Extensions and approvals

An extension adds floor area or adds a floor. A new wing, a boys’ quarters that was not on the original permit, a kitchen pushed into the side yard, a storey on a bungalow: all of these are extensions in ordinary language, and Lagos law uses almost the same words. The Lagos State Building Control Agency regulations of 2019 define an extension as a vertical or horizontal addition to an existing structure. They define renovation as improvement that does not add floor area, such as redecorating, roof restoration, and replacing floor coverings. The distinction matters. People call an extra room a renovation because renovation sounds easier. The authority is looking at the floor area and the height.

This guide compares the three cities at the level of process. It does not quote permit fees. Where official pages disagree with each other, the disagreement is the fact.

Before the form: can the house carry it?

Approval is the second question. The first is structural. An extra floor loads columns and foundations that may have been sized for less. A side wing needs foundations of its own and a joint that does not pour rain into the old house. Removing a wall to “open up” at the same time may remove a support. Read the home extensions page for that building problem, and do not accept a crew that offers to add the floor over a weekend without a drawing. Public collapse records in Nigeria include unapproved modifications and extra floors among the suspected causes. The paperwork and the physics fail together.

You will need, in every city, some version of: a survey or a site plan, drawings of what exists and what you propose, a structural drawing for the addition, and a clear statement of use. If the house is becoming shops, say so. Hidden change of use is a known Abuja problem, described by development-control leadership as something inspectors look for because people alter residential approvals on site.

Lagos: two agencies, one sequence

The planning permit is the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority’s document. Building control comes next. LASBCA’s published functions include giving authority to commence after the development permit, inspecting stages, and issuing a certificate of fitness for habitation. The 2019 regulations expect notice of intention to start, the permit kept on site, a project board, professional supervision, and a programme of work. Soil investigation is spelled out for structures above four floors and for low-bearing soils. Contractor’s all-risk insurance is spelled out for buildings above two floors. An extension that takes a house across those thresholds picks up those documents even if the original bungalow never had them.

On money, be careful. Regulation text describes the building-control inspection charge as twenty percent of the building-plan assessment fee paid to LASPPPA. The state’s e-planning stage-certification page has spoken of thirty-five percent of the planning-permit processing fee. Those are not the same sentence. This site will not pick a winner and will not turn either percentage into naira. When you apply, use the demand the agencies issue that month. Also expect stage inspections: setting out, substructure, frame, walls, suspended floors, roof, services, finishes. Forty-eight hours’ notice for a stage is the kind of timing the e-planning note describes. Build it into the programme.

Abuja: the manual before the blocks

The Federal Capital Development Authority holds the planning mandate that began with Decree 6 of 1976. Your extension drawing is reviewed by the Department of Development Control under the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council. The department asks for layout, architecture, structure and services, title, and — where the rules say so — geotechnical and environmental reports, endorsed by registered professionals. Officials have been plain that height, land use, setback, and parking live in the FCT development-control manual, and that you should read it before the design hardens. A Maitama extension and a Kubwa extension are not reviewed against gossip about what the estate allows. They are reviewed against that manual and the title. Gwarinpa makes the same point from the other direction: the house type next door is not your approval. The Abuja construction page is the hub for those district notes.

A THISDAY interview in January 2023 described soil investigation for buildings going beyond two suspended floors, a site visit to compare the ground with the file, an assessed processing fee, and then a stamp. It described inspections from foundation to roof, and a final certificate of completion and habitation. It also said the planning law allowed 90 days for a building-plan decision, with reasons if that slipped, and that a shorter target was under discussion. Do not tell your household that an extension is approved because 90 days passed. Confirm the live rule. And do not start the columns because a neighbour’s extra floor is already standing. Their file is not yours.

No naira figure appears here. The fee is assessed. A private blog’s “2026 fee schedule” is not the manual.

Ibadan and the rest of Oyo State

The state lands portal says a building permit is required before construction or remodelling, under sections 11 and 12 of the Oyo State Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Law, 2019. The checklist it publishes includes an application letter, five sets of architectural and engineering drawings, pictures, personal income tax receipts, a survey, an engineer’s undertaking, and a site analysis report. Commercial extensions add an environmental report. The portal mentions 20 working days. That is the portal’s statement. Ask the office at the secretariat in Agodi whether your file is the simple case that statement describes.

Ibadan adds a geographic test the other two cities also have, but in a sharper local form. Do not extend toward a stream. The Ogunpa, Ona, and Ogbere systems, the 2011 flood, and later removals of structures at Challenge, Agbowo, Apete, and similar setbacks are the evidence. A planning officer who can see your room sitting in a floodplain does not need a long argument. The World Bank-backed flood project and the state’s drainage master plan exist because the city has already paid for that mistake in lives.

The portal tells applicants to pay official demand notices through the state’s payment code. Pay that, not a cash request with no receipt. This guide will not estimate the demand.

A practical order, in any of the three cities

Measure and photograph what exists. Ask an engineer whether the addition is possible. Draw the addition, including drains and the roof joint. Apply and wait for the real approval. Give notice before you dig. Build the stage you were cleared to build. Keep the stamped drawing on site. If you change the plan, stop and amend it. Cover the work against the rainy season while you wait, so the old house stays habitable.

Then, if you want a builder’s review, send the quote form with the district, the current number of floors, the number you want, and a note on whether a permit already exists. Micheletti Construction Limited follows up the way you ask. Work fulfilled by Micheletti Construction. The approval, though, is still issued by the state or the FCT, not by this website.