DISADVANTAGES OF NOT GETTING A BUILDING PERMIT IN LAGOS
Before you commence building a house, you are legally required to obtain a development permit and this falls under the purview of the Lagos State Building Control Agency.
DISADVANTAGES OF NOT GETTING A BUILDING PERMIT IN LAGOS
Before you commence building a house, you are legally required to obtain a development permit and this falls under the purview of the Lagos State Building Control Agency. Once this is obtained, it is considered an approval for you to begin construction work on your site. In Lagos, we have cases of individuals and organisations buying existing property and demolishing it to erect a new building. In this scenario, a permit is also required.
The building permit is not optional and the state government has repeatedly reiterated the importance of this permit. To highlight the severity of penalty of building a house without a permit, the state government has vowed that any building found without a building permit would be shut down regardless of its location within the state.
Before the Lagos State Building Control Agency shuts down buildings that fail to get a building permit before construction, the owners of such buildings are given a grace period to regularise before the state government comes down hard with penalties.
According to the construction laws, homeowners who run afoul of this construction law are served what is known as a ‘contravention notice.’ This period gives you the opportunity to regularise your documents in order to obtain the needed permits.
The fact that you have money to build a property does not make moving in automatic upon completion. Before your property is declared fit for habitation, the Lagos State Building Control Agency needs to issue you a certificate of completion of building construction and fitness for habitation.
Lagos State has recorded a significant reduction in cases of building collapse and this has been largely due to the Lagos State Building Control Agency, the construction laws as well as its enforcement.
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH OBTAINING BUILDING PERMIT IN NIGERIA
In our experience, some of the likely problems to be faced when applying for building permit are as follows;
RED TAPISM:
This could be as a result of excessively complicated administrative procedure that has made the process of obtaining licences and permits cumbersome.
ENGAGING INEXPERIENCED INTERMEDIARIES:
The process for obtaining licences and permits could even be made longer by engaging inexperienced hands to carry out the process.
Ensure you have all the necessary documents especially tax and structural drawings papers to avoid unnecessary delay in the approval process
Ensure that your tax papers are up-to-date as tax verification will be done at Lagos Internal Revenue Service
After the approval of building plan, a copy of the approved building plan must be kept on-site for inspection at all times during the period of construction.
WHAT IS THE LIFESPAN OF A BUILDING PERMIT
Building Permit will expire if the work it covers does not begin within six (6) months or the building is not completed within one (1) year of the date is issued, renewable or can be extended, but it is usually advisable to get a building permit issued as close as possible to the time when the work begins
NB: This article is not a legal advice, and under no circumstance should you take it as such. All information provided are for general purpose only. For information, please contact chamanlawfirm@gmail.com
WRITTEN BY CHAMAN LAW FIRM TEAM
EMAIL: chamanlawfirm@gmail.com
TEL: 08065553671, 08024230080