Developer introduces rent-to-own in Lagos property

With personal incomes shrinking and a range of initiatives that make home buying more affordable in the country, Omais Investment Nigeria Limited is already adjusting to this trend and offering two residential projects in Gbagada and Osapa London, Lekki as rent to own homes.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Chief Omochiere Aisagbonhi told The Guardian that the firm adopted this strategy to attract the right persons to take possession of the buildings instead of allowing it to lie idle.

To guarantee the success, he said the company has introduced a mechanism where individuals would be prequalify to come in and buy them by paying 40 per cent and spreading the rest between six to 38 months depending on each subscribers peculiar situation.

Chief Aisagbonhi said the firm is offering people the opportunity to take possession, stay in these places instead of paying rents at 30 per cent of the cost and to spread the balance between six months and 38 months interest free.

The opportunity, he said, are available for two units of four bedroom at Gbagada and eight units at Osapa London, Lekki at the asking price of N55 million and N60 million respectively. The buildings are kitchen fitted and air-conditioned.

According to him, in the past three years, the market has been down with no activities as Nigerians are enduring to live. “The true situation is that developers suffer it most because capital projects are not the things people want to prioritise now.

“Generally where there are a lot of acute shortages and people are who still looking for accommodation but to be able to gather the money and make one instant payment is an issue. So we are offering them the opportunity to come up and take possession, stay in these places instead of paying rents,”he said.

On the quality of projects, Chief Aisagbonhi said: “When we came into the market in 2003, with a promise that we will not cut corners. When you cut corners and build substandard structures, you are planning for funerals of others. The residential and commercial buildings we have done in our years of doing business in this country testify to our integrity. We had never had collapse building, we never had any of out projects run into that kind of situations”, he noted.