Stakeholders have raised the alarm over the agency’s high fees required to register with the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority, which they perceived as overreach, and the creation of a dual regulatory structure that could undermine established professional bodies.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Austin Otegbulu, told newsmen that it is abnormal and conflicting to have dual regulators.
Otegbulu said“We cannot have two regulators. We have a lot of regulators. When there is a conflict, who do I obey? Because we are under the government’s law,”. “There are professional bodies who pay their dues every year to the Federal Government agency. It is wrong to have two regulators. It is abnormal.”
He also expressed strong disapproval of the N1m annual registration fee imposed by LASERA: “The emphasis should not be on the money but on the skill. The amount is too much. You will scare away skilled people who don’t have the money. Saying to pay N1m is like saying you’re out to make money. What about people who have the skill but not the money who will now be kept out?”
His sentiment was echoed by other real estate professionals who, while commending LASERA’s intent to sanitise the sector, also questioned the agency’s approach.
Chapter President of FIABCI Nigeria, Akin Opatola, voiced his concern over accessibility, warning that the new regulation risks excluding smaller players and honest professionals.
Opatola also drew attention to the reputational damage caused by unregulated players, urging LASERA to invest more in education and ethics enforcement rather than just regulatory control: “The bad eggs are giving us professionals a bad name. Now, the average barber, the average chef, the average vulcaniser, and everybody call themselves real estate agents. It shouldn’t be so.”
While the president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, Akintoye Adeoye, acknowledged LASERA’s efforts in curbing quackery, he too called for a downward review of the fees.
“I don’t know what it is. But I also know that all fingers are not equal and the economy is also biting. It’s tough. But I think that there will be further consultations and stakeholder engagement to see how they can make the fees a little bit more friendly,” he said.
