By Okechukwu Onuegbu
Anambra State government, Wednesday, said it was working towards regulating the housing estate to abolish illegal collections of development levies and 10 percent commission from land buyers and tenants respectively.
The State Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr Law Mefor, who disclosed this in Awka during a courtesy call by Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Anambra State Chapter, described the practices as criminality, exploitation, and environmental abuse in the housing sector.
According to him, the government was contemplating legislation to regulate this in order to moderate abnormal rent hikes because it was worrisome how agents demand ten percent from both landlords and tenants even though they did not build the house.
“A landlord moving rent from ₦1m to ₦3m is abnormal and therefore unjust. There has to be a gradual adjustment to protect both landlords and tenants. The government will no longer tolerate development levies imposed by youth cliques in places like Okpoko, Obosi, and Oba, among others," he added.
He further maintained that governor Chukwuma Soludo's model of economic development is to provide land at a cost for private sector-led high-rise development and not bungalows.
Earlier speaking, the State Chairman of REDAN, Dr Sunny Nwachukwu, sought partnership with the government to ensure that ethical practices and laws were observed in real estate development to support the state’s economic growth.