Lagos Clamps Down On Illegal Real Estate Operators

Lagos State government has begun a clampdown on illegal real operators in the state, pulling down their billboards and banners in the Lagos metropolis.

The state government which carried out the exercise on illegal real estate operators that refused to register with the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) said it has commenced sensitization and compliance exercise of unregistered real estate practitioners in Ikeja area of the state.

In line with its mandates to regulate, sanitise and effectively monitor the real estate sector, the enforcement unit of Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority has extended its enforcement drive to some parts of the state in order to ensure that real estate practitioners operating in the state duly register their presence with the authority.

Speaking on the move to sanitise the sector, the special adviser to the governor on housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, explained that it is important to notify members of the public that it is an offence to practice real estate in any of its forms including those displaying “ To Let, To Lease, For Sale etc” in their offices or on properties without being duly registered with the agency.

Benson-Awoyinka, who represented the director, Enforcement Unit of LASRERA, Mr Deji Badejo, during this exercise, said that there is need to restrict posting of banners on residential and commercial properties by unregistered real estate individuals, organisations that can easily swindle unsuspecting members of the public on their investments or hard earnings.

She added that many members of the public had been defrauded in the past by imposters and fraudulent real estate practitioners, stressing that the government could not continue to fold its arms and allow irregularities that were capable of driving many genuine investors away from the sector again.