It is now illegal for landlords or their agents to demand, or collect rent in excess of one year, from would-be tenants in Lagos State . This comes as Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, yesterday gave his assent to the Tenancy Bill, passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly two weeks ago. The new law also prohibits landlords or their agents, from collecting more than six months rents from any existing tenant in the state.
However, residential property owned by educational institutions and let to their staff, or property operated for emergency relief services, are exempted from the law.
Governor Fashola assented to the law on Wednesday, in a bold move to bring to an end, a long era of exploitation of the masses by “shylock” landlords/ladies in Lagos State, which is Nigeria’s commercial nerve-centre. Lagos landlords had been notorious for collecting rent advances of two years and up to three years in some cases.
Such conduct is thought by sociologists to put undue pressure on Lagosians and to be in part responsible for some of the anti-social conduct rampant in the state.
The law, which regulates the relationship between landlords and tenants, prescribes a six-month jail term or a fine of N100,000 for violators of its provisions. Fashola also assented to another law, the Lagos Park and Garden Law.
Other provisions of the tenancy law, have to do with forceful ejection of tenants by landlords, who sometimes remove the roofs and doors to apartments, to force the tenants out . In such cases, the landlord would be jailed for six months, or made to pay a fine of N250, 000.
Governor Fashola, who revealed that his government would soon embark on a mass housing programme in the state to bridge the yawning housing deficit in the state, said the present situation requires the few privileged landlords to make some sacrifice, to help the poor and less privileged in the society.
HE said:”The issues at stake in the new laws are serious moral issues that require voluntary compliance rather than strict enforcement from government. The problem of corruption cannot be fought in the country with this kind of situation that requires a tenant to pay two or three years rent in advance. How many employees get two years salaries in advance to make such payments? Does the landlord lose money if he collects his money as at when due”.
He explained that the law protects both the tenants and the landlords, stressing that there is no need for the landlords and tenants to panic over the law, as there are provisions in the law that make it impossible for tenants to be elusive and shy away from their obligations to the landlords.
On the Lagos Parks and Garden law, he said the law is a determination of the government to deal with the problem of climate change, adding that the “greening of the parks and gardens is part of preventive healthcare” . Fashola added that well behaved people are raised in good and serene environments.
The state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Ade Ipaye, had told BusinessDay that that government intended to implement the law, using the instrumentality of existing Citizens’ Rights and Public Defender Offices to receive and process complaints about its violation by either a landlord or tenant, and that enforcement would not suffer any deficiency.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders including Anthony Aribisala, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Bamidele Aturu, a Lagos- based lawyer have reacted to the law.
Aribisala said: “The law in my thinking is to make life comfortable for tenants. I do know that this is not applicable to those living in their own houses but is for those in rented apartments, in view of the difficulties faced as a result of the downturn in the economy.
“This is also not peculiar to Lagos . Even in England , rents are generally one month in advance. The highest a tenant may be required to pay in England is six months and this is backed by the law. So if this applies in England with a buoyant economy, why not in Nigeria , where most of the people live below the poverty line”.
He believes, however, that it is necessry to ensure that tenants do not take undue advantage of the law to the detriment of landlords, and says in England “We have a situation where if a tenant fails to pay his rent as required, the law allows the landlord to summarily eject such tenant. This is meant to also protect the landlords from being exploited by the tenant. So it is not one sided” .
Aturu, who is also a lawyer, sees nothing wrong with the law. “As far as I am concerned, it is well intentioned. But does government have the moral grounds to enforce such law?” A major factor, according to Aturu, remains the shortage of housing and high costs of building materials which landlords do not have control over. He stresses the need for government to address the housing deficit, in order to aid the enforcement of the law.