LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT TACKLE QUACKERY IN REAL ESTATE THROUGH LASRETRAD.

The era of real estate agents ripping off intending tenants will soon be over following the establishment of the Lagos State Real Agency Transaction Department (LASRETRAD) to tackle the housing challenge in the state and regulate the practice of estate agency.The department, which is under the Ministry of Housing, is expected to address issues such as treating tenants and landlords in a fair, responsible and reasonable manner.

It is also expected to restore confidence, promote investments in the sector, and simplify government policies to enhance compliance with international best practices.According to stakeholders, who spoke at the inauguration of LASRETRAD in Lagos last Thursday, buyers and sellers in the sector are often unaware of the competences of the agents they patronize  and are often unaware of the options that are available to them when carrying transactions on landed property.Governor Babatunde Fashola said the initiative was to protect the right of all stakeholders in the sector.Fashola, who was represented by the state’s Head of Service, Mr. Olusegun Ogunlewe, said his administration was more concerned with encouraging more investment in the housing sector, hence the need for the regulation.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mr. Jimoh Alao, said the establishment of LASRETRAD was in fulfilment

of government’s responsibility to reduce the disturbing rate of neglect and fraud in the real estate sector of the state.“The business of estate agency as presently practiced is an all-comer affair. People with little or no education and people of low moral integrity substantially make up the practitioners in this breach of estate practice,” he said.Alao said the new body would monitor, regulate and prosecute anybody that ran foul of relevant real estate laws in the estate.

“The purpose of our regulation is not for revenue as being touted in some quarters. As partners in progress, therefore, may I appeal to all of us to fulfil our bargain by continuing to be law abiding. I also implore all estate agents to desist from any form of illegal practice in this trade,” he said.

The LASRETRAD bill was passed in 2007 by the state House of Assembly but was signed into law by the governor last year to curb the excesses of practitioners and unwholesome practices in real estate as well as serve as an agency for issuance of licence to practitioners.The Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje, said it was important for the government to look at real estate transactions and that LASRETRAB would have a fundamental role of investigating sharp practices in the sector.

Some real estate agents, who were present at the inauguration of the body, expressed optimism that LASRETRAD would eliminate unprofessional conducts in the sector.The Chairman, Estate, Rent and Commission Agents Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, Mr. Godwin Alenkhe, said the body had been part of the initiative from the beginning and expressed happiness at the achievement.He said it was important for real estate agents to cooperate with the state government in regulating the industry.

Source: THE PUNCH