Various measures can be used to guide and control the uses made of land resources. These are:
- Exercise of right of ownership – private owners can control uses made of their properties throughout their life time. There uses can be limited by easement, deed restrict or conditions of little. Owners can use deed restrictions or restrictive covenants to direct the future use of land they sell or transfer to others. They can unite conditions into their inheritance arrangements. They can also donate properties to the public or to various private organisations on the condition that they are used for specific purposes, e.g. religion, schools, etc.
- Public Control – the important methods of public control are:
- Direct control over use – the basis of this control is the laying down of main standards and periodic inspection and control to make sure that standards are observed. This relates to uses which might give rise to social or other problems. Examples are-
- Industrial premises involving the use of machinery or substances such as acid which might harm the operator.
- Slaughter houses that might cause unnecessary sufferings to animals or spreading of diseases.
- Shops and places of entertainment where the public are united but might be harm without adequate safeguards.
- Registration and licensing – this method is used to limit the extent or number of certain type of premises such as public houses and betting shops. The fear of losing a license is usually enough to maintain the required standard without close supervision or inspection apart from the periodic license renewal.
- Control over development – this is easier to exercise or implement than that of use and it is the basis of the town planning control. Minor changes in use and intensity of use cannot take place without town planning control.
- Compulsory purchase of property rights – the chief aim of compulsory purchase power is to secure the use of a particular tract of land for important purposes particularly those pursued by public authority- housing, defense, education, etc. Also individual estate owners who might have decided to keep their land out of use or undeveloped until demand forces rents and prices are often induced to sell or developed rather than face the threat of compulsory purchase by public authority who might want to use such land.
- Requisition powers – this is similar in many respects to compulsory purchase. Requisition powers are used chiefly in time of war and natural disaster such as flood or storm but may sometimes be used to meet a particular grave social problem such as overcrowding or homelessness. These rights are usually exercised in emergencies when lands or buildings may be required quickly for a public purpose and are usually handed back when this has been served. Compensation is paid either on a rent or where the land is taken permanently on a purchase price.
- Town planning control– the chief means of exercising control has been through the uses in each area so that the total amount of land devoted to each use and the relationship of one use to another are adhered to.
Zoning means the division of lands into districts having different regulations. It involves the designation of specific land use districts within which various regulations and restrictions apply concerning the use of land, the interest, size, and use of buildings and the density of population.
Public control by fiscal means (monetary means)
- Estate duty– this is levied on the basis of the capital value of a person’s assets on his death. This has made it possible for large estates to be divided and sold (in order to avoid estate duty) and land which would have formerly been retained by owner’s family has come into the market.
- Sales Tax– it is mainly used to slow down speculation in landed property and sometime to prevent fragmentation of estate.
- Capital Gain Tax– this works against speculation in property.
- Toll fees and parking charges can increase the cost of accessibility and may even drive them out of use.
- Taxes on certain types of building materials can be used to influence the type of building construction.
- Rent Control– this control is to prevent landlord who might want to charge arbitrarily for their houses. Government use rent control edict which usually stipulate the amount of rent to pay for each category or building. This form of constraints which prevent shylock landlords from doing as wish with regards to rent therefore ensure a measure of equity and distributive justice for tenants.
Ways by which government encourage developers in real estate development
The various forms of financial inducement available to individual estates are:
- Tax concessions allowances –tax concession may mean total or partial exemption from tax and they are used to encourage industry certain kinds of industry for example, the exemption of agricultural land from local rates or to encourage economic activity in depressed areas. Tax allowances are sometimes given to developers of residential property in order to encourage this type of building.
- Loan and loan guarantees – the development and formation of estate depends much on finance/credit and public authorities are in a strong position to exercise control through making finance available for socially derivable purposes. Example is where public funds are made available when private capital is not forthcoming. The Agric Credit Guarantee scheme is an example in Nigeria. Again public funds may be offered conditional upon a certain property or private capital being invested in the same project. Control might however be exercised when this loan is pending covering much details as the standard of maintenance management and the rents charged on property.
