Bill regulating rent: Consider housing schemes, Right activist to Delta Assembly

Following the plans by the Delta State House of Assembly to introduce a bill regulating rent increments, the National Coordinator, Initiative For Social Rights Concerns And Advancement (ISRCA)
AKA “No Justice, No Peace”, Comrade (Amb) Derrick Oritsematosan Agberen on Monday said the Delta State Ministry of Housing should address issues associated with housing schemes that can easily benefit indigenous of the State especially Civil Servants rather than passing unfavourable laws on property owners who spent so much in building houses with high cost of building materials. 

This is contained in a statement by Comrade Agberen and sent to Our Correspondent in Warri. 

Agberen noted that the law remains a good one considering inflated prices of house rents by house owners. He said,"it is also imperative for the Delta State Government to properly address the issues from its root causes."

He argued that,"In as much as the debated bill would favour a good percentages of the people, houses owners cannot spend so much in purchasing building materials and give the property out for  rents in cheaper rates."

Agberen insisted that,"There must also be balances when considering such regulatory measures."

According to him,"The bill should first be centered on regulating the prices on building materials before it can be extended to regulating rent increments. Unfortunately, the Delta State Government do not own any local factories producing any of these building items, hence it becomes almost impossible to implement such bill unless it decides to be none considerate and øppresșive against property owners.  

"Again, while residents in the state have also criticized real estate agents for their excessive commission demands, particularly in property rent related cases, sales and purchases, this trend is not responsible for the surge in house and property rents. 

"The activities of property agents can easily be regulated, unlike exorbitant rents by building owners, which primarily result from high building material costs, property quality standards, and general inflation triggered by the fuel price hike that has significantly impacted the general public to date."