Lawyer calls for amendment of Lagos tenancy law

A lawyer, Jiti Ogunye has called for the amendment of the Lagos State Tenancy law to make rent and possession recovery easier. Ogunye made this call at the Lagos State Government Justice Reform summit held in Lagos with the theme, “enhancing the administration of justice for economic growth, investment protection and security in Lagos state.”

The law, he said, seems to recognise the challenges by exempting the highbrow areas of Apapa, Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi and Victoria Island from the application of the law.

According to him, the recouping of heavy investment in real estate in these areas, especially in rented serviced apartments, will be stifled if the rent and possession recovery regime under the law were extended to this exempted area.

“The law, discriminatory in its practical application and offending the provision of the right to freedom from discrimination entrenched in the Constitution, needs a rethink,” Ogunye stated.

In his paper presentation titled, “Administration of civil justice for economic growth and investment protection with special focus on tenancy law -recovery of rents and possession”, Ogunye lauded the Tenancy Law of Lagos State, saying it has vastly improved the prey and predator relationship that previously existed between the landlord and tenant in Lagos State.

He noted that some of the unconscionable practices of the past had been statutorily curbed, citing the example of removing the roofs of residential premises or vandalising it to force out a tenant or refusing to collect rents from a tenant to create a breach of tenancy term and rent payment refusal to create a pretext of a ground for termination of tenancy and recovery of possession through the court.

He, however, lamented that the operation of the Tenancy Law in Lagos State regarding the recovery of rent and possession of let premises has become particularly challenging to property owners, including landlords.

His words: “The challenges encountered by property owners (landlords and lessors) in rent and possession recovery have become a major obstacle to economic growth, investment protection, and security in Lagos State. These challenges have, from our knowledge, become a major disincentive to prospective investors in the real estate sector.

“There is therefore the need for a statutory re-evaluation to enable investors, especially those with private capital, to have the confidence, that their scheduled or planned recouping of their housing development investments through a regular stream of expected rental income, is realisable, so that they can build for letting,” he said.