In an effort to safeguard allottees and avoid fraud, the government of Lagos State has asserted that tax clearance is now required for home sales.
In a statement that was recently released by Adesile Rufai, the Chief Public Affairs Officer of the Ministry of Housing, Abdulhafis Toriola, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, made this information public.
According to Toriola, the new rules would protect individuals who may have misplaced their homeownership paperwork and would provide protection against fraudulent activity in the process of transferring house ownership.
“All applications relating to the transfer of homeownership are to be accompanied with evidence of home ownership, a search conduct result, and a valid means of identification in cases of loss of homeownership documents,” he said. “This is in an effort to eliminate fraud in the transfer of homeownership and to protect the interests of allottees in the event that homeownership documents are lost from their possession.”
In his opinion, an allottee who wishes to apply for the transfer of ownership is required to submit his or her application to the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, together with a letter of allocation, payment receipts, and a valid means of identification before the application can be considered complete.
Given the growing number of instances of false claims that have been discovered by the ministry, he stated that the decision was made in order to verify the authenticity of the claims of ownership made by applicants for the correct transfer of ownership.
“However, the permanent secretary disclosed that from this point forward, homeowners who are applying for replacement of lost documents are required to attach the national identification card of the homeowner(s), a police report, and a copy of the loss of document that was published in the national newspaper to their application in order to process it and confirm ownership.”
“For the purpose of obtaining a home unit, a change of ownership, or a loss of home ownership document, all applications within the state that pertain to housing transactions are required to be accompanied by evidence of a valid tax clearance certificate of the applicant. This includes applicants who are serving in the public or civil service.
The Permanent Secretary stated that all developments in the state, including the construction of houses and the provision of infrastructural amenities, were funded by the money contributed by taxpayers. He also stated that those who benefited from these initiatives were required to provide proof that they had paid personal income tax.
It was a warning from him that the ministry would not process any application that did not include the documents that were specified earlier.
As a means of addressing the housing shortage in the state and the country as a whole, it is imperative that the populace make the most of the chances provided by the state government to prioritise the completion of all housing projects that are currently underway.
