The Lagos State Government will soon increase the Land Use Charge, LUC, to be paid by landlords across the state.
Governor Babatunde Fashola, who received members of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers who made him the patron of the body yesterday, said it was agreed that the LUC should be reviewed every seven years.
He stated that the first seven years elapsed in 2009 and that because of the global meltdown, the state did not review the charge in order not to create burden for the people, adding that the rate chargeable by the state, which is 0.34 percent, remained the lowest in the property world.
“We have left the rate at 0.34 percent. A time will come that we will have to review it. We need to get more money to be put back into the system,†said Fashola and promised to work with the estate valuers in this regard.
On the 15 percent commission being collected by estate agents and valuers from new tenants as commission before they could rent an apartment, the governor frowned at it and called for a reduction.
“We want to begin to see a downward review in the rate and commission being charged. Housing is still a major challenge. We want to see how we can bring down the rent charges from three years or two years being collected by landlords to one year or half a year,†he added.
Fashola urged the estate surveyors and valuers to pay their taxes appropriately, stressing that, “we look forward to a day when many professionals will be tax compliant.â€
The governor assured that government would use every government policy to open up the economy and reduce crime, adding that “we will soon deploy our Geographical Information System, GIS, which is the first in the West African sub-region.â€
Earlier, National President, Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Bode Adediji, said the institution would like to work with the state government in the area of LUC, saying that the observable challenges aassociated with the introduction of the charges could be managed and resolved through the conscious engagement of its members both in public and private sector.
He, however, lamented that the nation was blessed with abundant human and natural resources, but faced with abysmal leadership failure which has resulted in the people being poor, caused decay in infrastructure, collapse of the education system and unprecedented of insecurity.
Adediji urged Fashola to champion the crusade of rebuilding the nation and move it to greater heights.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga
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