If i can go there before March 2015, will try to take pictures and share also. I am careful not to buy now though, but so were people that bought Abraham Adesanya (Ajah) years ago and it was a good buy then even with all the wahala with the houses. In the end, it is a risk we have to deal with and typically better than land deals in my opinion.

SangoCrusader:

@blank, I noticed some of your other posts. Do you know if any further work will be done to renovate and expand that lekki-epe expressway up to Lagos Business School side?

LCC just sent emails that they will resume repair and construction of Lekki-Epe Expressway from Sept this year.

Keeping our fingers crossed.

Exploitation has started in Lekki gardens phase 2. Occupants now buys electricity at 55 naira per kWh after paying 15,000 naira monthly fixed charge. You spend about 50k on electricity alone per month. 250k is service charge per annum, water metre is now being installed cost of water in unknown yet. 450k is also being charged as connection fee per house unit.

princeatom:
Exploitation has started in Lekki gardens phase 2. Occupants now buys electricity at 55 naira per kWh after paying 15,000 naira monthly fixed charge. You spend about 50k on electricity alone per month. 250k is service charge per annum, water metre is now being installed cost of water in unknown yet. 450k is also being charged as connection fee per house unit.

Oriegwu!!!

princeatom:
Exploitation has started in Lekki gardens phase 2. Occupants now buys electricity at 55 naira per kWh after paying 15,000 naira monthly fixed charge. You spend about 50k on electricity alone per month. 250k is service charge per annum, water metre is now being installed cost of water in unknown yet. 450k is also being charged as connection fee per house unit.

I knew this will come up in that Estate.

Wow,upon so many renovation work range from electrical to plumbing.... work for a nairalander over there early this year,on plumbing aspect,the woman change so many things,wall tiles and floor tiles, kitchen slab,water heater and many more

^^^^^

I thought the houses are to delivered as 'SHELL' so how come your client is changing tiles?

princeatom:
Exploitation has started in Lekki gardens phase 2. Occupants now buys electricity at 55 naira per kWh after paying 15,000 naira monthly fixed charge. You spend about 50k on electricity alone per month. 250k is service charge per annum, water metre is now being installed cost of water in unknown yet. 450k is also being charged as connection fee per house unit.

What is the connection fee meant for? To connect you to what?

@princeatom And please, which estates exactly are you referring to, Phase 1 and 2? It is good to have all the details so it does not seem like speculation.
Thanks

I hope the management of LGE/GTRI is seeing some of these posts or at least some members of their management.
It is very easy to destroy than to build.
My advise to any person who wants to move, please try to visit and speak to a number of residents before you do, preferably on a saturday so u can speak to a cross section of people.

@SangoCrusader; what is happening now is in both estates (Ph1 & 2) and may transfer to their other estates.

I feel bad for the number of clients I encouraged to buy, esp the aged and pensioners with fixed incomes, some who where funded with bank loans.

@All, guys don't you all have detail contract of the estate bofore singn to it? All this may have being challenge by your lawyer before closing the deals with them. Anything outside those deals may be challenge in the court of law. Just my five cent advice.

princeatom:
Exploitation has started in Lekki gardens phase 2. Occupants now buys electricity at 55 naira per kWh after paying 15,000 naira monthly fixed charge. You spend about 50k on electricity alone per month. 250k is service charge per annum, water metre is now being installed cost of water in unknown yet. 450k is also being charged as connection fee per house unit.

Who are the real people behind LGE ?

They sound like some people with close ties to LASG.

Not surprised about this development. Most will find it hard to live in and nobody would want to rent at such rates.
Several tenants have already put up their houses for sale, hope they succeed .

amanikondo:

I knew this will come up in that Estate.

in all estates jare,

dis has been fear from day one,

in a country where pple seem to act as they want, who will tell them otherwise.

oya, make una start to pay.

tnk GOD i didnt buy frm any private estates

Not sure where @Princeatom got his info from but I just got back from Lagos to pick up my Keys.

