The Ebonyi House of Assembly has passed into law a bill regulating scrap trade, house rents, and estate agent fees to curb exploitation and vandalism.

The legislation, passed during plenary presided over by the speaker, Moses Odunwa, is titled ‘The Ebonyi State Sale of Scraps, House Rent, and Agent Fees Regulation Law, 2026’.

The law, deemed to commence immediately if assented to by Governor Francis Nwifuru, sought to regulate the sale, possession, transportation, and disposal of metal and electrical scraps; standardise house rents; and curb excessive agent fees.

It prohibits the purchase, sale, possession for sale, transportation, or disposal of metal or electrical scraps except by licensed dealers operating in accordance with regulations made under the law.

The legislation proposes imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine of up to N500,000 for offenders.

The legislation also stipulates that landlords who obtain possession of accommodation through fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment of material facts commit an offence punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment.

It further limited agents’ fees to not more than two per cent of the gross sum of a property transaction.

From the commencement of the law, landlords are required to comply with standard rents prescribed by the governor for applicable categories of accommodation.

The law also requires all estate agents operating in the state capital to register with the Ministry of Capital City to promote transparency and professionalism in property transactions.

Presenting the bill, the House Leader, Kingsley Ikoro, said the legislation was designed to check vandalism, environmental degradation, and exploitative practices in the housing sector.

“This legislation is very important to us as a people because it will help check vandalism of critical assets, environmental degradation, and exploitative practices in the housing sector,” Mr Ikoro said.

Victor Nwoke, Aloysius Nwodo, Oluchukwu Ezeali, Friday Ogbuewu, and Celestine Ogba described the legislation as timely and necessary to address scrap theft and arbitrary rent increases.

The speaker noted that scrap dealers had caused considerable havoc in society, adding that if enacted, the legislation would promote public safety and restore sanity to property transactions.

The bill was considered clause by clause by the Committee of the Whole, with members correcting identified grammatical errors before unanimously passing it into law.

The assembly also adopted the state auditor-general’s report on the consolidated financial statements of the Ebonyi government for the year ended December 31, 2025, which it said conformed with accepted accounting principles.

The lawmakers screened and confirmed nine nominees of the governor as coordinators and members of the management committee of Amasiri Development Centre, Afikpo council area.

The screening follows the reinstatement of the development centre, which had earlier been disbanded and delisted by the Ebonyi government.

(NAN)