An unsatisfied customer has taken to his verified Twitter account, Series ‘Baj, to narrate his ordeals in the hands of a popular real estate company in Nigeria.
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Of recent, many subscribers to the company that boasts of being the leading Pan-African real estate development company providing the highest number of decent, accessible, comfortable and affordable houses has being in the news for all the wrong reasons.
In response to a poser by OG Waheedi, seeking to know if it was safe to transact business with the company, ‘Baj claimed otherwise.
“Anyone on my TL ever actually bought land from XXX XXX and actually BUILT IT and LIVED THERE?” Waheedi asked.
According to ‘Baj, it is safer to patronise omo onile (direct land owners) than do business with several of many of the real estate companies in the country.
“XXX XXX is a fraudulent company. They allocated a piece of land in Shimawa, near the RCCG area, and gave a complementary bag of rice and keg of groundnut oil. Shimawa had experienced a developmental boost due to the presence of the Redeemed church.
“However, years after almost completing the payment, XXX XXX reallocated the land to an entirely different area, a proper tropical rainforest. This action seemed like a breach of agreement, so we decided to back out and requested a refund.
“Unfortunately, their terms and conditions booklet is heavily loaded in their favor, which protected them. They charged a huge percentage of the money as a default fee and even demanded we return the bag of rice and keg of groundnut oil we received before they refunded a ridiculous amount.
“If you want to buy your land, go to ọmọ onílẹ̀ jẹjẹ 🙏🏾,” he wrote.
The tales of woes trailing XXX XXX sufficiently saturate the social media space.
Waheedi claimed that through inquisitions, he has been inundated with cries of bitter experiences suffered at the hands of the real estate company.
“My ears don full today regarding the atrocities of XXX XXX. Omo. You people shoukd band together and hit XXX with a class action na. Is it really that difficult?
“I have heard all sorts; from them posting you when it comes to allocation and inspection, to them insisting that you have to use their contractors if you want to build on the land you bought, to all kinds of hidden costs (sometimes as much as 4x what you paid for the land) surfacing out of nowhere (this happened to my own mother and I didn’t know until this morning), to agent collecting money and disappearing, to them refusing to allocate land.
“I have heard it all. Just look at this. Omo,” he then posted what looked like an agreement form.
Another one wrote: A lawyer fully recovered my friend’s fund in Revolution minus. After over 4 years of payment, no allocation, nothing!
Most of these companies use the same scam tactics. That the reallocated another place other than agreed is enough for a lawyer to pursue the case.
‘Baj then reiterated the importance of lawyers and advised Nigerians to always engage their services before entering into contract with anyone on land ownership.
“Most of we Nigerians underrate the services of a lawyer actually, I’m guilty of that as well. The tact of these companies is to frustrate you until you let go. If one can get a lawyer and face the lengthy legal process, I believe you’d recover the full money or the agreed allocation,” he said.
Do you have any experience dealing with any real estate company in Nigeria? Kindly share in the comment box.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