No separate water charge at all (at least in Phase 2 & 3 where I have properties). Water treatment and connection are included in service charge which in my case its 215K annually
Service charge includes:

1.Security
2.Water treatment
3.Waste management
4.Road maintainance
5.Green Area
6.House Repaint every 2/3yrs
7.Fumigation
Once service charge is paid water and electricity will be connected.
N15,000 base monthly charge for electricity (which I kind off questioned but detailed reasonable explanation was provided). Then 55kwp.

Water meters are being installed so that it could be disconnected when you do not pay service charge, and illegal reconnection will attract 400K charge. I guess this is where @Princeatom misunderstood it. There’s a booklet which states all rules and regulations.

I have not been here in a minute. The information from Yates seems to be the right one except that of the 215k which is dependent on the Unit type. I plan to get connected to the utility next month. The information gathered is below

Services Charge (annually) 3BR 215K , 4BR 235K and 4-5BR Duplex 250K
Electricity : Basic Charge is 15K and 55/KWH
Water is included in the 215K annually

The only problem I have is with the electricity distribution which is from 6pm to 6am and 24hrs on the weekend and public holiday. Compare to Fara park and 1004, the per KWH is reasonable. I just don't like the idea that electricity is not 24/7 as they say for now. The purpose of no generator has been defeated as people have resulted in using generator of as an alternate source of electricity.

I will let the house know if I have any other information.

^^^^^^^^ Thank you so much guys for this info

I believe electricity distribution would be extended as more subscribers take ownership of their houses.

It was previously 35KWH then to 55KWH. But it all changed when Richard was actually paying from his pocket to run generators as there aren’t enough occupants yet, plus some of the few occupants are actually buying as low as N2000 token per month which aren’t enough to run 6pm – 6am electricity let alone 24/7. That’s where 15K based charge was introduced. With this introduction 6pm-6am electricity can continue regardless of how much token you buy per month.

By the time the estate is fully occupied I believe 15K based charge would be scrapped and possibly revert to 35KWH. But please don’t quote me, only in Nigeria “what goes up never come down” actually, I may be wrong – I heard Dangote has now reduced price of cement from N1700 to N1000.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your updates.
I really follow this forum diligently and I can confirm I've gained a lot of vital infos from it.
Can anyone recommend a very good interior decorator to me please, that would help finish up the house at a reasonable price using quality materials.

Thanks
Elmthree

Hi Elmthree

I can’t help you in this area. My cousin is looking after interior finishes for me as if it was his own house. It’s not rocket science, if you are on ground why not do it yourself (as in supervise and buy your materials). Haven’t had good experience with contractors/interior decors. I got a quote of N368,000 from one them couple of weeks ago to do screeding for a 4 bed house in Phase 2 which I eventually got done for N166,000. Another contractor quote N7.3M to finish the whole interior (Excluding furniture, items like sofas, beds & Mattresses) and most items he’s going to use will potentially be Chinese products. You have to shine your eyes and shop around. If you leave abroad my advice would be to buy everything you need, put them in a truck and ship. That’s what I am doing now. That way, you buy quality items and save a lot of money. Shipping stuff is a lot easier now than it used to be.

To contractors in the house – I’m not criticising you. I’m just sharing my experience.

Hello Elmtree,

I'm with Yates on this one. Shine your eyes with the finishing. The contractor I hired quoted 1.5m for kitchen cabinets , 900K for doors , 725K for handrails for Steps and 900K for internal painting just to name a few. I took my time to visit Nigeria and paid far less than what I was quoted. You can imagine I only paid 200K for kitchen cabinet and was nicely done with marble top, another 250K for doors which met my standard because I could be very picky and 300K for the handrails as well.

I might have even overpaid because I was overjoyed with the savings and didn't really price it very well. You will save yourself a whole lot if you engage all this artisan directly. You will even get most of this people in Lekki Gardens. Just make sure you get minimum of 2 quotation to compare with.

Contractors on this forum- No offense intended , just sharing experience and giving my 2 cents advice!!

