Regulate estate agents activities - Oyo lawmakers to Makinde

The Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday urged the state government to regulate estate agents' activities against fraud and exploitation.

The appeal followed a motion on the need to regulate activities of estate agents to safeguard unsuspecting customers against fraudulent activities in Oyo State sponsored by the Majority Leader of the House, Sanjo Adedoyin.

The motion, which sought the urgent intervention of the Oyo state Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the State Executive Council for the total regulation of the agents' activities was aimed at safeguarding customers and putting sanity into the profession and an end to fraudulent practices among its members.

According to Adedoyin, representing Ogbomoso South Constituency, fraudulent activities of unscrupulous estate agents, and seemingly licensed developers, against accommodation seekers are a rife menace in Oyo State.

He noted that most of these fake estate actors deploy various tactics ranging from fake or false advertisements of properties upon which they have no title or authority to deal, to disappearing into elusive air after receiving rental and allied funds.

While lamenting that the ugly trend had led to widespread outcries which security agencies had to deal with, he said there are instances when only one agent will defraud three or more potential tenants on a property that is not under his care.

The lawmaker said: “Aware that on Friday, 8 October 2021, a Magistrates’ Court in Abeokuta, Ogun State sentenced a 31-year-old estate agent, Sunday Ikoni, to five years imprisonment for defrauding nine accommodation seekers of N3.9 million.

“The convict was arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on fraud, stealing, obtaining money under false pretence and unlawful conversion, to which he pleaded guilty. On Friday, 22nd September 2023, the Oyo State Police Command paraded a 60-year-old estate agent, Adeyemi Isaac, who had been posing as a serving Commissioner of Police and, on another occasion, as an Assistant Inspector General of Police.

“The Monitoring Unit of the Command initiated discreet human intelligence gathering, which eventually led to his arrest at his hideout in Oyo town.

“Observes that some estate agents in Oyo State are in the habit of collecting fees such as registration fees, Agency fees, Agreement fees, Caution fees, Legal fees, and Inspection fees among several others. All these charges are rather too exploitative hence the issue of estate needs urgent intervention by the State Government, there is a need to curtail this menace by the Oyo State Government.

“The need for the establishment of a Real Estate Regulatory Authority to regulate real estate transactions in the State with a view to eliminating activities of impostors, fraudsters, and unaccredited estate agents who adopt sharp practices is not negotiable. It is hoped that the regulation will encourage and improve private investment in the real estate sector in Oyo State and boost the internally generated revenue of the State.”

Hon. Sanjo, however, maintained that some estate developers are constructing estates around mining sites, especially the quarries, Pacesetter ‘Asphalt and Quarry, Ijaye, Thallong Quarry-Akinyele-Ljaye, Kunlun, Nigeria Limited- Onigambari, Plantinum Quarry-Abanla, and Onikoko villages are all surrounded by estates which is dangerous to lives and properties.

He urged the state government to put measures in place to set up Regulatory Authorities that will register real state agents with a database that will encompass all lands, and buildings, including abandoned buildings and structures within the state.

He added that so many people have been duped and suffered in the hands of the estate agents, stressing that they often deceive those in diaspora with their ways of advertising that the lands they are marketing are very close to the city but alas about 30-40km away to the city.

In a resolution, the Speaker of the House, Adebo Ogundoyin asked the Committee on Lands, Housing and Survey to invite relevant stakeholders to a meeting to deliberate on the matter to put an end to the fraudulent practices of unscrupulous estate agents in the state.