Lagos Landlords To Face 3-Month Jail Term for collecting more than 3-month rent
A law that will land many Lagos landlords in jail for three months or pay a fine of N100,000 if they collect more than three-month rent advance is on the way.
The Tenancy Bill, which is slated for public hearing tomorrow, has some sections which some landlords in the state consider very harsh.
One of such is Section 4, subsections 1, 2 and 3 which states that: “It shall be unlawful for a landlord or his agent to demand or receive from a sitting tenant, rent in excess of three months in respect of any premises.
Another stated: “It shall be unlawful for a sitting tenant to offer or pay rent in excess of three months in respect of any premises.”
According to subsection 3 of the same section: “Any person who receives or pays rent in excess of what is prescribed in this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine of N100,000 or three months imprisonment or any other non-custodial disposition.”
Section 5 of the bill further prescribes a N10,000 fine for landlords who fail to issue receipts to their tenants upon payment of the rent. It further states that, “Where a tenant, with the previous consent in writing of the landlord, effect improvements on the premises and the landlord determines the tenancy, such a tenant shall be entitled to claim compensation for the effected improvements on quitting the premises.”
Section 9, subsection 2 and 3 state respectively: “No landlord shall demand or receive any additional fees, charges or rates outside the agreed rent for premises, for services that the tenant has not expressly contracted for.
“No sitting tenant will be liable to pay any agency or other fees outside the contracted rent, unless expressly agreed at the inception of the tenancy.”
The bill further tasked landlords never to take laws into their hands but seek redress in the courts should there be issues between them and their tenants.
However, some landlords in Lagos have expressed displeasure with the bill. They expressed their disappointment with those who proposed the bill.
While some have threatened to go to court over the bill, others claim that the bill, when passed into law, would not work in the state.
The landlords based their argument on the cost of building a house in the state. They claimed further that they source for funds with which they erect their buildings. “How do they want us to get our money back?” one of the landlords asked.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State House of Assembly says it may invite the state Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to clarify some allegations leveled against it by the Civil Society Club of Nigeria (CSC) recently.
Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Cooperatives, Hon. Babatunde Adewale, who disclosed this said that the committee would ensure a thorough investigation of the case.
Among the allegations was that unscrupulous butchers still operated an illegal loading bay at the Irepolodun Market in Oko-Oba Abattoir, Agege.
Comrade Babatunde Ashafa, the coordinator of the CSC, further alleged that some of the butchers were fond of killing sick cattle at night and selling them to unsuspecting buyers in the morning as fresh meat.
January 20, 2010
By Eromosele Ebhomele
http://thepmnews.com/2010/01/20/lagos-landlords-to-face-3-month-jail-term
April 14th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Good work, keep us posting, you are good writer.
April 20th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Hi everyone out there! I really appreciate the tenancy Bill passed by Lagos State Government to control rent in the State. I suppose the Lagos State House of Assembly should ensure this works because this is one area in our lives that need to be address “shelter” I have visited develop countries like USA where they pay three months rent in moving in and continues subsiquently without any other extra charges unless if a person has a criminal record. And these countries are richer and better than us. The question is, why can’t it work in a country like Nigeria? According to written evidence, this system of a Landlord asking tenants to pay more than three months was not in existence in the past years. I suppose this is pure weekendness by some selfish and greedy Nigerian’s who loves to make money from by all means from people. The government should try and do something about rent in Lagos State especially if they truly care about the masses that they lead same people that voted them into offices. The current system of paying rent of one, two or three years is contributing to the rate of poverty in the country because you imagine a situation where you find 10, 8 and 7 people in a family living in one room apartment. Take Kaduna state where Landlords don’t collect more than three months rent fron tenants.
Question? Is this bill applicable to a tenant who is moving into a premises newly to pay three months as well>
I BEG TO END IT HERE FOR NOW.
Thanks for your effort and pray God to see you through.