The witty saying that “it is not difficult to come to Lagos, but to return to one’s hometown is very difficult” maybe hilarious but it makes some sense. The cost of living in the state is high and adjudged to be one of the most expensive cities in the world.
In 2009, the Mercer’s Cost of Living Index ranked The Centre of Excellence as the 32nd most expensive city in the world and the 5th most expensive in Africa/ Middle East continents. According to the rankings, it is costlier to reside in Lagos than to live in advance western cities like Barcelona, Berlin and Brussels, and even U.S. locations such as Washington and Los Angeles!
The Lagos States new Rent Bill introduced by the State Assembly and awaiting the signature of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola is indeed a welcome development. The plight of Lagosians under the compulsory two or three-year advance rents collected by many landlords in the state have really become a burden to many families. Many workers whose wages are not adequate for feeding their families are at disadvantage with the existing practice of advance payment.
I believe no worker in the state is paid one year salaries or more in advance, so why should Lagos landlords request residential tenants for advance rents in multiple years? Even, small scale businesses that should titivate the economy of the country are stifled and rendered passive due to the burden of advance payments and high rents. I tend to disagree with those who see this bill as anti-landlords. Lacunas and some provisions in the bill have tilted to the favour of properties owner.
The argument that prices of building materials are on the rise is not tenable here, as we all know many landlords that have built their houses since the 1970s are still collecting advance rents in the same two to three-year format and increase rents every year; citing high cost of building materials for their actions. In my view, this laudable bill is not thorough in its entirety; there are some loopholes that would even worsen the fate of tenants than protecting them.
The bill has not addressed the more burdensome issues associated with rents in the state. New tenants are more under the pressure of paying agency and agreement fees than paying advance rents normally requested by landlords. Most times, agencies and agreements fees for apartments in the state have equalled the actual payment for rents. I believe this ought to be a major nut to be cracked. With available provisions on the new bill, I don’t think the plights of tenants in the state are really protected as envisaged.
For instance, if tenants pay two or three year advance rents, they really loose nothing, but have enough time to concentrate their finances on other projects for the periods covered. On the other hand, a landlord can still choose to increase house rent by any proportional margin since the bill has not fixed rent rates. Hence, the tenants would be at loss here, he would be paying for one year at almost same rate as two years before the enactment of the law, that is, if it is eventually signed. The practise of demanding for agency and agreement fees is another issue that is really peculiar to Lagos. Landlords in other Nigerian states don’t engage in such burdensome demands.
Once a tenant pays for the house rents most times one year or less, they take possession of their apartments. I don’t see the reason why a landlord would collect agreement and agency fees even when potential tenants come directly to them to secure an apartment. Also, apart from agreement fees some landlords in addition demand for damage fees. What is the difference between agreement and damage fees?
As most times damage fees are non-refundable. However, the Centre of Excellent is unlike other Nigerian states, where demands for apartments are less than supply. Nevertheless, the aforementioned practice should be discontinued. That is the more reason governments at the different levels in the state need to build affordable low-cost residential houses to augment those from private landlords. This would not only break their monopoly but help to bring down exorbitant rents charged in Lagos.
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