Religious organisations, educational institutions and non governmental organisations may be exempted from paying land use charge in Lagos State if the new bill on land use charge currently before the state Assembly is passed into law. This was revealed at a public hearing on the new land use charge bill titled, โLand Use Charge (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Law, 2017โ, which took place at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium in the Assembly complex during the week.
But some stakeholders at the public hearing advocated for the inclusion of NGOs in the list; because according to them they are non profit making organisations. The new law seeks to harmonise land rates law, neighbourhood improvement charge law and tenement rates law and when passed into law, all other rates on land cease to operate except the Land Use Charge.
The Assembly gave assurance that the proposed harmonised Bill on Land Use Charge will be based on market value, noting that it would be beneficial to property owners. According to the Acting Chairman of the Adhoc Committee on Finance in the House, Hon. Oluyinlka Ogundimu, the law will be based on market value and will correct some wrongs in the system, noting that it would be beneficial to property owners.
โWe have to harmonise some bills to form this new one. With the new law, the local government will not come with a bill, while the state government would come with another one on property. We want everything to be harmonised and make it convenient for the people. We have ensured that we will consider the market value of the houses,โ he said. The lawmaker added that some of the houses are close to the market value, while others are far from it.
According to him, โwhat would be given out would be the value of the land and the building and the rate would be determined by the government. What we will have will be the market value and this has been reduced by 40%. While commenting on those exempted from the charge, Ogundimu noted that โreligious bodies would not be affected, but if you go commercial like running a school, you would not be exempted.โ
In his welcome address, the Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, said that the new law would make life easy for the people of the state and that the House was passionate about anything that would affect the people positively. While giving the overview of the Bill, the Majority Leader, Hon Sanai Agunbiade, stated that the proposed law differs from the old payment charge as the new charges would be based on market value.
