Protecting your Rights as a Tenant in Nigeria
Searching for accommodation in Nigeria is one of the most difficult things one can do. It is fraught with so many risks — multiple viewings of apartments and houses which do not live up to what you have been promised (or shown in pictures), multiple agents who seem like they are trying to pull a fast one on you, multiple unexplained fees, and so on.
So when you finally find the place of your dreams, you need to be sure that your rights are protected, and that is why we have written this article — to list out a few of the rights you are entitled to as a tenant in Nigeria. The first step to protecting your rights as a tenant is to know your rights.
One important note before we begin. Tenancy is regulated by each state, not by the Federal Government, so the detailed rules differ depending on where your property is. The specific provisions below are drawn from the Lagos Tenancy Law, which is the most detailed and tenant-protective regime in the country. If you rent outside Lagos, your state’s Recovery of Premises Law will apply instead, and the notice periods in particular may differ. And even within Lagos, the Tenancy Law does not apply in Apapa, Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi and Victoria Island — those areas are excluded unless the Governor orders otherwise.
Right to a receipt of payment. Once you pay your rent, you are entitled to be issued with a receipt by your landlord. The receipt should state the date the rent was received, the names of the landlord and the tenant, the location of the property, the amount paid, and the period the payment covers. In Lagos, failure to issue a rent receipt is an offence, and a landlord who fails to do so is liable to a fine of N10,000 payable to the court. Keep every receipt you are given — in a dispute over arrears, they are usually the strongest evidence you have.
Right to limits on advance rent. In Lagos, a landlord cannot lawfully demand more than one year’s rent in advance from a new or prospective tenant. For a sitting tenant, the limit is one year for a yearly tenancy and six months for a monthly tenancy. Both landlord and tenant commit an offence if these limits are exceeded, punishable by a fine of N100,000, three months imprisonment, or another non-custodial sentence. The law puts the tenant on the hook too, so this is one to know rather than one to quietly go along with.
Right to exclusive possession. Once you become a lawful tenant, in the eyes of the law the place is yours for the period of the tenancy — you have what is called “exclusive possession,” the right to use the premises to the exclusion of all others, including the landlord. This right is not unlimited, though. Your landlord retains a restricted right of inspection: he may enter at reasonable hours during the daytime, after giving you previous written notice, to view the condition of the premises or carry out repairs. What he cannot do is come and go as he pleases, turn up unannounced, or enter outside those conditions.
Right to notice to quit before eviction. As a tenant you are entitled to notice before you are evicted. Start by reading your tenancy agreement — if it specifies a notice period, that agreed period is what binds both of you. Only where the agreement is silent do the statutory periods apply. In Lagos these are:
- 1 week’s notice for a tenant at will;
- 1 month’s notice for a monthly tenant;
- 3 months’ notice for a quarterly tenant;
- 3 months’ notice for a half-yearly tenant; and
- 6 months’ notice for a yearly tenant.
For quarterly, half-yearly and yearly tenants, the notice does not have to expire on the anniversary of the tenancy — it may end on or after the date the tenancy expires. There are also situations where no notice to quit is required at all: where you hold a fixed-term tenancy that has run its course (the law presumes you know when your own tenancy ends), and where you have fallen deeply into arrears — six months’ arrears for a monthly tenant, or a year’s arrears for a quarterly or half-yearly tenant. In those cases the tenancy lapses and the landlord proceeds straight to the next step.
Right to 7 days’ notice to recover possession. Before a landlord can take you to court, he must serve you a written notice of his intention to proceed to recover possession, giving you not less than 7 days. This applies whether he got there by serving a notice to quit, by your fixed term expiring, or through the arrears route above. It is a critical part of the eviction process — if it is not served, the landlord cannot properly bring an action for possession.
Right not to be evicted except by a court. No landlord in Lagos may evict you personally, however much rent you owe. A landlord who demolishes or alters the building without court approval, threatens or molests you, or attempts to remove you by force commits an offence punishable by a fine of up to N250,000 or up to six months imprisonment. Only a court can order your eviction, and only court officials can enforce that order.
Right to challenge an unreasonable rent increase. If your landlord raises the rent to a level you consider unreasonable, you can apply to court. The court will weigh what comparable properties in the area command, along with the evidence from both sides, and if it agrees the increase is unreasonable it may order it reduced.
Right to pay rent into court if your landlord refuses it. Some landlords refuse to accept rent so they can later claim you are in arrears. If this happens to you, do not simply hold the money and hope for the best. You may apply to the court and pay the rent into the court’s registry, which protects you from any later claim that you failed to pay.
Right to habitable premises. Your landlord is obliged to effect repairs and maintain the external and common parts of the premises. If the property becomes uninhabitable during your tenancy — flooding, structural damage, loss of essential utilities — you can require your landlord to put it back into a habitable state. Be careful here, though. This obligation applies subject to anything to the contrary in your tenancy agreement, so check what you signed. And if the landlord refuses, the answer is a claim in court for damages or an order compelling the repairs, not walking out and demanding your money back. Moving out on your own initiative without a court’s backing can leave you liable for the remaining rent.
Right to an account of your service charge and deposit. If you pay a security deposit, a charge for services and facilities, or a service charge for common areas, your landlord must give you a separate receipt for it and a written account, at least every six months, of how the money was spent.
A word on agents. Given how much trouble agents cause in the Lagos market, this is worth knowing: since 2022, anyone operating as a real estate agent in Lagos must be registered with the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) and hold a valid permit. Before you hand over a single naira, check the agent’s registration status on the LASRERA website. If you have already been defrauded, LASRERA takes complaints against registered and unregistered operators alike.
The most important protection: a tenancy agreement
As a tenant, you are entitled to request a written tenancy agreement from your landlord, and in Lagos a landlord who refuses to issue one to a yearly tenant risks a fine on conviction. A tenancy agreement outlines the terms of your tenancy in the property, and it is arguably the most important protection any tenant has — particularly because, as you will have noticed above, several of your statutory rights can be varied by what the agreement says.
Where the tenancy runs for more than three years, a written agreement alone is not enough. The lease must be made by deed and registered as a land instrument. Skipping this can leave you holding a weaker interest in the property than you believe you have.
Unfortunately, even when the landlord issues a tenancy agreement, most tenants just sign it without reviewing it properly. Ideally this agreement should be reviewed by a legal expert.
Need Legal Support?
We hope you have found this information helpful. Please note that this information is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice. No lawyer-client relationship is formed nor should any such relationship be implied. It is not intended to substitute for the advice of a qualified lawyer. If you require legal advice, please consult with a qualified lawyer.