‘Why real estate subscribers are exposed to fraud’
The rising case of housing scams has been attributed to fake developers who only want to swindle gullible subscribers, experts in the built industry have said.
This reaction is coming days after some aggrieved civil servants staged a protest over a failed N1bn housing scheme for public servants.
They claimed that in 2014, the then Federal Capital Territory Minister, Bala Mohammed, and the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress had collaborated with a property developer, Good Homes Development Company, to develop 680 hectares of land allocated by the Federal Government to public servants.
But speaking on the issue, the Executive Director, Housing Development Advocacy Network, Festus Adebayo, said non-regulation of the real estate sector had made it accessible for fraudulent developers, who swindled unsuspecting home seekers.
Adebayo, who spoke in an interview, said, “Fake estate developers are the cause of the problem. It is time for our government to create laws that will protect consumers of real estate products. Many people in Diaspora and in Nigeria are becoming victims.
“Who is protecting the real estate consumers? Who is regulating the sector? We need answers if we must bring sanity to the activities in the sector.
“Housing scheme was to help civil servants own a home of their choice but it is like it was not properly planned to achieve that objective. No land, no funding and few fraudulent characters used it to dupe some innocent subscribers.”
