The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) has closed five bank branches on Allen Avenue over illegal building use.

The affected banks are Access Bank, Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank, Unity Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA).

It also closed down 80 other buildings including those used by Tantalizers and Panasonic.

Lekan Shodeinde, the acting general manager of LASBCA, said the buildings were registered as being used for residential purposes and were converted to commercial buildings without obtaining approval.

The exercise, which began at 7:45am, was led by Tayo Fakoloju, the agency’s secretary and Kayode Daramola, a director in the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority.

Shodeinde said the affected buildings had been issued notices over a month ago to regularise their documents and get commercial approval, but only a few showed up.

According to him, a residential property must obtain the due permit before it is converted for commercial use.

Shodeinde said LASBCA had been given the mandate to carry out an audit on buildings in Lagos state for safety purposes and ensure that people did not take laws into their hands.

He said the government had also given six months grace period for people who did not have permit before erecting their structures to regularise them without paying the penalties for such violations.

According to him, the government would no longer tolerate illegal conversion of residential properties to commercial without permit, as the law would descend heavily on those who trampled under the law.