HDAN POLICY DOCUMENT
20 Critical Issues Nigeria Must Carefully Consider Before Regulating Its Real Estate, Housing and Construction Industry
By the Research and Economic Development Unit, Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN)
13 November 2026 | Abuja, Nigeria
As Nigeria considers the establishment of a National Real Estate Regulatory Authority (NRERA), the Federal Government and National Assembly must recognise that real estate regulation is not simply about registering developers, issuing licences or punishing offenders. It is about building a transparent, safe, professional, investable and affordable housing market.
The November 2, 2026, stakeholders’ conference organised by the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the House Committee on Housing and Habitat highlighted the need to address fraud, overlapping institutional responsibilities and weak consumer protection. The proposed authority remains a policy initiative, not an established national regulator.
HDAN recommends that Nigeria carefully examine the following issues before introducing new legislation.
A. Institutional and legal considerations
1. Avoid creating another bureaucracy that duplicates existing agencies
Nigeria must first map the responsibilities of existing agencies, including ESVARBON, COREN, state physical planning authorities and building-control agencies.
ESVARBON already has statutory responsibilities for regulating estate surveying and valuation, while COREN regulates engineering practice, including engineering standards and monitoring.
HDAN recommendation: Any national real estate regulator should primarily address gaps in developer conduct, housing-project transparency, consumer protection and nationwide information sharing. It must not automatically take over the responsibilities of existing professional regulators.
2. Respect Nigeria’s federal structure and state land-administration powers
The Land Use Act assigns significant responsibilities for land administration to state governors and local governments. A national regulator cannot simply assume that every state-level land and building-control responsibility should be centralised. 2004 Laws of Nigeria
HDAN recommendation: Develop a coordinated federal-state framework, with a national minimum standard and clear roles for state governments. Any proposed national law should undergo constitutional review before enactment.
3. Clearly distinguish developers, contractors, agents and professional practitioners
A property developer is not necessarily a building contractor. An estate agent is different from a registered valuer, while engineers, architects, builders and quantity surveyors perform distinct professional functions.
HDAN recommendation: Provide separate regulatory classifications and requirements for each role, including rules for companies operating in several categories. This will prevent regulatory confusion and unnecessary licensing costs.
4. Make professional competence a condition for undertaking regulated activities
A company should not be permitted to execute complex structural works or provide regulated professional services merely because it has been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
HDAN recommendation: Require verifiable qualified professionals for the activities that legally require them, documented supervision and continuing professional development.
B. Developer accountability and consumer protection
5. Introduce developer identification and a public verification system
Every developer engaged in regulated projects should have a verifiable registration record, with information on its legal identity, directors, responsible professionals, approved projects and disciplinary status.
HDAN recommendation: Establish a searchable public register and unique identifiers for regulated developers and projects. Buyers should be able to verify the parties behind a project before making payment.
6. Protect off-plan buyers from diversion of their payments
One of the strongest international lessons comes from Dubai, which requires project escrow accounts for developers selling off-plan units. India requires a separate project bank account containing 70% of qualifying buyer collections, subject to statutory withdrawal conditions. These are different mechanisms, not interchangeable models.
HDAN recommendation: Require appropriate project-specific ring-fencing of purchasers’ funds, independent verification of construction milestones and independently auditable payment records, with proportionate arrangements for smaller developments.
7. Prevent the marketing and sale of misleading or unauthorised housing projects
Developers should not advertise projects using false ownership claims, misleading building specifications, fictitious government approvals or unrealistic delivery promises.
HDAN recommendation: Introduce verifiable project-marketing disclosures identifying the relevant land title, planning status, developer, financial protections and expected delivery arrangements. Advertising should distinguish approved projects from proposals awaiting permission.
8. Protect legitimate developers as strongly as consumers
Regulation must not automatically assume that every dispute is evidence of developer fraud. Developers may face purchasers who breach contracts, government approval delays, extortion, unlawful encroachment or unjustified administrative actions.
HDAN recommendation: Provide fair hearings, transparent investigations, contract-based remedies and independent appeals. Sanctions should follow evidence and due process rather than unverified public allegations.
9. Establish a fast and affordable real estate complaints system
Buyers and developers need an accessible mechanism for resolving payment, delivery, misrepresentation and contractual disputes.
