NIGERIA – THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT ENACTS LAGOS STATE REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION REGULATORY AUTHORITY LAW
The Lagos state government has enacted the Lagos State Real Estate Transaction Regulatory Authority Law to curb activities of unscrupulous real estate agents and those who pose as estate developers to scam investors.
The Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) will coordinate, monitor, and regulate the activities of practitioners in the real estate business in Lagos. The regulatory process also appears to be one that will help recover more taxes from real estate transactions and practitioners. The government should track real estate transactions for tax remittance and inventory purposes. But with a process that improves real estate business efficiency.
According to the new law, each principal in a transaction would bear a certain cost of at least 15% fee to realtors or brokers. The party who must also have an attorney will add an extra cost of not more than 12.5%. These closing costs are not the only cost associated with a real estate sale or a buy transaction. There are several other expenses associated with a real estate business or transaction. Any cost on a real estate transaction affects the asset value and a part of these costs recurs every time a piece of real estate is bought or sold.
Domestic retirement funds overseeing the equivalent of $30 billion are looking for new places to invest. That’s after yields on government debt that account for the bulk of their investments plunged because too much cash flooded into the system. The lack of high-quality stocks, few options by way of derivative products, and small corporate debt issuance limit alternatives for investors trapped in a recession.