The State government floated a tenancy law in 2011. Governor Fashola signed a document into law that made it a criminal offence for any landlord to lease residential property for more than a year at a go. This grave sin according to the laws of Lagos will attract a fine of one hundred thousand naira or a three month jail term. It is also an offence for any of the parties to destroy any part of the property in the process of enforcing his will or claim. He claims the law is designed to protect 'innocent' tenants from gluttonous and reprehensible landlords.
I know a woman in Lagos who pays her taxes and does legitimate business to make ends meet. Every kobo she owns, she toiled for. Today, she has managed to erect residential apartments in some parts of Lagos. Some years ago, she took in an 'innocent' tenant in one of her apartments. The tenant paid his first rent without hassle then took possession of the property like a gentle dove. Subsequent rents became imbroglios as this tenant turned out not to be so 'innocent' after all. Eventually, she became fed up and asked that he vacate the premises. What followed was a three-year tussle in the ever efficient Nigerian courts. This is a woman who didn't get a dime from any fellow to build that house. Her fate -and that of her hard-earned property- was now tossed in the hands of a detached and bored Judge. Eventually, the matter was ruled in her favour. The tenant who had lived in the house for free for the duration of the court case as well the year preceding the court proceedings was directed to vacate immediately and pay the 4-year rent in lieu. Good news right? Justice served abi?
Well, the 'innocent' tenant packed his property and vanished during the night. This is not fiction. Till date, his whereabouts remain unknown. The neighbours woke and found the house empty. The 'gluttonous' landlady was left to lick her wounds. She had been cheated by the same people Fashola is out to protect and now, she has nobody to turn to but to pick herself up and move on forfeiting 4-years worth of rent in the process.
The same woman purchased a property in Yaba area about a year or so ago. It was an old residential property with rooms that housed many families. The occupants were duly informed by the family that owned the property that the property had been put up for sale. To this end,, the instructed the caretaker to stop taking rents from the tenants. It took another year before the property was sold and all this while the tenants stayed rent-free. Upon the change of ownership to the woman in question, the occupants refused blatantly to vacate the property she had paid some millions of naira for. I was present at one of such meetings to persuade them to vacate the property. What I heard shocked me! The sitting tenants told the new owner to pay them off before they could leave her premises. I shuddered. Believe it or not, those tenants are still sitting pretty since April 2011 as the woman thought it was absurd to pay off tenants after paying humongous sums to the original owners. It's been almost two years since she paid for that property, she has neither developed it or even leased it out. These are the 'innocent' tenants Mr. Fashola intends to protect?
We must separate idealism from pragmatism. Neither Governor Fashola nor any other politician at that, has the right to tell a landlord what to do with his property. Real estate is a business. The laws of demand and supply must prevail. At best, common sense must prevail. What role has Mr. Fashola played in alleviating the suffering of landlords like the woman I have described above? Will Mr. Fashola run after nefarious fleeing tenants like the one first described above? Governor Fashola insists it is illegal for the owner of a property to tear the roof off a property that houses belligerent tenants. They have now spent over two years in the property rent-free. They are sitting tight because they know a court case will take another three years after which whatever the verdict, they'll escape unperturbed. Head or tail, they still win. The owner of the property incurs the loss from capital that has been tied down fallow for many years. Will Mr. Fashola pay the landlord the accrued interest on this dormant capital?
It is not enough to spew inane policies in the name of promulgating laws or impressing praise-singers. We must be fair to everyone involved. It is not enough to generalize all landlords as being vile just as it is folly to label all tenants as 'meek and innocent'.
I am not a landlord yet. I hope I become one at some point in the near future. When I do become one, I'll do with my property as I choose. Neither Mr. Fashola nor any proponent of his mega-city-Lagos-is-working charade was present when artisans almost ruptured the blood vessels in my brain by constantly inflating construction costs. Did Mr. Fashola subsidize the cement I bought thousands of bags of to erect my own property? Does Governor Fashola know how much it costs to perfect a certificate of occupancy in Alausa there under his nose? Is he aware I have to bribe everybody from the gate to the office of the Perm-Sec to get anything done on building approvals and so on? When the 'omo-oniles' descended on the property and I had to go and 'settle' them so work could continue on my property, where was Mr. Fashola then and his tenancy laws? Does he know how much land use charge is now in his state? So, the landlord has sinned against God now by owing landed property in Lagos that he must incur all these charges and still be told what to do with his property afterwards?
When I become a landlord and my property is up for lease, in order not to upset Governor Fashola, my rent which for example could have been say N50,000 per annum will be set at N100,000 per annum with one free year if you lease the property. Like one of those buy-on-get-one-free bonanzas. Shebi its the number of years I can lease that gives Oga Fashola a headache, not the amount I fix my rent as. So you pay twice the rate you would have paid for a year and I graciously 'dash' you one free year to stay on my property. Abi that one that one too na treason?
Ultimately, Nigeria is a peculiar society where everyone is out to bilk the next person. We must always consider these tendencies before labelling a set of industrious people as gluttonous. I have also met decent tenants who are respectful and reasonable. Nigeria, however, has made them endangered species.
Well said Wole. I think Fashola should make a start by providing low cost housing units before imposing insane rules on Landlords. Anyone who has built a house will know Fashola has not built one.
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