HDAN recommendation: Provide a structured complaints process, mediation, legally authorised dispute resolution and enforceable remedies. Criminal fraud should remain a matter for appropriate law-enforcement authorities and the courts.
C. Construction quality, safety and environmental protection
10. Make building safety a central pillar of regulation
Registration alone cannot prevent building collapse. Construction quality depends on approved designs, competent professionals, suitable materials, safe execution and effective inspections.
Lagos State already provides for stage inspections and certificates of completion and fitness for habitation.
HDAN recommendation: Adopt enforceable minimum safety standards and strengthen state-level inspections at critical construction stages, including foundations, structural works and completion.
11. Regulate building materials and workmanship
Unsafe reinforcement, substandard cement, poor concrete production and unqualified workmanship can undermine structural safety.
HDAN recommendation: Strengthen material testing, product traceability, applicable SON standards, contractor accountability and independent technical investigations of structural failures.
12. Introduce post-construction responsibility
A building may appear satisfactory at handover but develop serious defects afterward.
HDAN recommendation: Consider proportionate defect-liability periods, warranties, professional indemnity and appropriate insurance arrangements. Buyers should have a clear procedure for reporting latent defects.
13. Incorporate flood, fire, drainage and climate resilience
Regulation must address more than structural collapse. Buildings can become unsafe through flooding, poor drainage, inadequate fire protection, improper waste disposal and construction on environmentally unsuitable land.
HDAN recommendation: Incorporate location-specific environmental risk assessments, fire safety, drainage and resilience requirements into the existing planning and building-control system.
D. Economic, investment and implementation considerations
14. Ensure regulation does not increase the cost of affordable housing
Nigeria must carefully examine how regulatory fees, compulsory professional services, insurance, taxes and approval costs affect housing prices.
HDAN recommendation: Conduct a regulatory impact assessment before imposing new requirements. Use graduated licence fees, proportionate compliance obligations and simplified procedures for low-risk housing developments. Safety standards should never be compromised.
15. Do not regulate large developers and small builders in exactly the same manner
A developer constructing 2,000 housing units has different financial and operational risks from a cooperative building 15 homes.
HDAN recommendation: Establish risk-based categories for small, medium and large developments, with different financial disclosure and reporting requirements. All must comply with applicable safety and professional standards.
16. Make land-title verification and digitisation central to the reform
Nigeria cannot build a trustworthy real estate market without reliable land records and mechanisms for identifying competing ownership claims, encumbrances and questionable transactions.
HDAN recommendation: Connect the proposed property verification system with recognised state land registries. A developer’s registration number should never be represented as proof of land ownership or a substitute for legal title verification.
17. Address money laundering and financial transparency
The housing sector can be vulnerable to opaque transactions, concealed beneficial ownership and illicit financial flows. Nigeria already has anti-money-laundering obligations covering categories of real estate businesses.
HDAN recommendation: Integrate appropriate existing AML requirements and cooperate with SCUML, relevant financial regulators and law-enforcement agencies rather than establishing another duplicative reporting system. scuml.org
18. Establish strict accountability for government regulators
Developers and property buyers should not be the only parties subject to sanctions.
Officials may contribute to industry failures through corrupt approvals, deliberate obstruction, illegal demands or failure to enforce legitimate safety notices.
HDAN recommendation: Require written reasons for regulatory decisions, publish official fees, establish service deadlines, provide independent appeals and enforce disciplinary measures against corrupt officials.
19. Introduce digital regulation without compromising privacy
Singapore provides an instructive example: members of the public can verify registered property agents, licence status and disciplinary information through an official public register. Council for Estate Agencies
HDAN recommendation: Develop an integrated digital platform for developer registration, project verification, consumer complaints and regulatory information. Publish only legally appropriate data and protect personal information under Nigeria’s data-protection framework.
20. Implement reforms gradually and measure their results
Launching multiple new requirements simultaneously could disrupt existing projects, discourage investment and overwhelm regulatory institutions.
HDAN recommendation: Introduce reform through a phased national implementation programme, supported by state governments, developers, professional bodies, financial institutions and civil society.
Source-Research and Economic Development Unit ,
Housing Development Advocacy Network Abuja,Nigeria
www.hdan.org
