Lagos Residents Cry Out Over Soaring Rent As Calls For Regulation Grow Louder

Damilola Adebayo’s 71-year-old father was recently forced to relocate after his previous landlord sold the house he was renting. In the Agege area of Lagos, he was asked to pay N260,000 for a single room—not even a self-contained unit. Adebayo, though not the eldest child, had to contribute N120,000 to help his father secure the apartment.

Adebayo, who works in Ikeja but lives in Ibafo, Ogun State, also shared how two of his friends are struggling to raise N370,000 for a room. While acknowledging the financial burden of building and maintaining houses, he accused landlords of exploiting tenants.

“My father just moved to another house in Agege. He paid N260,000 just for one room, not self-contained,” Adebayo told THE WHISTLER. “I understand that building a house isn’t easy, but Lagos landlords should take it easy on tenants.”

Last week, an on-air personality, Gbemi O.O, sparked a conversation on social media with a post questioning the rising rent in Lagos. Her post on X (formerly Twitter) received 2.4 million views, 1,110 reposts, 504 quotes, and 3,461 likes as of Wednesday morning.

“So you guys are ok(ay) with the high rent in Lagos?” she wrote, urging the state government to intervene.

The post triggered reactions from frustrated tenants. A user, @demolarashid, lamented that his landlord increased his rent by 400 per cent.

“It’s actually crazy. I’m battling with a 400 per cent increment on my business premises now. I don’t know what to do,” he said.

Another user, @AdeyefAbiola, said his landlord doubled his rent.

“It looks like they all held a meeting just to agree on an outrageous rent hike. Also got 100 per cent increase which makes no sense!,” Adeyefa stated.

Calls For Rent Regulation

A Lagos resident, Yetunde, told THE WHISTLER that her rent for a self-contained apartment in Ikeja was increased from N700,000 to N900,000, a 29 per cent increase.

“It’s not something I planned for. It’s not like my salary has increased, yet the cost of living keeps rising. There’s no improvement in the apartment, but they still increased the rent,” she lamented.

She called on the government to regulate house rent to protect tenants from exploitation.

“If the government regulates house rent, it will protect tenants from being at the mercy of landlords,” she said.

Other residents echoed the need for rent control. Joshua, another tenant, expressed frustration over landlords demanding two years’ rent upfront.

“If the government regulates rent, it will help stop landlords from taking advantage of tenants. Some landlords now insist on two years’ rent upfront—it doesn’t make sense,” he told THE WHISTLER.

Faith, who lives in Ogba but works in Ikeja, also urged the Lagos State government to introduce policies to control rent.

Why Landlords Are Increasing Rent

Some landlords argue that rising rent is a result of high building costs. Adeniyi Adenekan, a landlord, said maintaining a house is expensive due to the soaring cost of building materials.

“One major reason for rising rent is the high cost of building materials,” he told THE WHISTLER. “A few years ago, a bag of cement was about N4,000. Now, it’s nearly N10,000. Then, there’s the government levy on houses.”

While Adenekan has not increased rent for his tenants in the past three years, he doesn’t blame landlords who have.

“Some landlords rely on rental income for survival. Given the current economic challenges, I understand why they raise rent,” he added.

Another landlord, Suraj Ogundijo, also cited inflation as a key factor.

“The price of building materials keeps rising. People who build houses today spend a lot more money than before,” he said.

Real Estate Agents Weigh In

Chief Dozie Ebikam, Vice Chairman of the Association of Property Investment and Commission Agency of Nigeria (APICAN), Ogba Branch, attributed rising rent to the economic situation.

“In 2022, a 3-bedroom flat with modern facilities in an estate in Ogba was less than N1 million. A 2-bedroom was between N700,000 and N800,000, while a self-contained apartment was N250,000 to N300,000,” he explained.

“But since the petrol subsidy removal, everything has skyrocketed. A 3-bedroom flat in an estate now costs over N3 million. Outside an estate, it’s around N2.5 million.”

Ebikam dismissed claims that real estate agents were behind rent increases.

“We agents are not happy either. Many people can’t afford rent, so it affects our business too. We only earn commissions when people rent houses,” he said.

He supported the idea of some level of rent regulation to ensure fair pricing for both new and old houses.

Ebikam said that landlords should not renovate an old house and charge the same rent as a newly built one, arguing that the cost of building the house has already been recovered.

Lagos Considers Monthly Rent System

In October 2021, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu proposed a monthly rental system to ease financial pressure on tenants.

At a 2024 press briefing, Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, confirmed that the monthly rent scheme would be enforced by the end of 2024 or early 2025.

“We all see what is being done in other climes, rents are collected monthly. Hence, we are looking and hoping that before the end of the year, or by early next year, we will be able to implement the policy of monthly rental. Also, the rental would be charged according to tenants’ earnings.

“The good part about it is that we would be test-running it first within the public sector since we can ascertain how much everybody is earning, and once we see that it works in the public sector, we can now push it out to the private sector,” she said.

Ebikam welcomed the move, stating that it aligns with practices in developed countries. According to him, the monthly rental system will ease financial burdens for Lagosians and encourage better financial management.

“Lagos prides itself as a megacity. In most developed cities, that’s how it’s operated. In the U.S., you pay monthly. Even in South Africa, they pay their rent on a monthly basis,” he noted.

However, both Adenekan and Ogundijo opposed the monthly rent payment policy, arguing that it would not be effective due to the financial pressure it could place on tenants.

98.5% of Residents Live In Rented Apartments

The rising cost of rent in Lagos may not be driven solely by inflationary pressures; it could also be a result of the city’s housing deficit, which stands at over 3 million units. With a population exceeding 23 million, the forces of demand and supply may be a key factor influencing rental prices in recent years.

A report by BuyLetLive in 2024, said at least 98.5 per cent of Lagos residents live in rented apartments, with just 1.5 per cent living in their own houses.

With inflationary pressures and the consistent rise of the exchange rates in the country, the report stated that residential occupiers in Lagos are predominantly residents interested in renting apartments rather than owning them.

“Our analysis indicates that 98.5 per cent of respondents in Lagos live in rented apartments,” it noted.

“Economic pressures, including high inflation and a volatile exchange rate, have led to an upward trend in property prices in Lagos State, resulting in a surge in demand for rental properties.

“This demand is particularly strong in affordable areas that offer amenities and proximity to workplaces.”

According to the report, the top three residential areas in high demand in Lagos are Yaba, Surulere, and Gbagada.

It stated that despite the increasing demand, the supply of housing in these areas remains insufficient to meet the growing needs.

It puts the current housing deficit in the state at over 3 million units, underscoring a significant gap between the demand for and supply of residential properties in Lagos.

Efforts by THE WHISTLER to reach the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, were unsuccessful, as he neither answered his calls nor responded to a message sent by our correspondent.

Similarly, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Gboyega Akosile, also did not respond to calls or messages.

Lagos Residents Cry Out Over Soaring Rent As Calls For Regulation Grow Louder is first published on The Whistler Newspaper