THE clamor for the monthly payment of
rent by clients in the housing sector received attention at the recently
concluded sixth meeting of the National Council on Lands, Housing and
Urban Development.
The council is the highest gathering of
senior officials from the federal and state governments, as well as
stakeholders and experts in the building industry.
At the meeting of permanent secretaries
during the council, senior government officials from the 36 states and
Federal Capital Territory, as well as those from the Federal Ministry of
Power, Works and Housing (Works/Housing sector) agreed to enact a law
that would allow monthly rental payments across the country.
In a 52-page report on the meeting of
permanent secretaries at the sixth NCLHUD, which was obtained by our
correspondent from the FMPWH in Abuja, the officials also resolved that
the law would be enforced, as they noted that its enforcement would
enhance access to housing finance.
The Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Babatunde Fashola, recently charged property developers to
reduce their rents and the value of properties in consideration of the
economic hardship across the country.
He advised them to work out ways of
tackling the problem of high house rents and advance payments,
particularly in major cities across the country.
Fashola had said, “Let me just ask you a
question since everybody is here. Is there nothing that we can do in
this country about this practice of demanding rent for two, three years
in advance from people who get their salaries monthly in arrears? Is
there nothing that can be done? We can’t continue like this.”
The minister, while buttressing his
argument, insisted that operators in the sector must question the
practice, stressing that the increase in the cost of other commodities
could also be as a result of high rents being charged by developers and
landlords.
In order to address the issue, permanent
secretaries from the relevant agencies in the federal and state
governments resolved at the meeting during the sixth NCLHUD to produce a
law that would allow the monthly payment of rent.
In the Memorandum on Provision of
Adequate and Affordable Housing, which was submitted at the meeting by
the FMPWH, the council noted that the “enactment of the law would allow
monthly rental payments and its enforcement would enhance access to
housing finance.”
They also upheld that the rent-to-own
scheme of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, if included in the
housing finance policy, would address the problem of poor access to
housing finance.
They further recommended that all tiers
of government should improve on intervention strategies to provide
affordable housing, as well as provide enabling environment for active
participation of the private sector in housing delivery.
At an earlier meeting with Fashola in
Abuja, the Chairman, Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of
Nigeria, Mr. Olayinka Sonaike, stated that the pressure on operators
from lenders with respect to the repayment of loans was one major factor
that often warranted the demand for advance payment of rent by property
developers.
He, however, stated that if there were substantial mortgage loans from the FMBN, the situation would not be the same.
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