Stakeholders task LASG on more qualified personnel in real estate sector

Stakeholders in the real estate sector on Thursday said Lagos needs more qualified personnel in the real estate sector.
They said the WAEC certificate endorsed by the new law to practice real estate business in Lagos is inadequate, at a time many professionals have achieved much in the business sector.
The stakeholders stated this at a Forum organised by the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) in conjunction with Construction Projects and Infrastructure Committee (CPIC), at Eko Hotel and Suites.
The General Counsel, UPDC PLC, Mrs Folake Kalaro said professionals are introducing technology in the sector.
She said: “The new law signed by the Lagos State government will help real estate sector in Lagos State, but the criteria of WAEC for one to practice real estate business in Lagos State has raised down the bar at a time when professionals are raising the bar in the real estate sector and introducing technology to improve the sector.”
Also at the event, Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka said that lawyers are essential in the real estate transactions and must be engaged at all time.
Benson-Awoyinka who decried the level of frauds perpetrated by unscrupulous individuals, noted that most fraudulent real estate transactions do not have lawyer engaged as an integral part of every transactions from conception to closing.
She, however, stressed that the LASRERA law was reviewed in order to regulate and bring sanity to the sector, as well as all transactions therein.
She stressed that the role of property lawyers is to protect the interest of all parties in any real estate transaction, as legal professionals.
“Real estate transactions have relevant processes with necessary documents required for the preparation of specific property business transaction in the sector.
“In real rstate transactions, lawyers and real estate agents offer completely different services
Real estate agent is involved in the process of buying/selling properties or rental services while all paper works are handled by a lawyer as prescribed by the law.
“To this end, our perspectives and experiences as learned professionals will make these deliberations and recommendations impactful while meeting international best practices in the real estate market of the Lagos State government.”
The Special Adviser noted that monthly rent scheme is a social investment program of Lagos State government to alleviate the suffering of the residents seeking comfortable shelters and that the state government would not compel any landlord to subscribe to this initiative.
She added that such idea of payment which have insurance and legal coverages would guarantee consistent pattern of payment by the tenant, while the tenant would also heave a sigh of relief with the burden of unbundling huge amount on a yearly basis.
She said: “On the monthly rental scheme, we will not legislate on it, but we will continue to work towards the scheme being generally accepted by the residents.
“What we are proposing is a scheme whereby we are going to bring in group of financiers they would finance this scheme by paying up the landlord on a yearly basis and the tenant gets the opportunity to repay on the monthly basis. It’s a scheme with a single digit of payment that is going to be managed by the private sector and supported by the government.”
In his key note address, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) expressed optimism about the new law, saying it was designed to bring sanity into the sector and weed out touts that have made a lot of gains fraudulently from the sector.
Combing through the law, Onigbanjo talked about the functions of the agency which involved policy formulations, training the stakeholders in the real estate transactions, collection of data of players in the Industry, issuing of permit and possibly revocation of the same, as well as receive and investigate complaints from the public regarding transactions, amongst others.
He assured that the law would change the landscape of real estate development and management in general.
Onigbanjo, who was represented by the Director Legal Drafting, Mrs Aderinsola Olanrewaju of the ministry, explained that law and regulations are very critical to the real estate as the forum would avail participants the opportunity to understand the intricacies of the legislation.