Lagos mandates tax clearance for housing transactions

The Lagos State Government has said that tax clearance has become mandatory for housing transactions to prevent fraud and protect allottees.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Abdulhafis Toriola, made this known in a statement issued by the Chief Public Affairs Officer of the ministry, Adesile Rufai, recently.

Toriola said that the new requirements would prevent fraud in transferring home ownership and protect people who may have lost their homeownership documents.

He said, “In a bid to eradicate fraud in the transfer of homeownership and protect the interests of allottees in cases of loss of homeownership documents, all applications relating to the transfer of homeownership are to be accompanied with evidence of home ownership, a search conduct result and a valid means of identification in cases of loss of homeownership documents.”

According to him, an allottee who applies for transfer of ownership must accompany his/her application with a letter of allocation, payment receipts, and a valid means of identification to be submitted to the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing.

He said the move was to ascertain the genuineness of claims of ownership by applicants for proper transfer, which has become necessary given the increased incidents of false claims uncovered by the ministry.

He added, “However, the permanent secretary disclosed that henceforth, homeowners applying for replacement of lost documents must attach the homeowner(s) national identification card, police report and loss of document in the national newspaper to the application for processing and confirmation of ownership.

“All applications relating to housing transactions in the state are to be accompanied by evidence of a valid tax clearance certificate of the applicant, including applicants serving in the public or civil service, for the application of a home unit, a change of ownership, or a loss of home ownership document.

The Permanent Secretary said that all housing construction and the provision of infrastructure facilities in the state were funded by taxpayers’ money, adding that beneficiaries of these projects must have evidence of personal income tax.

He warned, “The ministry will not process any application that does not include the aforementioned documents.

“The citizenry should take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the State Government in prioritising the completion of all ongoing housing projects in order to reduce the housing deficit in the State and the nation at large.”