Oyebanji opposes unfair increases in housing rents

Worried about exorbitant rental prices in Ekiti State, Governor Biodun Oyebanji has taken steps to correct the trend by regulating the state’s real estate sector.

Special Adviser to the Governor, Ekiti State Housing and Mortgage Development Office, Dr. Gbenga Oloniyo, disclosed this on Friday, adding that the state government would soon enact laws and regulations to control arbitrarily high rents in the state to make people’s lives easier. residents.

Oloniyo stated this in Ado Ekiti during a meeting of government officials with real estate stakeholders under the aegis of Estate Rent and Commission Agents of Nigeria, Ekiti State chapter.

He expressed the governor’s displeasure over the exorbitant rents obtainable in the state and its impact on residents.

“The governor wants to ensure that in the real sector, we are moderate and have regulations that will make life easier for the citizens of Ekiti State. The governor wants to ensure that housing is not only available, but it must be accessible and affordable to the people.

“We will not give in on the issue of rotten eggs. Finding them is our responsibility. When laws and regulations are in place, they will solve the problem of landlords arbitrarily raising the rent on their homes. The laws that will be put in place soon will right the wrongs. The laws are coming,” Oloniyo said.

He assured that construction of the houses the Federal Government, through the Federal Housing Authority and the Federal Ministry of Housing, wants to provide in Ekiti State would commence soon, saying this would meet ERCAN’s demand for more houses.

Also speaking, the Director-General, Community Communication Bureau, Office of the Governor, Mrs. Mary Oso-Omotoso, who said the report placed rent in Ekiti State at the highest in the South-West region, said this called for the need to address the situation through regulation to relieve residents of the attendant hardships.

Oso-Omotoso, disapproved of agents’ preference for internet fraudsters because they could pay any amount, saying: “If real estate agents hang out with ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ boys, what happens to teachers , civil servants, small business owners and small traders? They deserve to live in homes worthy of the state where they work.

In his speech, ERCAN Chairman, Price Ayeoba, noted that the collaboration of the state government would go a long way in resolving the problems in the sector and advised the government to “consider providing low-cost housing for meet housing needs and also force landlords to reduce high rents.”