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Introduction
The tenancy system in Lagos State has, for many years, been plagued by several challenges, including weak enforcement of existing laws, abusive exploitation and discriminatory practices by landlords, exploitative tendencies of agents, and arbitrary rent increases, to mention a few. In an attempt to curb these practices, the Lagos State Government has proposed the Lagos State Tenancy & Recovery of Premises Bill, 2025 (the “Bill”), which is designed to overhaul and sanitize the landlord-tenant relationship in Lagos State. The Bill is structured in four parts, comprising 45 Clauses.
In this article, we examine the key changes in the Bill and what every landlord, tenant, agent, and other stakeholders need to know if the Bill is ultimately enacted into law.
Table 1: Lagos Tenancy Laws Compared: RCRP Law, Tenancy Law 2011 vs 2025 Bill (Key Differences)
Aspect | Rent Control & Recovery of Residential Premises, 1997 | Tenancy Law 2011/2015 | Lagos State Tenancy and Recovery of Premises Bill, 2025 | |
Location Coverage | Apapa, Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi, Victoria Island only | All of Lagos except those four premium areas | All of Lagos, including premium areas | |
Premises type | Residential only | Primarily residential | Residential and commercial | |
Advance Rent Monthly (sitting) tenants | 3 months max | 6 months max | 3 months max | |
New/yearly tenants | 12 months (commercial); 3 months (individual) | 12 months max | 12 months max (unchanged) | |
Penalty for excess rent | N50,000 or 3 months imprisonment | N100,000 or 3 months imprisonment | N1,000,000 or 3 months imprisonment | |
Estate Agents Registration | Not required | Not required | Mandatory LASRERA registration — unregistered agents cannot legally handle rentals | |
Agents’ Commission cap | No cap (typically ~10%) | No cap (typically ~10%) | Capped at 5% of annual rent | |
Rent remittance | No timeframe | No timeframe | Agents must remit to the landlord within 7 working days of collection | |
Landlord’s rights | Implied | Implied | Expressly recognised — with adequate notice to tenant. | |
Notices to Quit Yearly tenant notice | 6 months | 6 months | 6 months (unchanged) | |
Monthly tenant notice | 1 month | 1 month | 1 month (unchanged) | |
Notice in rent arrears | Notice to quit required | Notice to quit required | Notice to quit waived — tenancy deemed determined on arrears | |
Self-help eviction | N50,000 or 3 months imprisonment | N250,000 or 6 months imprisonment | N1,000,000 or 6 months imprisonment; utility cuts, roof removal, lockouts explicitly criminalised | |
Penalty for violations | N/A | N/A | N1,000,000 or up to 2 years imprisonment, plus repayment of unlawful fees | |
Court order required | Yes | Yes | Yes — retained and reinforced (s.43) | |
Rent Increase challenge | Via Rent Tribunal | Court may determine; limited guidance | Tenant may apply to court; landlord cannot evict tenant while matter is pending | |
Adjudicating body | Rent Tribunals per LGA | Magistrate & High Courts; ADR referral available | Same courts + virtual hearings; hearing guaranteed within 14 days of filing | |
Mediation/ADR | N/A | N/A | Encourages ADR for dispute resolution before going to court. |
Scope of the Law: Where It Applies
Unlike the current Recovery of Premises Law of Lagos State, which applies to only select places like Victoria Island, Apapa, Ikoyi, and Ikeja GRA, the Tenancy Law of Lagos State, 2011, applies to every other area in Lagos State; the Bill governs both residential and business premises across the entire Lagos State. In practical terms, this means most rental arrangements—whether a shop in Lekki or a flat in Surulere—fall under the Law.[1]
However, certain premises are excluded, including:
Staff or student housing provided by educational institutions
Emergency shelters
Hospitals, hospices, and mental health facilities
Premises used for rehabilitation or therapy
Unifying the tenancy laws creates a clear, consistent, and accessible legal framework, reducing ambiguity and abusive practices.
Rights and Obligations of Landlords and Tenants
The Bill provides a more detailed framework for the rights and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants. While it preserves tenants’ entitlement to peaceful occupation of rented premises, it also expressly recognizes several rights of landlords that were previously inferred from contractual arrangements or established practice.
On the tenant’s part, the Bill guarantees quiet and undisturbed enjoyment of the premises, including privacy, freedom from unreasonable interference, exclusive possession, and lawful use of shared areas within the property. It also preserves the tenant’s right to compensation for improvements carried out on the premises with the landlord’s approval.[2]
On the landlord’s part, they retain the right to inspect their properties during the subsistence of a tenancy, provided adequate notice is given to the tenant, particularly to ensure that the premises are not being used for unlawful purposes. The Bill further recognizes the landlord’s right to demand and recover service charges where such charges are applicable.[3] At the same time, landlords are restrained from interfering with a tenant’s lawful possession by acts such as harassment, disruption of utilities, or unlawful seizure of the tenant’s belongings.
These provisions are particularly significant in addressing tenancy disputes in Lagos State, where conflicts frequently arise from disputes over service charges and disagreements concerning renovations or improvements made by tenants.
The Issue of Advance Rent
The Bill prohibits landlords from demanding more than 3 months’ rent in advance from a sitting monthly tenant and more than 1 year’s rent from a new or sitting yearly tenant. In the same vein, tenants are prohibited from offering beyond those same limits.[4] Also, where the rent is paid to the agents, they must now pay it to the landlord within 7 days of collection.