Developers breach contracts, undermine home ownership in Nigeria
November 6, 2014 | Filed under: Exclusive,main story | Author: Chuka Uroko
1
The growing tendency of real estate developers to breach contracts between them and subscribers to their housing schemes is thwarting the home ownership dreams of teeming Nigerians and undermining public confidence in the system, industry watchers say.

They further add that the development is discouraging investment in real estate.

Also, they say, Nigeria’s ten percent home ownership level for a population of 170 million is grossly inadequate for a country adjudged the largest economy in Africa.

According to the observers, attempts by individuals to improve this situation have in recent times been frustrated by some developers who renege on their promises to house buyers, kill the buyers’ home ownership dreams and distort their investment decisions through arbitrary price increases.

Recently, subscribers to a moderate estate linked to an insurance firm and located in a prime neighbourhood on the Lagos mainland, cried foul over the action of the estate developer, who without prior discussion or consultation, raised the unit cost of the houses they had subscribed to, by almost 25 percent of the original value.

The subscribers, in a statement issued by their lawyer, Wale Adesokan of Adesokun & Co Chambers, made available to BusinessDay, lamented that contrary to the promise of delivering the estate in 2012, work was yet to be concluded up till now. They added that many delivery dates had been touted after the first one failed, but all to no avail.

In reaction to the developer’s explanation that the delay was caused by unfavourable environmental factors, and that the cost variation was as a result of rising cost of construction and the quality of the houses they were going to deliver, the subscribers stressed that the price increase wouldn’t have been necessary if the estate had been delivered on the originally scheduled date. “Subscribers consider this price increase unacceptable, because contract had been entered into between the parties for the sale of those houses at a given price and they have been performing their own side of the bargain.

“Many of them have made family and career decisions tied to the use and occupation of the houses as from January 2013. These plans are now being put in jeopardy by the price review”, the statement emphasised.

An official of the development company has said however, that they were not driven by profit motive in embarking on the project but were committed to assisting fellow Nigerians gain access to affordable houses. They added that they were doing all they could to ensure that subscribers would move into the estate before Christmas.

In the same vein, a group of subscribers who said they represented the interest of over 3,000 other subscribers to Mainland Park Estate located along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, being developed by an Ogun State-based property development company, told journalists in Lagos that a few years ago, the company advertised plots of land in the estate for sale.

Bamidele Alabi, spokesperson for the group, recalled that the developer promised to deliver (plots of land) to all subscribers upon completion of payment, which they agreed to collect instalmentally.

The subscribers said they were worried that the developer after several years, and despite collecting different sums of money, ranging from N350,000 to N1,000,000 per plot, began to ask for further payments ranging from N200,000 to N1,200,000 which they described as ‘Development Levy’.

According to the subscribers, the company insisted on collecting these monies on the same plots which had been paid for, even when no subscriber among those who had completed payment had been physically allocated their land.

Another set of subscribers to Teju Royal Garden, an estate along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, told BusinessDay recently, that they were fast exhausting their patience with the developer who had shifted the estate’s delivery date more than five times.

The 850-unit low cost housing estate comprises one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom semi-detached and three-bedroom detached bungalows, selling for between N2.5 million and N7.5 million.

A subscriber who identified himself simply as John, told this reporter that the endless shifting of delivery dates had exposed him to the discomfort of paying house rents, long after he had expected to be a home owner.

Another subscriber who did not want to be named, said though he was buying for investment purposes, the uncertainty surrounding the delivery of the estate was making him regret the decision to invest in the estate.

Anthony Osae-Brown, a banker, had in a chat with BusinessDay described the action of these estate developers as frustrating, recalling that he had to get his money back from developers who had deceived him into believing that they were developing houses for sale.

“Three times I had subscribed to estates and three times I had collected my money back from them. What these people do amounts to fraud because they would collect money from subscribers, use the money to start the project, delay the development and when the value appreciates, they will increase the prices and ask the subscribers to either pay the new price, or wait to collect whatever they had paid before.

