Subscribers to home ownership plans in
Yusuph Olaniyonu relocated to
On arrival, he realised that the cost of renting an apartment in a location that gives him easy access to his office was far too high for him. After considering his options, he opted to buy a home from
Mr Olaniyonu said he quickly sold off a property located at Isheri in
He made the payment into the bank account of the developers with
The document showed that the project is jointly developed by
Mr Olaniyonu said he was told he would get the keys to his home within six months of completing the payment. However, almost five years after the payment, that has not happened.
"I feel disappointed and helpless, battling with vague promises here and there, while I keep paying N1.1 million as house rent annually for a small space that cannot contain my family," he said.
Underperforming Sector
According to a report by PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC),
It said the sector is the largest in countries like the US and
Act 3 of 1992 which established the
Under the extant NHF law, every Nigerian earning N3,000 or more per annum is required to contribute 2.5 per cent of their monthly basic salary to the NHF. The funds mobilised will be made available to contributors at affordable interest rates to build homes.
But the housing problem in
The Pwc report quoted the
Ironically, it said the cost of building a house in
"This means even when there is a supply of housing units, the price tag whether self-built or off the shelf purchase is out of the reach of the majority of Nigerian workers thereby making affordable housing still a dream," the report said.
Bottlenecks
Mr Olaniyonu said his experience was the result of the housing sector not being regulated.
"This is a sector that is unregulated, a sector that involves so much money. People are putting in their life savings and the government doesn't want to regulate it," he said to PREMIUM TIMES.
He said developers are behaving as they like and duping people without fear of sanction. He said most of the billboards and banners in strategic positions on
"They are just using it to dupe people," he said, urging the
When contacted, Hortigraph's secretary, Nuruddeen Abubakar, said they stopped work on the estate over problems they had with the financiers of the project, Aso Savings.
He said the company started phases three and four of the estate in 2017, after much work had been done on the earlier phases. "We are almost done. In fact, some parts have been roofed."
He said their problem with Aso Savings began when they started noticing irregular deductions from their account with the financiers.
"We started seeing charges here and there, restructuring and a certain amount of money was taken out of our account," he said.
He said they took Aso Savings to court, but decided to settle the matter out of court last month.
In its reactions, however, Aso Savings blamed the developers for a myriad of issues, including low quality project, non-adherence to the project manager's recommendation and developer's outstanding obligations to the financiers.
The corporate affairs manager of Aso Savings, Tope Onamada, said some of the subscribers in the completed phase one had complained to the bank about the quality of work on the units that were handed over to them.
Ms Onamada acknowledged that Hortigraph also accused it of illegal charges on its account and reported it to the CBN in 2019 over the charges.
"A meeting was scheduled between the developer and the bank at the CBN. Afterwards, CBN suggested that both parties should meet and sort out their differences upon ASO's presentation of its position," she said.
"The developer also filed the case at Arbitration which had several sittings. Whilst at Arbitration, Hortigraph withdrew from the sitting without giving any reason to ASO for withdrawal," she said
She said the managing directors of both parties held a series of virtual meetings but they could not agree because Aso Savings considered the position of the developer not acceptable, as it was at variance with the proposals they put forward for the project.
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More lamentations
Hortigraph is not the only developer unable to meet its customers' expectations.
In 2017, Hall 7
He was told to pay 30 per cent of the cost, while the developer would take a loan from the
He said he raised N1.9 million to pay the contribution within the stipulated period. But later, he received a letter from the developers advising him to change from
In 2018, they made him sign a letter to the FMB requesting to change his primary mortgage bank to
In
He said the developers encouraged him to sign the release letter, telling him he would get his house within six months of the release of the money to them.
"I signed the letter, and the money was moved to Step One. That means 100 per cent of the investment amount has been paid since
However, he said the agreement they had in 2017 was that his house would be delivered 45 days after confirming payments from the mortgage bank.
"Since the money got to them, 45 days have elapsed, they have not even commenced clearing of the site or mounting the blocks," he said.
When he approached the developers for explanation,
"Later they reached out to say that it was not possible anymore, and that I just need to wait for them to complete the initial 3-bedrooms for me," he said.
Another subscriber who does not want his name mentioned had a different headache. Although Step One delivered his home after much back and forth, he said the building was substandard.
"As we speak, I have spent over N10 million to refix some things in the house that was delivered. The wiring was poor, low quality wires were used, I had to change everything and other things in the house," he said.
He recalled the developers chasing him to key into their plans at the beginning of the project, but that after he completed the payment, he became the one running after them.
Calls and email messages to Hall 7 official contact addresses were unanswered.
Major constraints
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Many subscribers who shared their experiences with this reporter wondered why a trillion naira sector is left unregulated and buyers are at the mercy of estate developers.
Some we spoke to did not want their names mentioned because they said the developers had threatened to
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