According to Lagos State Planning Permit Regulations 2019 “Building Setback as the distance at the front between the building line and the property (plot boundary) line”....

When building, setbacks are generally observed around building fences, roads, powerlines, pipelines etc. This is quite different from what is known as the airspace. According to Lagos State Planning Permit Regulations 2019 “Building Setback as the distance at the front between the building line and the property (plot boundary) line”. While “Air Space is the distance from the building to the boundary of the plot, particularly on the right, left, and rear side of the building.” The front in this definition means the side(s) that is facing the road. In some cases, a building could be abutted by two roads, each of the sides abutting the road must observe the required setback.

So, to summarize, the distance of the side of the building (usually the front) to the road is known as the Setback and the distance of other sides of the building to the fence is known as Airspace.

The Lagos State Planning Permit Regulations have a standard number of meters for airspaces for residential and commercial structures and also setbacks from building to fence, building to road etc.

For any Planning Permit to be obtained, the architectural drawings of the proposed development shall conform with the following setbacks and airspaces:

• For a Residential structure:
- Both sides: minimum 3m
- Rear side: minimum 3m
- Setback (front): 6m (this is the distance from the building to the fence)
- Setback (to road): 6m (this is the distance from the property line to the middle of the road)

• For a Commercial structure:
- Both sides: minimum 6m
- Rear side: minimum 3m
- Setback (front): 9m (this is the distance from the building to the fence)
- Setback (to road): 9m (this is the distance from the property line to the middle of the road)

• For a Mixed-Used structure:
- Both sides: minimum 4.5m
- Rear side: minimum 4.5m
- Setback (front): 6m (this is the distance from the building to the fence)
- Setback (to road): 6m (this is the distance from the property line to the middle of the road)

Note: for residential property not more than 150 square meters, one side of the building would have a 3m and the other would have 1.5m minimum airspace.