THE MYTHS AND REALITY OF THE LAND USE CHARGE[b][/b]

The recently introduced Land Use Charge in Lagos State has been generating a lot of hues and cries amongst residents of the state due to the over-exaggerated view that it would further significantly aggravate the worries spawned by the current economic depression and make life more brutish and shorter.

Like all new things, there is bound to be the initial furore. Generally, man’s initial response to change is that of resistance but the perception is bound to change if with emerging facts. This is why more concerted efforts are being made to enlighten the public on the features and characteristics of the new law which is being reviewed seventeen years after it was promulgated in 2001.

Though the current incipient efforts at propagating the essence of the Land Use Charge speaks to the issue in a proactive manner by addressing the Frequently Asked Questions, more robust cross-media response is needed to further educate  skeptical Lagosians by unveiling and unclothing the myths with facts.

 According to a maxim “facts are sacred, comments are free”. One of the basic facts is that the Land Use Charge is a consolidation of all property and land based rates and charges payable under Land Rates, Neighbourhood Improvement Charge and Tenement Rate Laws of Lagos State. It derives its legitimacy from the Lags State Land Use Charge Law 2018. It was well thought out as it was comprehensively debated on the floor of the State House of Assembly before it was passed into law. The responsibility for payment of the Land Use Charge resides primarily with the property owner but there is a provision in the law establishing the charge for payment to be made by the occupier who is then empowered to get reimbursement of the payment made from the property owner.

As a boon, assessment of properties for the purpose of Land Use Charge is free and Property Owners are not expected to make any payment whatsoever for the service provided by the Lagos State Government. Owners of empty plots of land will also pay. Anyone who is disatisfied with the assessment can appeal to the Assessment Appeal Tribunal. Furthermore, those who pay within 15 days of the delivery of the Demand Notice will get a discount of 15 per cent.  All property owners are expected to pay their property tax on annual basis but whoever could not afford that can pay monthly. For any two similar properties, the physical appearance, aesthetic features and age will determine the property class rate whether high, medium and low.  The categories of properties include Commercial, Industrial, Educational and Residential.

Commercial properties attract a rate 0.761 per cent of the assessed Market Value. Industrial and Educational properties are assessed at the rate of 0.255 per cent. Investment property fully occupied by tenants or third party charged at 0.761 per cent. Instalmental payments are not allowed because of the 15 per cent discount which everybody enjoys.

A promotional video on the LUC has been released and it is a veritable strategy to enlighten the populace. Amiable Governor Ambode blazed the trail by being one of the first set of citizens to pay the Land Use Charge on his property. Inspirational comedian, Gbenga  Adeyinka, who has also paid encouraged others to do the same too. An archetypal resident, an elderly man extolled the achievements of the Ambode administration opining that the LUC will augment the funds for greater infrastructural development of the state of aquatic splendor and transformation to a fully fledged mega-city. It is a thing of regret that only a fraction of Lagosians are captured in the tax net. Payment of taxes is a civic responsibility which all and sundry must imbibe to take the state to the next level of governance.

Another sycophant comes forth to spew crap, in a bid to defend the indefensible policies of his paymaster Ambode. Only God knows if Ambode was elected to impoverish Lagosians, or pauperise them. Promotional video ko, provisional banner ni. Nansense!

Such comments honestly shock me, because it shows that Nigerians do NOT think, and do not ask relevant questions. Right here on my table is a Land Use Charge that was issued to a client of mine. From 78,000 naira LUC last year for a residential property, that person is being asked to cough out 361,000 naira this year. On what basis? Has the size of the house changed? No! Has the property been commercialised? No! So why impose almost 400% increase in LUC on the landlord?

Instead of addressing specific concerns, the govt of Ambode is dishing out adverts riddled with lies and half-truths. When you say a property is valued at 20 million, how was that sum arrived at? Will a property of a specific design valued at 20 million in Mushin, also be valued at 20 million in Lekki, if it was built according to the same specs, the same design and on the same plot size?

In the property market, there is something called 'a willing buyer-willing seller' relationship, that determines the market value of a property. Is that what took place in this case, before the value of the property was arrived at? My friend's estate agent placed a value of 30 million on a block of 4 flats in our neighbourhood at one time. At the end of the day, that block was sold for 18 million naira. So what was the parameter used to compute the market value of that block?

This same market value of a property story, is what has put many banks in trouble today. A customer wants to borrow money from a bank, and tenders the C of O to his property to the bank, as collateral. The building is valued by Estate Surveyors at 40 million naira. By the time the customer defaults and that property is sold, a lot of times the sale price falls below the so-called market value due to the 'willing buyer-willing seller' relationship at that point in time, and they are unable to recoup the full value of the loan borrowed by the customer. It has happened several times.

Ambode should stop his shenanigans. He increased land surveying fees last year from 80,000 per plot to almost 700,000 per plot, and got away with it. Later he increased waste disposal charges, and appointed Visionscape - a decision that has turned many parts of Lagos into a filthy zone. Not long after, he increased toll gate fees. People shouted, and later kept quiet. Now, he has also hiked vehicle registration fees by over 200%. Ambode is running a govt of extortion, and has forgotten that the people he was elected to govern have their difficulties, challenges and options like everyone else.