This provision is not entirely new; however, a violation now attracts up to a N1,000,000 fine or 3 months’ imprisonment.[5]
Regulation of Estate Agents
A key provision of the bill is the regulation of estate agents. It provides that all agents must register with the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA). Notably, the agency fee has now been capped at 5% of the property’s annual rental value, reducing the current practice of 10% and more in some cases. While the Bill fixes agency commission at 5% of annual rent, public statements from government have not always been consistent on the figure. At the Ministerial Press Briefing in May 2026, the Commissioner for Housing was reported as saying agency fees in Lagos should not exceed 10% of total rent payable. This figure was later revised down when the Commissioner reconfirmed the 5% cap at a Real Estate Business Forum on 10 July 2026. Prospective tenants and landlords should treat the Bill’s text as the operative figure until the law is formally passed.
Furthermore, under the 2025 Bill, regulation of agents shifts from functional control to direct licensing and enforcement through LASRERA. This makes it a far more structured and interventionist framework than the existing law. Landlords will need to ensure they engage only licensed estate agents. Non-compliant agents will be guilty of an offence punishable by a fine of 1,000,000 or 2-years’ imprisonment.
If this bill is eventually passed, it will go a long way to significantly reducing the rent burdens on tenants.
Service Charges and Security Deposits
Under the Bill, landlords are obliged to issue separate receipts for service charges and security deposits, and render a written account of service charge expenditure every six months. This is aimed at improving transparency and accountability on the part of the landlord, while enabling tenants to verify how their payments are used and ultimately, reducing the risk of abuse or mismanagement.
Additionally, landlords are obliged to refund security deposits, commonly called caution fees, at the end of a tenancy agreement, subject to deductions for verifiable repairs or any outstanding tenant obligations. This has always been in the current laws, but there’s been a lack of enforcement mechanisms.
The Issue of Rent Increase
Vanguard has reported rent increases of up to 200 per cent becoming increasingly common. The 2025 Bill also makes provision for, and attempts to manage, the issue of unreasonable rent increments in Lagos State. The Bill maintains the current law that rent increments must not be unreasonable, and does not provide a specific amount or percentage of increase. It, however, states that the courts may determine what a reasonable increase is based on certain factors, including any special conditions relating to the property and rent levels in the same or similar locality.
Notice Periods, Eviction, and Recovery of Premises
Under Section 14, where the tenancy agreement is silent on notice, the applicable notice periods are standardised as follows: one week for a tenant at will, one month for a monthly tenant, three months for a quarterly or half-yearly tenant, and six months for a yearly tenant.
However, these standard periods are displaced where rent arrears accumulate. A monthly tenant who falls two months in arrears has their tenancy lapse, and the landlord need only serve 7 days’ written notice of intention to recover possession — not the usual one-month notice. A quarterly or half-yearly tenant who falls three months in arrears is in the same position: the tenancy lapses, and only 7 days’ notice is required. A yearly tenant who defaults for three months after the expiration of the lapsed tenancy is likewise only entitled to 7 days’ notice, rather than the standard six months.
Furthermore, a fixed-term tenant whose term has simply expired does not require a notice to quit at all. However, the landlord must still serve a 7-day notice of intention to recover possession before commencing court proceedings. This step is mandatory even where no notice to quit is required, and landlords who skip it risk having their case dismissed. Landlords can also claim mesne profits for any rent arrears.
The Bill also expands the permissible modes of serving commercial premises, allowing service on a director, secretary, senior or principal officer of the company, or by leaving the notice at the organization’s place of business.
These provisions aim to curb unnecessary delays in recovery proceedings, prevent tenants from exploiting procedural technicalities, and improve the efficiency of possession and eviction processes for landlords.
Tenant’s 30-day Pre-action Notice
A tenant may only commence an action against a landlord after first serving 30 days’ written notice of intention to sue.
Court Jurisdiction and Dispute Resolution
Disputes between landlords and tenants can be resolved in either the High Court or the Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State, depending on the property’s location.[6] Two points to note:
Either party (or any interested person) can approach the court
A tenant cannot avoid proceedings by claiming someone else owns the property.
This provision is a step away from using Rent Control Tribunals, as provided in the Tenancy Law of 2011, as a first point of call for tenancy dispute resolution.
An aggrieved tenant instituting an action in either court must file originating processes along with:
Evidence of up-to-date payment of rent;
Evidence of up-to-date payment of utility bills;
An undertaking to maintain the premises in habitable condition; and
An undertaking to continue paying rent and utility bills during the pendency of the suit.[7]
With these provisions, tenants will no longer be able to use the landlords’ requirement to serve valid notices to evade payment of rent pending resolution of the matter in court. Note that an aggrieved landlord still has to initiate a court proceeding and obtain a court order to validly evict a tenant.
Conclusion
The Bill is aimed at creating a fairer and more structured landlord–tenant system by protecting both parties and discouraging practices such as unlawful eviction, harassment, and excessive charges. However, the real challenge, if enacted, will be enforcement, as many similar provisions already exist but are often ignored in practice. Some landlords have also expressed concerns that limits on advance rent may affect existing rental practices and business arrangements.
The Status of the Bill as at July 2026 is that the Bill is not yet law. It remains at committee stage, confirmed by the Lagos State Government in May 2026. Until it is passed and assented to, the Tenancy Law 2011 (Cap. T1, Laws of Lagos State 2015) and the RCRP Law continue to govern. Nothing in this article is currently enforceable.
To read more about the Bill, visit the Lagos State Government’s website here.