An Examination of the Tenancy Agreement as a Shield in Property Management in Nigeria

The purpose of this study is to critically examine tenancy agreement as a shield in property management in Nigeria. Renting is an essential component of a healthy housing system of a nation. It is observed that for most tenants, signing their tenancy agreement will be their largest financial commitment during the year; hence it is an issue not to be taken lightly. The rental housing sector in Nigeria is bedeviled with acute shortage of housing units (said to be between 14-17million units) this in turn impacts negatively on the sale and rental markets. The study revealed that tenancy agreement gives protection to the stakeholders in the rental housing sector only on paper. This is because many rental agreements between landlords and tenants in Nigeria are personal and informal in nature, concluded outside of any government regulatory framework or formal legal system. This informality and lack of official documentation makes going to court an extremely impractical way of dealing with landlord-tenant conflicts. The provisions of the rent control and recovery of premises laws in Nigeria have been held more in disobedience than in obedience for many years. For effective regulation of the rental property market in Nigeria, it was recommended among others, that a strategic approach to developing a workable rental housing policy should first acknowledge the rental arrangements which already exist and then find flexible, realistic ways to regulate and enforce them.