up until the last attempt by the immediate past government of BabatundeFashola. The laws need to be re-jigged and fine-tuned for optimum performance, implementation and enforcement.

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Explanation that only a room was affected by the fire and the fact that the occupier was ready to effect necessary repairs fell on deaf ears. It was based on this that one had to seek for another accommodation, but what I met demands urgent actions and intervention of the Lagos State Government to avert needless breakdown of law and order.

In the first instance, Lagos property owners have gone out of control. They fix rents arbitrarily without any recourse to rules or tenancy laws. In the course of scouting around, I met a landlord who told me categorically that a two-bedroomed flat was N1m in a house in Surulere built in 1998. Even when other houses within the same vicinity were N500,000. He stuck to his gun telling me he had no apologies since he owned the property.

Another landlord said his own three-bedroomed apartment in a place close to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital was N1.5m when the same apartment in the same vicinity goes for N700, 000. He was adamant and saw nothing wrong, even though the house in question was the old Lagos Executive Development Board built probably in the 1970s. The same went for a landlord who told his tenants in a block of two-bedroomed flats to vacate if they were not ready to pay N800, 000 when their neighbours using the same two-bedroomed flat were paying N500, 000! It is not unusual for a prospective or sitting tenant to witness the above scenarios.

One very common category of property owners in Lagos are the inherited landlords/landladies. This is the group of people who inherit some of these properties from their parents or families. Some of this set of people is so vicious that rent increment on a yearly basis is not considered an issue. In fact, tenants residing in houses managed by this set of owners have little or no rights as any action is met with a threat of ejection. It is in this kind of places that house owners don’t pay any bills, be they waste management, security, house maintenance, water rate and some even electricity bill. Tenants are in most cases consigned to all sorts of illegalities that they dare not complain about.

It is common knowledge that from Surulere, Gbagada, Yaba, Jibowu, Ebute-Meta all the way to the Island (Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, particularly in Lekki/Ajah areas almost 65 per cent built houses have remained unoccupied due to high rents) the exorbitant cost of letting is shocking and unbearable to most tenants. The Lagos hinterland like Ikorodu, Ipaja, Alimosho, Ayobo, Oke-Aro, Abesan, Ijaiye-Ojokoro among others are not faring better. Property owners remain king and fix rents arbitrarily without any recourse to the prevailing dwindling economic situation or control or regulation by the government. Considering that property appreciation is dependent on government’s provision of amenities like good roads, drainage, pipe-borne water, electricity among others, why is the Lagos State Government quiet when the citizenry are being fleeced so brazenly?

The government on its part has been accused of not doing enough in housing provision especially for the low income earners. The celebrated low cost housing model developed by the Jakande administration in the Second Republic was not built upon towards delivering mass houses for the people. Instead, successive governments, particularly the last administration of Mr Babatunde Fashola, (who was accused of elitism), built houses beyond the reach of the common man. Since government is a social service and not for profits, then, it behoves Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to look inward for delivery of mass houses with a social template. This will surely mitigate against the continued arbitrariness of property owners in Lagos.

In addition, I will like to call on Ambode to resume work on the unfinished housing estates left behind by his predecessor, specifically in Ijora, Surulere, Ilubirin/Osborne, Gbagada, Lekki, Akerele, Imota, and Ikorodu. Completion of these estates must be with a social intent that will benefit the majority, mostly low-income earners.

PUNCH.

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