Watch as landlords refuse to rent out their houses, and the attendant homelessness that will surely follow this silly law.

You don't make this kind of law unless you have adequate public housing stock that can make people turn their noses up at private landlords. It is in the best interests of Lagosians for this law to fail in its implementation, because if it succeeds, there is going to be MASS HOMELESSNESS in Lagos.

A lot of people are going to start sleeping in their shops.

Fashola and Tinubu failed to invest in public housing, and they're now trying to regulate rents, in a capitalist economy, without any sort of concrete intervention in terms of investment in housing.

Combine this with Sanusi's withdrawal of three banking licences today, and it's been a really bad day for the economy of Lagos State.   

skido84:

What about landlords that took loan to build house?

skido84:

What about landlords that took loan to build house?

skido84:

I think rather than enact this law,the government shud have invested in low cost apartmernt housing.

femmy2010:

The Government is not saying the landlords shouldn't charge their "high rents" but that they should take one year in advance.
Is one year not fair enough?
Haba,we shout government this,Government that and yet we the citizenry are the ones killing ourselves the most.

Kudos Fashola.

Kobojunkie:

Well, up until this, people have been paying two years, 3 years, some with no problems. In fact, some use it as way to lock in low rate for 3 or more years. Why BAN that advantage? If I want to rent property and I see myself being at that location, for 5 or more years, why should it be a crime for me to pay upfront for that period  knowing that it is likely to my advantage that I can do just that?

Kobojunkie:

We really should be against attempts to reduce our freedoms under the guise of "solving problems", especially when these problems could be solved by making of simple IMPROVEMENTS on the part of Government. I mean other civilizations are busy fighting for more freedom for the people while we are applauding so-called solutions that limit our abilities to freely do business and interact on levels that could potentially be to our advantage. That is not a good sign.

Kobojunkie:

Well, up until this, people have been paying two years, 3 years, some with no problems.

femmy2010:


I am a tenant and paying 3 years in advance has no benefit to me but a a huge disadvantage of reducing the amount of capital i would have invested in my business which in turn would have given me more profit which i would have use to buy my own Landed property.

femmy2010:

Only a bad government would equally sit back and look while its citizen are been killed with cut throat 3 years rent in advance been charged by landlords.

Kobojunkie:

Again, that is YOU, but NOT EVERYONE. There are tenants out there who see it as an advantage. Why should THEIR advantage be taken away from them because of YOU? A business owner who wants to lock down a good lease rate for years, for his business location, will be hit by this BAN.

Government is not there to cater to just what ails YOU but what AILS everyone and that is why in the western word, the word BAN is rarely used. Rather you get Governments working on encouraging landlords to provide more FLEXIBLE lease plans and rates -- which I am sure you have heard you(where you currently live). Why do you think those options exist in the way they do?

I gave you an example in the UK where govt stepped in to check the excesses of landlords, but you seem to totally ignore that & you keep going on about 'encouraging landlords' this & that. The govts in Lagos did that for several years only now resorting to legislation when all else failed. You tell us to look at western world, & we give you a cogent example, yet you ignore

No one is asking for BAD GOVERNMENT, we are asking for IMPROVED GOVERNMENT -- Not Government that outrightly BANS people's rights to do what they want to instead of finding BETTER solutions to issues.

Kobojunkie:

No one is asking for BAD GOVERNMENT, we are asking for IMPROVED GOVERNMENT -- Not Government that outrightly BANS people's rights to do what they want to instead of finding BETTER solutions to issues.

femmy2010:

We are not paid Salaries in advance and pulling together a year rent in advance is not easy but we can still manage but taking 2/3 years rent in advance is a kill and thanks to Fashola for saving us from the claws of those wicked landlords.

femmy2010:

We are not paid Salaries in advance and pulling together a year rent in advance is not easy but we can still manage but taking 2/3 years rent in advance is a kill and thanks to Fashola for saving us from the claws of those wicked landlords.

I gave you an example in the UK where govt stepped in to check the excesses of landlords, but you seem to totally ignore that & you keep going on about 'encouraging landlords' this & that. The govts in Lagos did that for several years only now resorting to legislation when all else failed. You tell us to look at western world, & we give you a cogent example, yet you ignore

femmy2010:

@kobojunkie,
I never criminally absconded from giving a response to the points you raised because I thought you knew that landlord that would wholly be affected by the new enactment would be those who let out building to non-commercial occupants.

femmy2010:

Nothing wrong for a bank/company leasing a building for 30years,that is why they are allowed to add and remove to and from the structure on ground.
Sample the view of 100 tenants and I guarantee you that at least 90 people would share my view and see the new enactment as a great one.
To you am "YOU" but frankly am a typical example of the Nigerian masses that need to be protected from been killed by our cut leg landlords.

Kobojunkie:

I have the option of paying my rent up for two years if I wanted to,  there is no law BANNING ME From doing just that where I live now. Why should that option be taken away from those who live in Nigeria, and can afford it, simply because, you and those who share your view cannot?

femmy2010:

You reside in the "West" i presume?
There You have the option of paying up to 2 or more years in advance like you said but have you ever paid up to two years in advance there before?

femmy2010:

Every society has what works for them and if the only way to save tenants from becoming "thieves" because they want to get funds to pay 2/3 years rent in advance is by enacting a masses orientated law of max of 1year rent in advance then so be it.

femmy2010:

Like i said earlier,sample the opinions of random tenants in Lagos and i guarantee you that 95% would say "Thank you Fashola for a job well done".
Note - Our lawmakers passing this law are landlords too but because they know they are representative of the people and they have to obey the needs of the people they just had to pass the bill in good faith.
Kudos to them particularly the member that introduced it to the house.

oduamine:

what fashola did is ok but there shld be a law that protects d landlords, for example my parents collect a year rent from their tenants but immediately d rents lapses its a war cos d tenant will refuse payining n owing up to six months .lagos government shld think again,

Kobojunkie:

My First place, I paid about 1.5 years in advance. I figured I had the money and would rather put it to the place then spand it and find myself homeless. Again, the point is THAT OPTION EXISTS TO ME. Now, if people had been thinking as you are and had HAD IT BANNED, I would probably has spent all my money in about 6 months and had no place after that.

I still pay my bills in advance . . . . I remember one year, I paid the electricity company about a years worth, and I still pay my phone bill a year in advance.
um . . . . . If you are really going to take that argument then I hate to break it to you that up until this very second, and months and probably years into the future, this paying in advance deal has worked and continues to work in Lagos, and beyond.

Your FEELINGS do not suddenly declare it unworkable. I happen to know some of those people you have so conveniently chosen to tag as thieves, and they have never ever stolen from anyone, not even you, but I guess you are offering up the typical Nigerian "THEY ARE EVIL BECAUSE WE DO NOT WANT TO SEE THEIR SIDE" which many of us have come to expect.

Whether they are landlords or not is not the issue. The issue is that there are those who benefit and an outright BAN should not be considered a solution in a country where we have come to know that that is never a solution to anything.