Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly during a sitting
A new bill to protect both the tenants and landlords in Lagos State is being processed by the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Issues surrounding the bill were discussed at a day stakeholders meeting held in the State House of Assembly on Tuesday May 21 at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium in the Assembly premises.
The bill is entitled; “A Bill For A Law To Regulate The Relationship of the parties under Tenancy Agreements And Specify The Procedure For The Recovery of Premises in Lagos State And For Connected Purposes.”
The bill addresses issues such as jurisdiction of the courts, tenancy agreement, advance rent, rent payment receipt, rights of a tenant, obligations of the landlord and obligations of a commercial tenant regarding rent payment.
Others include obligation regarding business premises, service charge, facility and security deposits, payment of professional fees, provision for reentry, length of notice, payment of arrears rent amongst others.
A stakeholder, Mr. Omoniyi Onabule observed that one of the provisions in the bill could make some defaulting tenants delay matter, and that facility management business involved payment of rents and payment of service charges.
Onabule added that there might be need to restrain the tenant before he clears his debt, and that the rate of the tax needed to be looked at.
Also speaking, Mrs. Busola Okunuga from the Lagos State Judiciary called for clarification on section 4 sub section 4, which concerns specification on application to the court, and called for more clarifications on the mode of prosecution of the offenders.
“In Section 11 (1c), no penalty is indicated for non compliance by the Landlord. Section 19 contradicts section 14 of the law, which deals with the tenant who is in arrears of rent.
“How many days notice would be given the occupants to leave in Section 25e, where the building is specified unsafe for occupation,” she said.
In his submission, the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Housing, Architect Dipe Adebayo stated that the bill was well balanced on the rights of the landlords and tenants.
He observed that the issue of alternative resolution should not be compulsory, and that it could be optional.
“If it should be compulsory, there should be a timeline. The parties should have right to court if it is not resolved in time.
“Under Section 30, which deals with offences and fines, fines have been imposed if the tenant vandalises the property. There should be a cost to the property vandalised and it should not just be a fixed cost.
“While some timelines have been set for cases, the 90 and 14 working days should be reduced to 60 and 14 working days respectively,” he said.
The National President of Property Owners Association of Nigeria, Mr. Jide Odelola said in his comments that tenants do give oral notices, when they are leaving the premises at a particular time.
He stressed that it is a common belief among tenants that they should not pay after they have been given quit notice and that they believe that they should be given six months notice after the expiry of the quit notice.
“There is also the issue of payments for service providers. A tenant in my house left N79,000 on his electricity bill as debt and he left the debt unpaid. Some tenants leave LAWMA Bill for the landlords, when they are leaving ” he said.
In his submission, the President of Real Estate Licensed Practitioners of Lagos, Pastor Alonge Salami, said that there should be government lawyers servicing the landlords in the court in cases involving them and their tenants.
According to him, many landlords cannot pay lawyers for cases involving them and their tenants. After spending huge amount of money for lawyers, some tenants would run away before the case is decided, adding that the government should assist the landlords with lawyers.
Speaking in an interview, Chairman of the House Committee on Housing, Hon. Ibrahim Layode said that the assembly wanted all the citizens of the state to be aware of the law so that the people would not say they were not carried along.
Layode, representing Badagry Constituency 1 added that the tenancy bill is about the obligations and rights of the tenants and landlords.
He said: “Most of the issues that occur between the landlord and the tenant would be solved and at the end of the day they would know how to live together as one.
“The Bill will enable the landlord to recover his property from a tenant that is not cooperating. It would also address the issue of property taxes.
“We balanced the law on the rights of the tenants and the landlords. “Also, on the issue of electricity bill, landlords should ensure that he visits the house that he has rented out to tenants.
“He should know what is going on in the premises, he could ask the electricity company to cut the electricity if the tenant is not paying electricity bills.”
