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Tackling menace of fraudulent housing agents in Lagos State

By Ihesiulo Grace 6 September 2020 18 No comment

By Benjamin Omoike

Cases of housing fraud in Lagos are no longer news as unsuspecting residents keep falling prey to predators who pose as real estate practitioners (agents) and developers.

Eugene Ifunanya, a resident, said his ordeal in the hands of fraudsters isn’t one he likes to remember.

He recalled: “I was desperately looking for a place to stay because I was having troubles with my landlord where I was staying.

He had given me an ultimatum to move out of his house. So, a friend introduced me to this guy, who claimed to be an agent. He asked me to register and fill a form with N1,500, which I did.

He was in a very small space, like a small store, which had a table and two plastic chairs only.

The place was poorly painted and didn’t look too clean. Some people said the guy was an agent, so I went ahead.

“He later asked me to pay N2,000, so he could take me around and show me some properties.

He actually showed me some places, which I didn’t like. Finally, he took me to a particular property.

It was a new building. The windows needed to be fixed, some pipes as well, and tiles needed to be laid in the living room.

I met a man who posed as the landlord. “They told me that the work would be finished in one week, if I could make an initial deposit of N200,000 of the total sum of N380,000 – which included agency and commission fees.

I liked the place, and since I didn’t want someone else to get the place ahead of me, I made the deposit. “To cut a long story short, the guy (agent) just disappeared.

The guy who posed as the landlord, I later found out, wasn’t the owner of the building, but a guy who was put in charge of the place.

People later blamed me for the error. The case dragged on but I lost my cash.

I learnt my lesson the hard way.” Mr. Adeyemi Ogunbote, a Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman in the Ojodu area, admitted that many people still fall victim to the tricks of so-called agents.

“The situation is still there, although many people are wiser now.

They lead you to see some property after collecting about three thousand naira or more from you.

They tell you N1,000 is registration fee and N2,000 is for taking you round to see the property. Some charge much more.

In some cases and in some areas, it could well be up to N10,000, and they still fail to deliver the property to you.

“In some cases, they don’t have access to those properties they’re speaking of.

And if you don’t do your homework well, you could even go ahead to pay for the lease and lose hundreds of thousands of naira before you realise it is fraud.

“My advice is that people shouldn’t rush to pay or patronise some of these so-called agents, but should make enquiries first from people around the area, to know the true ownership of the house.

Better still, they should insist on seeing the landlord or owner, before “We’ve also had people in the Diaspora who called in, asking us to recommend developers for them, that they’ve listened to all our advocacy telling them that for you to deal with a developer in Lagos, you should ensure that he’s registered with government, and government has done due diligence on those developers and real estate agents.”

She continued: “So, in that line, the Diaspora has really caught the fire. On the side of the practitioners, we launched a portal on the 11th of June, and since then, till the 9th of July, we had over a thousand people who started their registration process on the portal.

So, I would say that’s a huge acceptance by the public and also by the practitioners.” But does LASRERA have the capacity to resolve high-profile cases of housing fraud? Awoyinka replied saying strategic partnership is the key.

“Yes, we’re doing some strategic partnerships. Last week, we met with the MD of the Lagos State Signage Agency.

That partnership, a couple of people had called me… what is LASSA going to be doing with LASRERA? And I said before any real estate fraud starts, the first port of call is advertisement, and LASSA regulates the advertising industry in Lagos.

“So, if we have the collaboration of LASSA on what we are supposed to do, LASSA can sieve through those adverts before they actually hit the air space.

And once we sieve through those ads from there, LASSA tells you…are you registered with the state government? Do they know what you’re doing?

Are they aware of your transactions? Have you met all their criteria? “Right now, we have a very sophisticated market in terms of technology, so most ads go in the air space.

Most don’t go on the walls or buildings anymore, except in the very high density areas of Lagos and some strategic places.

“Most ads are online right now. With LASSA, the collaboration is going to be very fruitful because we already have something there.

We have a regulatory body there which is regulating adverts on our behalf. We also went to the state CID, where we met with the Deputy Commissioner of Police last week.

“We realise, like you said, cases can be very high profile, and you need the security forces. We’re not going to be able to do that part of it ourselves. So, we’re partnering with the state CID in the apprehension of fraudulent practitioners and resolving disputes that are beyond our capacity.”

Lending a voice to the matter, Chief Lamidi Gbadebo is a traditional head and land owner/seller (Omo onile) in the Ajah axis, in Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos.

He said the activities of fraud by agents and developers “are not new to us.

That is why we are always careful when transacting our business – because anybody can be defrauded – you, the owner and the buyer.

I always advise potential buyers, whether individual or corporate bodies to always come out straight when they want to buy land. “They should not look for short cuts or patronise those who promise them unrealistic deals or cuts.

They should ensure they deal with the original family, be on ground to enquire, and carry out investigation on the land by themselves.

They can appoint representatives or lawyers to go to the appropriate government agency, to know if the land or that area is even up for sale in the first place.

“They should also be thorough enough to find out if the land had already been sold to another person.

They must know if there’s a family tussle on the land, and that is why they must come to meet the traditional heads (Baale), to ensure all these things before making payment to anybody.

As I speak to you now, there are many cases in court that are still unresolved.”

Speaking further on how the state is partnering with the law to curb the problem, Awoyinka said: “Yes, we get them to do the apprehension of these erring members or address these criminal activities that are ongoing, and then, we take it to the law courts.

Within the system, we are also working with the Ministry of Justice.

They prosecute on our behalf, which makes them a strategic partner in what we are doing here.

“Our next port of call will be the law courts, where we’re going to be meeting with the Chief Justice of the State to seek their collaboration, so that we can have, assigned to us, special courts or special judges that would handle these cases very fast.

Thus, we won’t have these matters bogged down within the bureaucracy of the law.”