The property market in Lagos is a mixed bag of contradictions, sweet and sour, ying and yang, good and bad, and may I add, ugly! Of course this all depends on ones taste, needs and pockets. A building that has no windows and just one external door is someone’s idea of a dream home and another person’s idea of a nightmare. The fact is that there are no strictly enforced regulations on building types. It is quite interesting that on one street you can find a ten bedroom mansion with twelve foot walls and halogen lights all around the building, next door to a simple spacious three bedroom bungalow on the same plot size. The difference being the simple bungalow has a large garden with flowers and trees and a driveway, whereas the mansion has been built right up to the boundary walls with the generators right by the living room window, small dark rooms and no where to park cars in the compound. Both bought the same plot of land and both indulged in their tastes, no laws to guide them. Some well regulated estates now build similar looking homes with small variations and give residents who buy plots of lands on the estate, regulations on how big or small their buildings should be, roof types, window types, distance from the fence etc. Agreements have to be signed stating that they will keep to these regulations or forfeit their right to live on the estate. This has kept some of these estates like Northern Foreshore, Friends Colony, Nicon Town and Carlton Gate structured and manageable
You can live in Victoria Island or Banana Island, two of the most expensive real estate areas in the world, and look out of your window or across the lagoon and see some of the most appalling poverty and shacks that people have to live in. It never ceases to amaze me that one can go from one extreme to the other in just a second. Even the streets in Victoria Island and Ikoyi that house some of the most expensive houses and apartments being sold for upwards of N250millon naira, are on the most dilapidated pot hole ridden flooded roads. As one is chauffer driven in their Rolls Royce out of their steel reinforced gold plated gates, they have to drive through the same mud filled pot holed roads as everyone else, dirtying the expensive tires on their car. In Lagos you will see a luxury block of flats at night with lights blazing from their 1000kva generators, right next door to a slum housing hundreds of people in pitch darkness. In Egbeda or Akowonjo which are heavily populated low/medium income areas of Lagos, it is not unusual to see that some money bags has built a large castle on a plot of land that is hardly accessible and surrounded by neighbours who live in uncompleted buildings.
On an aside topic, there has been a lot of talk of recent about Agency fees regulation. I really do not see why there is so much interest now, as fees in Lagos/Nigeria have always been unregulated. In fact, most Agents are not even proper real estate Agents, why then the surprise at the fees they are asking for? There are clients paying these fees. If you ask me though, hardly anyone pays fees of 10% and above as reported in the media in a comparison analysis with other countries. A report says that in Lagos, fees can be as high as 70%? This did not make any sense to me though, how is that possible? Who in his right mind has paid fees of 70%. Most fees are around the 5% range, with most of it going to other hanger on Agents and supporters. So really at the end of it all, the main Agent may end up with 2% or less. The way the property transactions and payment of fees is carried out in Lagos has no bearing on any structure or regulations in any other country in Africa or the world. The Lagos State Tenancy Law a few years ago attempted to address this, but most do not follow the law. It is sadly a free for all exercise for most involved in property transactions. The Nigerian Estate Surveyors and Valuers Society (NIESV) already have a list of regulated Agents on their web site and encourage people to check this before appointing an Agent. Another area of contention is “who pays the fees”? It really should be whoever appointed you, but in almost all instances there is disagreement as to who pays who. The Agent for the buyer fights with the Agent of the seller and vice versa over who is responsible for paying. Usually it’s the buyer who pays and both Agents share it even though the sellers Agents have done nothing in reality. It is a complex issue that needs proper Laws, monitoring and strict penalties.
The property industry itself as a whole is a minefield that really does need attention.
Caroline A. Akinlotan
