The Lagos State Government has issued a 30-day ultimatum to property owners and developers who have converted buildings to other uses other than what they were approved for to regularize the property to avoid sanctions.
General Manager of Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPA), Mr. Kehinde Osinaike, gave this warning on Tuesday, December 13th, 2022.
Osinaike was very critical of the practice of increasing illegal conversion of building use, especially residential ones, for other uses without the government’s approval.
The LASPPA boss said that the illegal conversion of buildings to other purposes contradicts and violates the original Master Plan of the state for the achievement of a sustainable Lagos.
Osinaike revealed that sticking to the Development Plan, which dictates the spatial arrangement of the state and the approved permissible uses for different areas, was important to prevent the emergence of slums.
He called on owners/developers of illegally converted buildings and other types of illegal developments to begin regularizing them by visiting LASPPPA district offices nearest to them for guidance.
He said, “Failure to revert to the original approved plan of LASPPPA by owners of converted buildings within the next thirty days will attract the full wrath of the law.’’
He insisted that strict adherence to the Operative Development Plans was “non-negotiable for a sustainable Lagos State”.
Osinaike explained that the housing stock available for Lagos residents was usually estimated by planning permit granted for residential purposes.
He said that when such buildings get illegally converted, the official records automatically become unreliable creating a disequilibrium.
He said that LASPPPA had the mandate to reject any application seeking for conversion of property from the originally approved use that had been specifically designated for a particular location.
Osinaike noted that the authority is legally guided by the extant Law and Regulations to grant planning permits to qualifying applications in accordance with the provisions of the Operative Development Plans of the state.
He said that illegal conversion of buildings that have approval for other uses was liable to revocation.
The Lagos State Government had been at the forefront of the fight against the illegal conversion of properties from residential to commercial without approval from the state government as this distorts the physical planning of the state.
This has led to the issuing of contravention notices to the various violators and even the demolition of such structures.
cc: Nairametrics