Lagos to enforce one-year advance rent rule, Hamzat says at governorship debate
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Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat says Lagos will move from legislating to enforcing a one-year limit on advance rent, and wants tenants and agents to use the state's online registration platform.
Lagos State plans to enforce the one-year rent payment provision in its real estate law to stop landlords demanding two or three years' rent in advance, Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat said on Sunday.
Hamzat, who is also the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, said the provision was contained in the Lagos State Real Estate Registration Agency law passed in 2025 and that ensuring compliance was the government's next priority. "So the next chapter for Lagos is to enforce, to make sure. So people should not be asked 2 years, 3 years ahead because nobody gets salary three years ahead," he said at a governorship debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, a coalition that includes The PUNCH, Channels Television, TVC News, TheCable and Vanguard.
He said the law also requires real estate agents to register with the state and be listed on an official database, and urged residents to use the agency's online platform to report problems so that the government can track activity in the sector. "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," he said.
On housing supply, Hamzat said the state would complete ongoing projects and shorten the time needed to obtain property regularisation and title documents, arguing that delays in processing land papers raise the cost of housing. He said the state had completed automation of the process so that residents can apply online, and called for closer collaboration with private developers so that projects are not concentrated in high-income areas such as Ikoyi and Victoria Island.
The issue of advance rent has remained a live complaint for Lagos tenants. Section 4 of the Lagos State Tenancy Law 2011 already makes it unlawful for landlords or their agents to demand more than one year's rent in advance from a new tenant, and limits advance payments by sitting tenants depending on the type of tenancy. The state has also been weighing reforms to its tenancy framework covering rent increases, agency practices and landlord-tenant disputes.