How to make illegal buildings legal in Lagos State.

The fact that your illegal building has been in existence without Planning Permit for a very long time does not exclude it from the list of illegitimate buildings which can be made legal as far as the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law of 2010 is concerned. The Law appropriates that all existing illegal buildings must be legal without compromising its structural stability and fitness. Simply put, all buildings must be covered by a Planning Permit. (click for more)

Developers or Owners of these existing illegal buildinds argued that the construction of these illegitimate buildings without Planning Permit was occasioned by some of the reasons highlighted below.

Why illegal buildings

1. Inexperience and lack of adequate information or knowledge on the need and how the Planning Permit can be produced;(click)
2. Bureaucratic bottleneck and delay in the processing of some relevant documents towards the procurement of the Planning Permit (e.g. Land information, C of O, etc);(click for more)
3. Fear of encroachment by the land grabbers “Omo–Onile;” 
4. Fulfillment with the terms and conditions on the credit facilities from their financial institutions, etc.

Notwithstanding their disagreement they have no choice than to legalize the illegality on the existing buildings that has no Planning Permit. Here is how to make illegal buildings legal in Lagos State witout compromising the structural integrity pf the building.

Documents needed.

1. Survey Plan (one Sun print copy);
2. Architectural and Structural drawings (5 copies each);
3. Title documents. ( Proof of ownership);
4. Letter of Structural Stability from the Engineer that Supervised the construction or Non- Destructive Integrity test (NDIT) from Material Testing Laboratory;
5. Payment of the Government’s prescribed fees;
6. Clearance letters from MDA’s and other relevant bodies (where applicable);
7. Evidence of Land use payment;
8. Physical Planning Technical Report (where applicable) and;
9. Evidence of Tax Payments.

Procedure

1. Get a registered Architect to prepare your As-Built drawings;
2. Take the architectural and the structural drawings prepared; the title document; Survey Plan to the District Planning office where your property is located for pre-screening and assessment (note that the site will be visited with the officials for physical assessment)
3. Once the architectural drawing has been cleared and assessed, pay all the prescribed statutory fees to Lagos State Government coffers;
4. Collect a letter of Structural Stability from the Engineer that supervised the construction  or a Non- Destructive Integrity Test (NDIT) from Material Testing Laboratory; (to attest to the structural fitness of the existing building);
5. Submit all the above and other necessary documents mentioned above to the District office for registration and further processing.
6. Notification will be sent immediately the Planning Permit is ready as well as the  Tax update for collection. (click to know about the revocation of Planning Permit)
7. Produce the evidence of Tax confirmation and collect your Planning Permit.