SATURDAY TELEGRAPH
21 FEBRUARY 2015
n Amen Estate, Lekki-Lagos photo: mynewswatchtimesng.com
Government didn't build my house and as such shouldn't tell me what to do with my property
property on the street photo: nairaland.com
wole, Iju-Ishaga, “these laws are just in black and white without any serious implications for erring landlords. With price of building materials increasing on a daily basis, I don’t think the government should dictate to landlords how much they should collect on their houses. But they should also be brought to check. How can a landlord charge over N100, 000 for a one-bedroom apartment? I don’t think it’s fair,” he said. In like manner, Paul Uche of Oyemekun Street, Agege, pointed out that though, the law is good, the government still needs to do more to put erring landlords in check. “I believe there should be a regulatory body mandated to enforce the tenancy law. If the government can successfully ban Okada, then I believe they can do this,” he said. Mrs. Olufunke Oke, a tenant at OjoduBerger, said the law was just a way of encouraging landlords to increase their rent. “You can’t tell a landlord not to collect rent in advance and not expect him to increase his rent. What people need is affordable housing that they can call their own. “I believe the people who are shouting and making noise about this law are mostly real estate agents, who had been driving the housing market into chaos before now and getting most of the money. I hope the Lagos State government stays determined and makes enforcement possible by properly manning and expediting cases that will come initially, hopefully in the long run, tenants and landlords will see the gains and push the agents out of the way,” he said. Experts in the housing industry are also speaking. For instance, Jagun Stephen, an Estate Surveyor, said the law has not been effective because demand is higher than supply. “Government is not doing anything because one cannot control what you cannot build. They only end up creating black market. They build houses but did not put those houses on lease. The only way to solve the problem is when supply can commensurate with demand. “Landlords still collect more than one year and those, who do not because of the
law increase theirs. If you as a tenant come to rent a house, the landlord may choose to collect for a year as stipulated by the government but the cost will be higher. The purpose of the law is to protect the tenants. Even if the landlord does not collect rent for two years he will jack his rent up,” Stephen said. Rufai Kunle, a town planner said that the law is more of persuasive compliance than policing compliance. “What I mean is that, some tenants have no guts to take their landlords to court. So, they persuade the landlords and comply with the terms given,” he said. Akhator Innocent from Edo State is of the opinion that the law is not effective.
“Landlords collect what they like. Tenants are at the mercy of landlords. What the state government should have done instead of enacting all this law is to build low cost housing estate here and there so that people will have alternative. You make law and you don’t have power to enforce it. Houses are not there so, the landlords now do what they like. Either you beg them to pay the six months or you pay what they want as an existing tenant. “However, the truth remains that most landlords, for new tenants, 60 per cent of the landlords are collecting one year unlike before when they will say you should pay for two years and above. But for the existing tenants, they still insist on that one year. If any landlord is taking six months, it is not because of the law. It is just because you have established a relationship; you are able to talk to him. “For those tenants that do not comply with the landlord’s dictate, well, the landlord can always come up with one excuse or the other to say I want to use my apartment and you are given a notice. And the state government cannot do anything about it. The forces of demand and supply determine the price. Because everybody is in a hurry trying to get one flat, the man is bound to increase. He knows that when you go another person will come. “Look at the ones the government built, two million, three million, how many people can afford that. Just like you don’t like Sprite, you like Fanta, nobody will tell Coca-Cola to reduce price. If there is a vacant house for one year, the landlord automatically will be forced to reduce the price. The issue of housing is not solved by enacting law, we have enough. So, the solution is to provide alternatives,” Innocent said. Ever since the tenancy law was enacted, things, it appears, have gone from bad to worse. With the law at the back of their minds, landlords now charge double as rent in one year while others deliberately refuse to acknowledge the law. The statement, “did Fashola build my house for me?” has now become a mantra of sort by many landlords. While the government urges Lagosians to know their rights concerning issues of rent and tenancy, landlords continue to reign supreme and challenging them is synonymous to having your things thrown out. However, the Lagos State Government has urged sitting tenants whose landlords unreasonably increase their rents after the expiration of their advance payment to seek redress in the law court. AttorneyGeneral and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, who gave the advice pointed out that the right of tenants was provided for
Ipaye
Jagun
Victor
Innocent
Investigations
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in the new law to check landlords, who use arbitrary rent increases to unlawfully eject sitting tenants who, in most cases, could not afford such increases. He reiterated that the tenancy prohibits landlords from collecting advanced rents in excess of one year in respect of new tenants and six months for sitting tenants. The law, he also said, prescribes a N100, 000 fine or three months imprisonment for violators. This, according to him, includes tenants, who offer to pay more than what is prescribed by the law. “We are aware that some landlords deliberately increase rents after the expiration of their initial contracts with their tenants as a way of ejecting them to get new tenants, who would normally pay in advance. Most times, these increases are as high as 100 per cent or more,” Ipaye said. The commissioner pointed out that the state government believes it is exploitative. “We made a provision in the new tenancy law giving tenants the power to challenge such unreasonable increases in court. The courts would now determine whether such increases are right based on some considerations and if not justified, the landlords would be asked to review such downwards,” he said. Ipaye said the state has, in the alternative, established mediation centres across the state to intervene in conflicts arising from rent increases with a view to achieving amicable settlements. While the state encourages tenants to go to mediation courts as a way of seeking redress, the question of timing comes to the fore. Most mediation cases take a minimum of three months to be resolved thereby leaving the tenant at the mercy of the landlord. Some tenants get so frustrated by the system that they opt to move out on their own, thereby having to face another barrage of high rent from another landlord. The commissioner also said that government exempted some highbrow areas in some aspects of the law based on the peculiarities of the areas as well as the status of tenants. The law had banned advance payment of rents in excess of one year in Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Ikeja Government Reservation Area (GRA) and Apapa. “Most of the tenants in these areas are companies which, as a matter of convenience, prefer to pay in advance, sometimes 10 years. We don’t want to discourage them and we don’t want to discourage investments in real estate in those areas,” Ipaye said. In spite of all these, there are still fears that the law, which stipulates punishment for erring landlords, may go the way of others enacted by past administrations in Lagos State. The reason, according to those on this divide, is simple. Private building owners, they say, enjoy absolute monopoly in the rental housing market in the state in particular, and Nigeria in general. This, they believe, is evident in the reaction of building owners in Lagos to the law. Many others are of the opinion that without competition, it may be difficult to effectively enforce the law that is fast becoming controversial in nature. The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, on August 8, 2011 signed the Tenancy and Lagos Parks and Gardens Bill into Law. But, several months after the law came into effect, Lagos residents have said the law has not helped them to secure better or cheaper accommodation as landlords and property developers are still engaged in the old habit of collecting more than one year rent. Incidentally, this is not the first time attempts were made to regulate rent in the state. In all previous attempts, it has always been difficult to enforce such laws. The first military administrator of Lagos State, Brigadier-General Mobolaji Johnson, introduced Rent Control Edict, but its operation did not last. Another military administrator of the state, Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa, also introduced the Rent Edict of 1997, which went the way of the first.