This is not only frustrating, but also discouraging investment in real estate, and can only happen in this country”, he lamented, noting that if it were in a country with better judicial system, the developers wouldn’t indulge in such acts and go scott free.

Chuka Uroko

http://businessdayonline.com/2014/11/developers-breach-contracts-undermine-home-ownership-in-nigeria/#.VFsUDTTF_3Q

emthree:
Hi everyone,

Thanks for your updates.
I really follow this forum diligently and I can confirm I've gained a lot of vital infos from it.
Can anyone recommend a very good interior decorator to me please, that would help finish up the house at a reasonable price using quality materials.

Thanks
Elmthree

I would recommend Skimanski here on Nairaland. He does good quality but i don't know about price.

@ Yates and Pecos. Where ever you live in the world , Do you pay service charge up front?
@ Yates. Which generator is being used in Phase 1 AND 2? So you believe Richard is running generator from his pocket. LOL You are free to believe anything.

In VGC its N15 per kwh with up to 18 hours electricity (large number of housing units)
In Omole its N23 per kwh same electricity plan as LGE no fixed electricity charges.
In Northern Forshore it approximately N25 per kwh same supply plan as LGE with no fixed electricity charges
French colony N60 per kwh 24 hours supply (no fixed electricity charge)
In Fara park (which LGE MGT ALWAYS REFERS TO)- its N45 per kwh with 24 hours electricity with no fixed electricity charges
Carlton gate estate N65 per kwh 24 hour supply with no fixed electricirty charges


Nepa charges approx N14 per kwh with N750 fixed charge. (EXTRA N41 AND N14250)
Lawma monthly fee in my house is N500. I have not found any one who pays more than N2000
Security and cleaning fee of N5000 monthly and this is quite expensive when compared to other estates.
BTW I live in a gated community around this axis.

Check the list above, the larger estates have lesser electricity charge and NONE have fixed electricity charges.
Why is LGE different? Why do people have to pay N55 per kwh which should be all inclusiveand pay a seperate fixed charge.

As far I know , nobody wants free electricity or other services , what they want is a reasonable price.
BTW those who bought LGE homes that are before Ajah, prepare your pockets planned service charge is N550,000

Sammiejo:
@ Yates and Pecos. Where ever you live in the world , Do you pay service charge up front?
@ Yates. Which generator is being used in Phase 1 AND 2? So you believe Richard is running generator from his pocket. LOL You are free to believe anything.

In VGC its N15 per kwh with up to 18 hours electricity (large number of housing units)
In Omole its N23 per kwh same electricity plan as LGE no fixed electricity charges.
In Northern Forshore it approximately N25 per kwh same supply plan as LGE with no fixed electricity charges
French colony N60 per kwh 24 hours supply (no fixed electricity charge)
In Fara park (which LGE MGT ALWAYS REFERS TO)- its N45 per kwh with 24 hours electricity with no fixed electricity charges
Carlton gate estate N65 per kwh 24 hour supply with no fixed electricirty charges


Nepa charges approx N14 per kwh with N750 fixed charge. (EXTRA N41 AND N14250)
Lawma monthly fee in my house is N500. I have not found any one who pays more than N2000
Security and cleaning fee of N5000 monthly and this is quite expensive when compared to other estates.
BTW I live in a gated community around this axis.

Check the list above, the larger estates have lesser electricity charge and NONE have fixed electricity charges.
Why is LGE different? Why do people have to pay N55 per kwh which should be all inclusiveand pay a seperate fixed charge.

As far I know , nobody wants free electricity or other services , what they want is a reasonable price.
BTW those who bought LGE homes that are before Ajah, prepare your pockets planned service charge is N550,000

@ Sammiejo... I honestly respect your opinion and I find it very fantastic and insightful. I will surely raise it at the town hall meeting(if any) and might even push for an occupants(tenant/Landlord) meetings. I have not moved in but I plan to move in next month and will probably spend an average of 3months in Nigeria in a calendar year. It's really annoying having to pay 15K fixed charge and pay N55KWH.

