Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor of Lagos and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has promised to enforce the one-year rent payment provision in the Lagos real estate law if elected governor.
Hamzat spoke on Sunday in Lekki at a governorship debate
organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, a coalition comprising The PUNCH,
Channels Television, TVC News, TheCable and Vanguard.
He said the Lagos State Real Estate Registration Agency Law
was passed in 2025 and provides for a one-year rent rule as a means of curbing
arbitrary rent demands by landlords in the state.
He said his administration would enforce the provision,
appealing to real estate agents in the state to register on the Lagos State
Real Estate Registration Agency website to ensure compliance with the law.
“There is a Lagos State Real Estate Registration Agency Law
that was passed just last year. What it says is that you should pay one-year
rent,” he said.
“So the next chapter for Lagos is to enforce, to make sure.
So people should not be asked two years, three years ahead because nobody gets
salary three years ahead. It also says that real estate agents must register
and be on the database.
“So our appeal to the citizens is in terms of communication,
to make sure that people use that site, because that is the only way we can
track. Because this — when these things happen, government must also have the
feedback.”
To increase access to affordable housing, the APC
governorship candidate said his administration would complete ongoing housing
projects and work towards reducing the time required to obtain property
regularisation and title documents.
He said the state government has completed the automation of
the process to enable residents make applications online, adding that delays in
processing land documents could increase the cost of housing.
He urged private estate developers to collaborate with the
state by considering building in less affluent communities.
“As you develop a property, say in Ikoyi or VI, can you
develop another one in Egodo? So those are part of the discussions that we will
have so that as we are building for the rich, we’re also building for the poor,
apart from what the government is doing to make sure that people actually have
housing,” he said.
He added that his manifesto comprises a section tagged
“everyday dignity”, which he said is designed to ensure that residents are not
burdened by rent payments to the extent that their dignity is undermined.
“If you look at my manifesto, the E part is everyday
dignity. What it says is people should not pay rent that demystifies their
dignity. And what that means is we must work with landlords. We understand that
we run a capitalist economy,” he said.
His remarks come amid growing concerns among Lagos residents
over arbitrary rent increases and demands by landlords.
Although section 4 of the Lagos State Tenancy Law 2011 makes
it unlawful for landlords or their agents to demand more than one year’s rent
in advance, compliance has been lax in recent years.
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