The Senate is considering a bill which will make it illegal for landlords to demand payment of advance rent from tenants of residential and office buildings and spaces on an annual basis.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West, APC), was titled, “Advance Rent for Residential Apartments, Office Spaces, Etc, Regulation Bill 2022,” has passed first reading.
Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, Adeyemi said, “We discovered that landlords are compelling tenants to make one-year and two-year advance rent payments before they would give them keys to their apartments. It may not be an issue to quite a number of people but to many others, it is a great pain for them. Most Nigerians need the protection of the law to be able to meet their basic needs after paying rent.
“Many landlords did not secure loans to build their houses; they are products of free money they acquire from the system. Yet, they make life difficult for poor Nigerians who do not have such privilege of making ill-gotten money from the system and put up structures.
“The buildings are constructed in such a manner that an average Nigerian would not be able to afford it. Many people are involved in corrupt practices to get their rents paid, while the ladies took to prostitution.
“There are many tenants whose salaries are competing with their rents because they live in cities like Abuja. The law will prevent the poor workers from any form of oppression.”
