Oyo Lawmakers Raise Motion Against Exploitation of Residents by Estate Agents, Exorbitant House Rents

The duo of the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Babajide Ogundoyin and the member representing Ibadan North 2, Hon. Babajide Adebayo have raised concerns about the exorbitant rates of houses in the state during the plenary session of the state House of Assembly.


The speaker of the House Rt. Hon. Ogundoyin who led the motion to reduce the rate of house rents in the state said that many unsuspecting indigenes and residents in Oyo state pay for things in the name of agent fees and other trivialities which makes their rent almost double of its actual price.


He expressed his displeasure with the current exploitation and duping of Oyo residents by estate agents and landlords when he said that the law has made provisions for the percentage an agent is supposed to have however, most landlords in connivance with house agents negate the provisions of the Law for their selfish interests.


Rt. Hon. Ogundoyin further said “we urge the Oyo State Government through the state ministry of Lands, Housing and physical development in affiliation with other professional bodies, to help regulate the activities of estate agents and surveyors across the state.



The speaker who called these fraudulent agents “quacks”, said that these acts of fraud are also aided by surveyors who deceive residents into believing a wrong value for a house whereby making it easy to hike the price of the rent.


He also called on security agencies to get into action swiftly in order to fish out these fraudulent estate surveyors, agents and landlords so as to punish them as a means of deterring other people who are in or considering the business which Is a fast-growing one in the state lately.



Sharing in the concerns of the Speaker, the Member representing Ibadan North 2, Hon Babajide Adebayo lamented on the rate at which the hike of House rents has made life difficult for the residents of Oyo.



He said that the charges for house rents are too high and the rate at which some agents dupe residents of their hard-earned income with a promise of getting them a good shelter and not showing up afterwards is very alarming.


Hon. Adebayo who also emphasised the need for professional bodies operating in the state to intervene and salvage the situation said: “All their charges are rather too high and exploitative. There should be ways of reducing the activities of fraudulent agents in practice and this is where we need professional bodies like The Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers and Association of Estate Agents to come in and save us from this menace”.