The Lagos State Government, on Tuesday, revealed that N295.471 million was recovered through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in estate-related disputes among parties.

The Commissioner for Housing, Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, said this during the ongoing ministerial press briefing to mark the second year of the second term of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.

The Commissioner stated that the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) has legislative right to explore Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms as a means to amicably settle real estate-related disputes before real estate cases are escalated to the enforcement authority for detailed investigation and prosecution if required.

According to him, 20 properties were recovered on behalf of third parties through a mediation process involving tenants, land buyers, fraudulent estate agents, land vendors, and property developers.

“The Agency has a database of 925 registered individuals/organisations on its registration portal: lasrera.lagosstate.gov.ng, out of over 2,550 practitioners that have enrolled to be registered.

“Consequently, the number of cases received by the Agency to date is 1,899, out of which 1,580 were mediated upon and 1,243 were successfully resolved.
“However, 23 were adjourned for further mediation, 147 cases were abandoned due to non-attendance at the sessions by parties involved, while 172 were referred to appropriate agencies.

“In addition, there are 8 cases in courts (2 in Federal High Court, 3 in State High Court, and 3 in Magistrate Court).

“LASRERA has constantly engaged its stakeholders through different fora to standardize the real estate sector of the State to meet with international best practices. Some of these engagements include the Lagos Real Estate Marketplace Conference and Exhibition.”