Lagos reviewing property, rental laws, says Sanwo-Olu

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has disclosed that the government was reviewing the Property Law of Lagos State 2010 and the Rental Law of Lagos State 2011.

He stated this at the just concluded 5th Lateef Jakande Housing Lecture Series Organised by the Real Estate Developers Association.

According to Sanwo-Olu, the government plans to protect the interest of investors and end users in the state through the review.

He said, “In looking ahead, we have also digitised the processes of our departments for increased efficiency and greater customer satisfaction. While acknowledging our strides in the provision of homes for all, I want to charge all stakeholders in the built sector to do more by sponsoring leading-edge research into innovative building technology that could help reduce the cost of building.

“The scenario that I had painted showed the abundance of opportunities in the entire housing value chain. Given our audacious goal of providing 10,000 new homes by 2027, our doors are open to partnership and collaboration both in the present and in the future.

“Of course, we will go vertical in providing safer homes for our people. We also anticipate that as our population increases, the number of vulnerable would also increase, so we must make provisions for social housing.”

According to the governor, the future is here already and it could be projected that the generation of the future will require smaller smart homes.

“We will expect a re-imagining of the expectations of future urban dwellers, which, of course, may exclude home ownership. We expect to see more efforts in terms of house rentals and co-housing. For this purpose, we are already reviewing some of our laws, mainly the Property Law of Lagos State 2010 and Rental Law of Lagos State 2011, to take care of the interests of both investors and end-users.”

‘’The state was looking at leveraging fintech to provide tailor-made solutions to our pertinent problems in creating convenient mortgage options for our people,” he explained.

He added that the state was planning to strengthen collaboration with neighbouring states to harness the potential of their vast land resources to resolve its housing challenges.

He noted, “We have also opened our doors to partnerships with investors, who have innovative ideas that could result in shorter time of completion, cheaper homes, and convenient mortgage packages. We had a partnership that leveraged building technology whereby 2-bedroom flats were completed within 14 days.”

According to Sanwo-Olu, it came with energy-saving designs that reduced water and power usage thereby adjusting costs for homeowners, adding that the partnership gave the state government 252 bungalows in a Green Estate at Idale, Badagry.