In a bid to curb the problem of massive unoccupied buildings in Abuja, the Federal Government has warned the owners of unoccupied buildings to occupy their houses or be forced to pay triple ground rent for their properties.
This declaration was made by the Minister of Housing, Arc. Ahmed Dangiwa, after touring several government housing construction sites in Abuja and Niger State.
The locations the minister visited during the tour of the Federal Capital City and the vicinity included the Mega City Project by Kubwa Express, the Apo-Guzape Housing Project, the Prototype Housing Scheme, Suleja, and the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) programme.
Dangiwa argued that when the ground rent of the several houses and estates in Abuja is tripled, owners of unoccupied buildings would be compelled to give them out to tenants.
The minister further disclosed that the government was about to commence a census of the estates that are not occupied in the capital city.
- “There are lots of abandoned estates, especially in Abuja and the vicinity. I think, in some other states, we do have a few of them. What’s important is that now we want to take stock of all those abandoned houses. Then, we interface with the owners of the abandoned houses.
- “We ask them what do you want? Do you want to keep these houses? If you want to keep them unoccupied, the government will charge you triple ground rent instead of the single ground rent that we charge.
- “That will force them to put it on rent for whatever amount or sell them off because you can’t keep saying that we have a housing deficit and empty houses when we have a lot of empty houses that are being completed and left unoccupied
- “So, we have told the Department of Lands and urban and Regional Planning in our ministry to take stock of those estates and give us the names of the proprietors so that the owners of those estates will be informed of our plans,” he stressed.
This is a welcomed development. These empty houses are just lying fallow wasting whereas there are numerous Abuja resident looking for good and affordable house to rent. This is also the reason why the landlords are exploiting the residents charging exorbitant rents for the few good apartments. LET THEM RELEASE THESE HOUSES FOR PEOPLE TO RENT.
I have been waiting for this kind of development all these while, the operation should commence with immediate effect
In fact the charge should be increased to 5 times and be hasten the take off.
This is infact a welcome development. I once said this some where that if I am made the minister of FCT. exactly what is happening now is what I said I will do. My only fear is that I hope that the powers that be will allow it to fly. It will invariably force house rent both in the city centre and suburbs to subside. It an also an opportunity for .mortgage business to thrive.