Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s government has vowed to clamp down on fraudulent activities in the housing sector to ensure sanity in the industry.

Toke Benson-Awoyinka, the special adviser to Mr Babajide on housing, disclosed this at an event organised by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) Construction and Real Estate Group in Lagos.

“This year is going to be different as Lagos is going to tackle fraudulent activities in the real estate sector this year. We will name and shame when the time comes because the returns on investment is unbelievable so there’s no reason to defraud people,’’ she said.

Ms Benson-Awoyinka said the move was in line with the Lagos fiscal responsibility measure to ensure that all stakeholders in the housing value chain were beneficiaries of their transactions.

She said the state would conclude the foreclosure clause in its mortgage law in a few weeks to build investors’ confidence and provide access to investments when there’s a default in the mortgage payment.

Ms Benson-Awoyinka stressed the need for land buyers to do their due diligence and engage the services of a lawyer when purchasing properties to avoid cases of fraudulent land allocation.

“There’s no clear title of land in Lagos called ‘excision in process’, as such land has not to be allocated. You must search at the land bureau to ensure that a property has a clean title before you begin any transaction to avoid being scammed,” she added.

She also expressed the state’s readiness to partner with the federal government to provide more affordable housing.

(NAN)