In other places, roads are swept, gutters are cleared and many activities are carried out by govt without extortion of the citizens by such govts. Last year 2017, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) alone generated N247.022 billion. Have Lagosians received services commensurate with this figure?

Fashola our dear BRF was an effective, dynamic governor that executed a lot of note worthy programmes, but he did not institute a govt of extortion and exploitation, in order to achieve his goals. Ambode should realise that Lagosians do not have inexhaustible funds in these hard times, neither do they have limitless patience. One day, they might snap!

The real oppressor is this Lagos state govt, that is insensitive to the plight of Lagosians. Do Lagosians have an inexhaustible supply of funds? Do you even know how many people have lost their jobs or source of income, in the past one year? Did people vote Ambode into Alausa, so that he could exploit them?

femioyewale:
THE MYTHS AND REALITY OF THE LAND USE CHARGE[b][/b]

The recently introduced Land Use Charge in Lagos State has been generating a lot of hues and cries amongst residents of the state due to the over-exaggerated view that it would further significantly aggravate the worries spawned by the current economic depression and make life more brutish and shorter.

Like all new things, there is bound to be the initial furore. Generally, man’s initial response to change is that of resistance but the perception is bound to change if with emerging facts. This is why more concerted efforts are being made to enlighten the public on the features and characteristics of the new law which is being reviewed seventeen years after it was promulgated in 2001.

Though the current incipient efforts at propagating the essence of the Land Use Charge speaks to the issue in a proactive manner by addressing the Frequently Asked Questions, more robust cross-media response is needed to further educate  skeptical Lagosians by unveiling and unclothing the myths with facts.

 According to a maxim “facts are sacred, comments are free”. One of the basic facts is that the Land Use Charge is a consolidation of all property and land based rates and charges payable under Land Rates, Neighbourhood Improvement Charge and Tenement Rate Laws of Lagos State. It derives its legitimacy from the Lags State Land Use Charge Law 2018. It was well thought out as it was comprehensively debated on the floor of the State House of Assembly before it was passed into law. The responsibility for payment of the Land Use Charge resides primarily with the property owner but there is a provision in the law establishing the charge for payment to be made by the occupier who is then empowered to get reimbursement of the payment made from the property owner.

As a boon, assessment of properties for the purpose of Land Use Charge is free and Property Owners are not expected to make any payment whatsoever for the service provided by the Lagos State Government. Owners of empty plots of land will also pay. Anyone who is disatisfied with the assessment can appeal to the Assessment Appeal Tribunal. Furthermore, those who pay within 15 days of the delivery of the Demand Notice will get a discount of 15 per cent.  All property owners are expected to pay their property tax on annual basis but whoever could not afford that can pay monthly. For any two similar properties, the physical appearance, aesthetic features and age will determine the property class rate whether high, medium and low.  The categories of properties include Commercial, Industrial, Educational and Residential.

Commercial properties attract a rate 0.761 per cent of the assessed Market Value. Industrial and Educational properties are assessed at the rate of 0.255 per cent. Investment property fully occupied by tenants or third party charged at 0.761 per cent. Instalmental payments are not allowed because of the 15 per cent discount which everybody enjoys.

A promotional video on the LUC has been released and it is a veritable strategy to enlighten the populace. Amiable Governor Ambode blazed the trail by being one of the first set of citizens to pay the Land Use Charge on his property. Inspirational comedian, Gbenga  Adeyinka, who has also paid encouraged others to do the same too. An archetypal resident, an elderly man extolled the achievements of the Ambode administration opining that the LUC will augment the funds for greater infrastructural development of the state of aquatic splendor and transformation to a fully fledged mega-city. It is a thing of regret that only a fraction of Lagosians are captured in the tax net. Payment of taxes is a civic responsibility which all and sundry must imbibe to take the state to the next level of governance.

Honestly, bloggers like you will not enter heaven. So what do you mean by "The responsibility for payment of the Land Use Charge resides primarily with the property owner but there is a provision in the law establishing the charge for payment to be made by the occupier who is then empowered to get reimbursement of the payment made from the property owner."

If the property owner refuses to reimburse the occupant, then what happens? Do you people expect him to drag his landlord to court? Can you see how senseless your comment is?

Secondly you said: "An archetypal resident, an elderly man extolled the achievements of the Ambode administration opining that the LUC will augment the funds for greater infrastructural development of the state..." Pray tell, who is this archetypal resident? Must you people lie, to get your point across? Is this resident one of those politicians that looted us dry? Or is he a pensioner who survives on the stipends from his children every month? Because no hardworking, straightforward, honest Lagosian whose salary is fixed, and expenses are constant, that is struggling to make ends meet each month, would utter such crap.

Anyone thinking Ambode would use the proceeds of this new LUC to develop Lagos, is sadly mistaken. Most of it will go into the APC war chest, like the past ones did. And then he would come back to tell us more fairytales. Afterall, he told us he spent 12 billion naira in 1 year on diesel, just to power 31,446 street lights in Lagos, and most people believed him, not so? Chai! I miss our dear BRF Fashola. At least, he had the decency not to insult our sensibilities with such pathetic excuses and exorbitant property taxes.....