We should be able to come together for fight this abnormality. Most of this developers are thieves and LG might go the same way VGC because of the greed of the management company.

You can imagine that Carlton Gate that you mentioned pays N65 but they barely enjoy the light as most occupants now use generators and a few with solar energy

Thank you for your comments.

Hi Yates /Pecos ,

Thanks for all your advice.

I'm not on ground in naija.

Someone else had advised I buy all the things I need from here and ship them to Lagos, .
I guess I have to come and do all the measurements so that I can know the right sizes for all appliances /fittings that I need to buy
But even at that, I will need capable hands to fit and make them look good.
Should be in naija by january

Thanks for your contributions

Elmthree

@Sammiejo - your questions are answered below...

@ Yates and Pecos. Where ever you live in the world , Do you pay service charge up front?
Yes. I do. Service charge upfront, mortgage repayment upfront, council tax upfront. In fact you work upfront before you get paid. That’s how it works.

@ Yates. Which generator is being used in Phase 1 AND 2? So you believe Richard is running generator from his pocket.
I didn’t mention Phase 1. There are few people already leaving in phase 2, and generator is running 6pm-6am. What Richard is doing can be compare to using 45Kva generator to run 6 bed house where only one bedroom is currently occupied. Just to encourage current resident.

Most (if not all) of the estates you mentioned are full-blown estates hence lower KWH rates. To quote your statement “the larger estates have lesser electricity charge” I believe LGE will get there.

Please note, have never met Richard, not related (though he called me a few time when I had a complain). I just feel he means well unlike some many other developers who never delivered.

Thanks everyone for the updates on LGE.. I have found this thread very useful. I share the same concerns as many on this forum. LGE has always advertised their estates as .."luxury you can afford" but from the various complaints and present costs, it seems very opposite to their claim. I hope the prices would reduce as more residents move in, but again, the current price would scare many residents and some might even consider putting their houses up for sale. LGE needs to re-strategize and do the needful (whatever needs to be done to encourage owners move in quickly) otherwise negative publicity would affect this estate. My opinion.

Hi all,
Found this trending discussions on Lekki Gardens Estate quite interesting, because I also made some substantial investment in Phase 3 behind Lagos Business School. To be quite frank, always thought these were professionals, but it appears they are not even close.
1. How can one explain lumping up people with different payment plan into the same project with different delivery times and expect to maximize your utility cost? It's very clear that the entire projects have not been thought through.
2. Something as easy as matching allocated units with subscriptions was a big issue, they made me part with an extra unbudgeted 3 million naira for a premium house when my subscription was a deluxe house.
3. Recently, I have been asked to make payment for service charge and legal & documentation fees for 1.46m, when am not even done with the internal finishing? We signed a contract which never mentioned that this is a criteria for handover the house to client. I have pointed this out from the contract and they are giving me the silent treatment, they won't respond to my emails or pick my phone calls.
My summary is that they are biting more than than they can chew, what happens next is choking, which is where we are at the moment. I sincerely hope they don't die from this experience, so that they can live to tell about the goodness of God

Hi Yates,

Thanks for your insight into your own experiences with the developer. Did you have to pay any documentation and legal fees before collecting your keys?

Thanks.
Belmouth

yates:
Not sure where @Princeatom got his info from but I just got back from Lagos to pick up my Keys.

No separate water charge at all (at least in Phase 2 & 3 where I have properties). Water treatment and connection are included in service charge which in my case its 215K annually
Service charge includes:

1.Security
2.Water treatment
3.Waste management
4.Road maintainance
5.Green Area
6.House Repaint every 2/3yrs
7.Fumigation
Once service charge is paid water and electricity will be connected.
N15,000 base monthly charge for electricity (which I kind off questioned but detailed reasonable explanation was provided). Then 55kwp.

Water meters are being installed so that it could be disconnected when you do not pay service charge, and illegal reconnection will attract 400K charge. I guess this is where @Princeatom misunderstood it. There’s a booklet which states all rules and regulations.