FCTA Threatens to Sanction Ground Rent Payment Defaulters

By Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The FCT Administration has called on all property owners in the FCT to pay all outstanding ground rents and sundry bills before the end of February. It warned that defaulters would face full wrath of the law.

The FCT Director of the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS), Dr. Isa Ibrahim Jalo, issued this threat over the weekend.

He warned that there are stipulated sanctions spelt out by the law for all defaulters of such payments, including outright revocation of titles.

 He also reiterated that payment of ground rents is statutory for all land and property owners within the 8,000 square kilometers of the FCT and must be respected or enforced.

“There is no basis for plot allottees, property owners as well as beneficiaries of the sale of federal government houses in Abuja not to pay their bills because such payments are being used for infrastructural development and provision of services,” Jalo said.

He urged the land owners to take advantage of the one-month grace period, which is from now to the ending of February 2019 to pay all accrued ground rents and sundry bills including arrears or face the consequences, as the government would not fold its arms watching helplessly.

“Failure to clear these outstanding ground rents and sundry bills will attract necessary penalties for default, which may include the revocation of such titles as stipulated in the extant laws,” he added.