- Grants – Grants differ from loans in that they are not repayable and also differ from subsidies because they are made as a single and not an annual payment. They are made to secure improvements to estate assets, for dwellings, farm improvement grants, modernization grants to industries. In most cases, the estate owner is also expected to contribute a percentage of the cost of improvement. A lump sum can also be given to relieve hardship which follow disturbance resulting from a public improvement scheme, e.g. urban renewal project or from a natural or economic disaster.
- Public investment – capital expenditure by public authorities represents a substantial part of all investment into landed property and the way in which it is challenged has an important effect on regions, neighbourhoods and individual estates. Roads, public transport and communication have some impact on private estates. Public housing schemes, school, universities, hospitals, defence, etc. all have impact on estate use and value.
- Subsidies – subsidies are periodic payments (usually annual) made from public funds to assist socially derivable activities. For example, agriculture receives a great deal of subsidy. This may be in form of reduced cost of farm implements, fertilizers etc. the cost of certain building materials could be lowered too. Subsidies are also given to support certain type of industry in the national interest.
Factors determining the pattern of land use
Some of the factors are:
- Physical characteristics of land –the physical characteristics of land needed by developers are not the same. Cultivating fertile land with porous sub-soil may attract the housing authority. Flat land may be ideal for industrialist while rocks, broken and well wooded land may attract the park authority. All developers like to avoid sites where it is difficult to carry works through e.g. sites in derelict state or covered with buildings which must be demolished before construction works can take place.
- Public utilities – most developers like some or all public utilities to be made available on their site e.g. water, electricity, good road etc.
- Location –location in relation to environ, transportation services and existing proposed establishment. Locations which are suitable for one developer may not be ideal for another. A site for housing accommodation, for example, a location will normally be preferred when it has a pleasant environ, that is near to other housing and is convenient for works, shopping, school and place of entertainment.
- Legal right to develop– to carry out any development, it is first necessary to acquire the legal right to occupy and use the site for the purpose i.e. to acquire a leasehold or freehold interest in it, but the acquisition of much rights does not mean a developer can carry out any development he likes with it; but is subject to any restriction imposed by public authorities together with the right and privilege of others.
- Public decision on use – where a developer wishes to use a particular site, he may seek permissions from various authorities who may impose restriction on such use.
- Price (market forces) –the development site must be gotten at a reasonable and at market selling price.
- Custom and habit – custom and habit affect land resources in many different ways. In a country where many people are smokers, large area of land will be devoted to tobacco cultivation or plantation. Customary use for products such as tobacco and coffee will equally in forms the allotment of considerable areas to particular uses such as for planting of tobacco, coffee etc. Taste in clothing will also affect the land resources since people like to have different types of clothes, land areas put for the production of wool, cotton and flax will increase. Many farmers cling to crop rotation practices even when improved practices are brought to their attention and knowledge.
- Religion –religious institution affect the use of land in 3 ways:
- Ownership or operation of land by religious body.
- Claim of the church or religious bodies to income of land, and
- Religious belief affecting land use practices.
Churches and religious bodies own or control large property holding in most parts of the world and this prevents their development and redevelopment into what many people may regard as their highest and best economic use. Religious beliefs can also affect the use of landed resources, many possible practices are discouraged in tribal societies because they are regarded as taboo such as eating certain kind of food or working on certain days or the week have been carried over to the present day and they have indirect effect on land use. Some sites are regarded as holy sites and some of these sites today have become focal points of great pilgrimages. Burial grounds have been maintained for religion reasons and significant areas of potentially productive land are retained for this purpose in many countries of the world.
- Technological advancement –this has made it possible for us to build high rise scrapers instead of the normal two to three floor buildings. Technological advancement has opened up many remote areas or the world.
