Land Use Charge Should Be Paid By Landlords, Not Tenants – LASG

The Lagos State government has cleared the air over who is responsible for payment of Land Use Charge in the state.

Mustapha Akinkunmi, the Commissioner for Finance, said Monday that land owners and landlords, not tenants,‎ are to pay the fee.

Payment of Land Use Charge is often a contentious issue between property owners and tenants in Lagos, with the former usually arguing that the latter are the ones using the property at any given time.

“It is the landlords that are expected to pay the charge,” Mr. Akinkunmi said during a press conference at the state government secretariat in Lagos.

“They can have agreements with their tenants, but from the‎ government’s perspective, it is the landlord that the law recognizes in paying the charge.”

Mr. Akinkunmi said the state government had put in place options to make the payment of Land Use Charge easy for residents.

“The options include paying (using cash or POS) at the bank or the nearest Land Use Charge offices ‎or online through credit or debit cards,” he added.

Mr. Akinkunmi, who apologised for the delay in the distribution of the bills this year, attributed it to the need to clean up the data sets previously in operation, adding that clearer data sets were now in place.

He, however, said despite the delay in the delivery of the bills, tax payers are still entitled to the usual 15 percent discounted rate if payment is made within 15 days of bill delivery, while others who pay outside the 15 days grace not exceeding 30 calendar days would pay the actual due amount.

The commissioner said failure to do that would attract penalty from the 45th day after bill delivery and rise further afterwards, and that properties in such category would be sealed, while owners would be prosecuted in court in accordance with the law.

“Payment of Land Use Charge is a requirement of law and property tax. Defaulters will have their properties sealed and are liable to be prosecuted in court,” he added.

Mr. Akinkunmi also advised residents to desist from patronizing touts or any official in a bid to cut corners on the payment of Land Use Charge.

“I would like to appeal to all property owners to stop encouraging such habit,” he said.

“The Land Use Charge is totally automated because we have records of all properties in the state.

“I would encourage all property owners to go through normal procedure of payments to the government. If you go through any other means whether through back door or any other means, such is at your own risk.”

He said percentage payable based on owner-occupied is 0.0394 percent of the value of the property, while the percentage for industrial, educational, residential properties occupied by owners and third parties is 0.132 percent.

Commercial and residential properties occupied by third parties, according to Akinkunmi would pay 0.394 percent of the value of the property.

While clarifying the methodology adopted in determining the value of a property, the Commissioner said the value of properties vary with location, hence the Ministry has a template for carrying out valuation process.

“There is a Valuation Department in place at the Ministry of Finance and they have the methodology of how they do the calculation of the property. We now use the ratio as the percentage earlier mentioned.”

He also warned against harassment of government officials by residents in the course of carrying out their lawful duties.

“The full wrath of the law will be invoked on any resident who assaults a Lagos State official in this regard.

“If a resident suspects that a person is impersonating a Lagos State official, please report them to the Office of Finance, Ministry of Finance in Alausa or to the Police,” Mr. Akinkunmi said.