Town planners out to deepen security, combat fraud in real estate
Concerned about frequent cases of property documentation forgery and related fraudulent activities in the real estate sector, town planners have started a process to create an omnibus and multi-use Land Use Planning Report to address fraud in the property market and also deepen national security.
The new report expected to encourage a thorough monitoring of property registration process, the Town Planners say, will naturally create an authoritative database where all properties can be effectively linked to their owners and users.
Speaking at the inauguration of a committee set up to produce the new report in Lagos, Femi Olomola, National president of National Institute of Town Planners (NITP) said that the art, science and profession of Town Planning principally revolves around ensuring orderly management and use of land and having absolute regard for overriding public interest.
Olomola who was enthusiastic about the new report and its relevance in curtailing fraud that had bedeviled the real estate market over time, stated that the innovation was an indigenous response to local peculiarities.
According to the institute, the report which would be prepared by Registered Town Planners, would accompany applications for building plan approvals/permits, issuance of C of O’s, opening of Corporate accounts with banks and incorporation of new companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The president hoped that with the new report, imposters will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to incorporate or register new companies with a non-existent address, adding that the report, when completed, would also be disseminated to banks to prevent fraudsters from accessing loans with ‘imaginary’ properties as collateral.
Among other benefits of the report is its ability to provide concise information on the country’s entire land area which, in the long run, would dovetail into an effective urbanization in the country.
“Under the report, a thorough Land Use Analysis survey will be carried out on every plot of land, followed with the use of analysis map with all the identified land uses coded in the institute’s approved colour code. Thereafter, a 12 to 15 page report on the plot will be written, addressing issues like the name of the plot’s owner, information on the title to the land, types of existing developments or proposed on the plot; building plan approval among others”, the president said.
These efforts, he said, were crucial in ensuring all possible leeway for subsequent fraudulent transaction in the real estate market was eliminated.
ODINAKA MBONU