For years, renting in Lagos has felt less like entering a legal agreement and more like negotiating survival. From two-year advance rent demands to inflated agent commissions and violent evictions, the city’s rental market has grown increasingly chaotic, largely unchecked by regulation that has struggled to keep pace with explosive population growth and housing shortages.

The Lagos State Tenancy and Recovery of Premises Bill 2025 is the government’s most ambitious attempt in over a decade to reset that system. The existing tenancy law, enacted in 2011, no longer reflects the realities of the city’s housing crisis. Demand has outstripped supply, informal brokerage dominates property deals, and many tenants have little protection once disputes begin. The new bill is designed to shift the balance by tightening oversight of agents, limiting advance rent demands, creating legal safeguards against harassment, and speeding up dispute resolution through the courts.

Cleaning up agents and rent practices

One of the bill’s central targets is the unregulated network of real estate agents who operate across Lagos. Under the proposed law, all property agents must be registered with the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority, known as LASRERA. Agency fees would be capped at five percent of annual rent, ending the widespread practice of charging commissions as high as 10 or 15 percent. Agents handling rent payments would be required to remit funds to landlords within seven working days and issue proper receipts to tenants, adding a layer of accountability that has long been missing. Violations could attract fines of up to one million naira, two years imprisonment, or both.

These reforms respond to years of tenant losses and scams. Lagos residents have routinely reported fake listings, double-rented apartments, and inflated commissions, with cases sometimes involving hundreds of thousands of naira. In one widely reported incident in 2019, a newly married couple lost approximately ₦900,000 to fraudulent agents after being shown a phantom rental property. The new bill attempts to professionalise the industry and restore trust to a space plagued by abuse.

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Perhaps the most hotly discussed provision is the restriction on advance rent. New tenants would no longer be required to pay more than one year upfront. Existing tenants who pay rent monthly would be protected from demands exceeding three months in advance. Offering or accepting payments beyond these limits would become a criminal offence, carrying potential fines or jail time. 

For many Lagos residents, this change represents the most meaningful shift in decades. Advance rent payments of two years or more have forced families into debt, drained savings, and pushed lower-income earners into unstable housing situations. Critics, however, point out that enforcement may prove difficult as long as housing supply remains tight and landlords wield market power.

Ending harassment and speeding up justice

The bill also takes a firm stance against harassment and illegal evictions. Landlords would be barred from using self-help tactics such as disconnecting essential utilities, sealing doors or roofs, blocking property access, or seizing tenant belongings during disputes. Eviction without a court order would become a criminal offence punishable by fines or imprisonment. These provisions address one of Lagos’s most persistent tenancy problems, where disputes often escalate into intimidation, physical force, or unlawful lockouts.

Although the bill does not impose rent controls, it introduces a route for tenants to challenge what they believe are unjustified increases. Courts would be empowered to assess rent hikes based on prevailing rates in similar neighbourhoods, evidence from both parties, and specific property circumstances. During such proceedings, landlords would be prohibited from evicting tenants, offering temporary protection against sudden or extreme increases that sometimes reach 50 to 200 percent with little warning.

Beyond tenant protections, the bill proposes faster pathways for resolving disputes. Tenancy cases could be initiated through originating summons, hearings would be scheduled within 15 days, and courts could sit virtually, on public holidays, or during weekends. Mediation would be limited to a maximum of 30 days. This represents a departure from a system where tenancy cases often linger unresolved for years, leaving both landlords and tenants trapped in limbo.

Financial transparency also features prominently in the new regime. Landlords would be required to provide tenants with a biannual account detailing the use of service charges and security deposits. Refundable deposits would have to be returned unless landlords could demonstrate verified property damage. The bill further affirms tenants’ rights to privacy, peaceful enjoyment of rental property, access to shared facilities, and compensation for authorised improvements.

Introduced in July 2025, the Lagos State Tenancy and Recovery of Premises Bill passed its second reading on July 10 and was referred to the House Committee on Housing for further legislative scrutiny. 

Whether the bill will achieve its intended impact depends not only on eventual passage but on enforcement. Lagos has no shortage of regulations, yet implementation has often faltered under limited oversight and entrenched informal practices. Still, the bill signals a more confrontational approach to structural problems that the rental market has long normalised. For tenants weighed down by advance rent demands and harassment, and for legitimate agents squeezed by shady operators, the proposed reforms represent the most serious attempt in years to restore order to one of the city’s most dysfunctional sectors.

Meiza Nigeria