Due to prevailing economic challenges, many tenants face difficulty meeting their rent obligations, leading to heightened tensions in landlord-tenant relationships. There is a surge in legal disputes surrounding rent arrears.

Residential occupants are notably affected by accumulating rent arrears resulting from business setbacks and financial distress. This situation has compelled workers, artisans, and self-employed individuals to accumulate rental debts.

Consequently, property owners are compelled to make tough decisions regarding tenant selection. Additionally, landlords are faced with managing their own mortgage and insurance payments amid these circumstances.

Checks showed that the most affected by these debts are commercial landlords of event centres, restaurants and clubs. Hence, some landlords are exploring eviction moratoriums from courts over certain residential tenants and small business owners who rent spaces.

The recent development is coming on the heels of rent inflation spike, escalating cost of living, economic hardship and price shocks which doubles majorly on food, market prices, utility and essential bills.

The hope of paying rents by defaulters dimmed completely as the prices of major building materials, notably, cement and iron rods, are rising persistently as more markets are shutting down, forcing low income families to struggle to eat for survival.

The cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria is escalating and, in more ways than one, it is impacting on health, finances and access to basic needs of individuals, organisations and families with expectations and obligations no longer being met.

Due to increasing poverty levels, job cuts, and dwindling incomes attributed to the challenging economic climate, defaulting tenants are now at risk of imminent eviction.

As observed by the former president of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Mr. Chudi Ubosi, rent defaults are prevalent across various locations and commercial property types. He noted that the adverse effects are widespread, impacting all businesses and prompting strategic reviews due to the negative financial implications.

Ubosi emphasized that there is no bias in the industry, with real estate practitioners prioritizing tenants who meet the stringent criteria set by property owners.

“That’s not discrimination. I think that’s just setting the bar for the kind or quality of tenant a landlord requires in his or her property. Whilst landlords are naturally finical about who they want to let their properties, this has not changed due to the impact of inflation crisis on businesses.

“As real estate professionals, we are not taken aback because this is normal in the industry and generally obtains for every level of property as landlords and estate agents engage in what can be called risk analysis of each prospective tenants.” he said.

A report on ‘The State of Real Estate Market in Nigeria’ compiled by Pison Housing Company gives a sense and dimension of this friction. The report says, Nigeria is one of the most active rental markets globally with about 80 per cent of its estimated 200 million population living in rented accommodation and spending over 50 per cent of their income on house rent.

“Frequently, landlords and tenants quarrel over sundry issues including inability to pay rents on the part of the tenants and/or landlords’ high-handedness and near-impossible demands. Some of these quarrels often lead both parties to court cases which, rather than improve their relationship, worsens it and leads to quitting the tenant from the house,” an estate agent and consultant, Henry Ezike stated.

A resident of Apapa in Lagos who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his relationship with his landlord is no better than that of a cat and dog. They are always quarrelling over delayed, unpaid or rentincrease which he considers too exploitative on the part of the landlord.

“My landlord is insensitive; at a time like this in Nigeria when everybody is struggling to eat, he is increasing my rent. What manner of man is that? Is he blind or deaf? Let him do his worst; I don’t have a dime to pay him,” he told our reporter who learnt from other tenants that the landlord has taken his case to a customary court.

Similarly, Ebenezer Okonjo, who lives in Ejigbo area of Lagos, is digging it out with his landlord over arbitrary and frequent rent increases.

“I rented this house from the father of my present landlord. He was living in London then. Now he has come back after his father’s death and the first thing he did was to increase our rent,” Okonjo told our reporter.

Continuing, he said: “When I told him I won’t be able to pay a second rent increase, he told me to relocate to my village; that Lagos is not meant for everybody. I felt insulted and told him to his face that he was a wicked man. He quickly gave me a quit notice which I refused to collect from him. Since then, it has been an uneasy calm between us.”

Besides escalating rents, attitudes, notably when landlords exhibit exploitative behavior, are also fueling tension in the landlord-tenant dynamic. Our research indicates that tenants commonly face challenges such as unwarranted rent hikes, exorbitant service charges—particularly concerning electricity, and interference from landlords.

An unnamed teacher at a private school in Lagos shared with our correspondent that his family rented a residence in the Ifako-Ijaye region of the state. However, during his three-year tenancy, he continuously grappled with conflicts with the landlord.

“I secured a 2-bedroom flat in that area so that I can spend less on transport fare as the house is close to my place of work. The landlord collected a year rent along with agreement and commission. My experience there was not rosy. The landlord made us pay for almost every damage/renovation of the house,” he revealed.

“One thing that got me irritated was the landlord’s habit of reminding me that my rent would soon be due as if I didn’t know my responsibility. In my third year, he increased my rent by 30 percent. I couldn’t cope because my salary could not carry it. I left the place,” he added.

Akeem Baruwa, who resides in Ojokoro area of Lagos state, poured out her frustration with her landlord’s exploitative tendencies, explaining that, the man was fond of hiding power bill from tenants in order to make them pay for what they did not consume.

“The landlord lives with us. We are five in number. We hardly see power bill, yet we would be asked to pay as high as N50,000, which is shared among five of us. We have complained to him on several occasions, but he is adamant; he often tells us to leave his house if we are not pleased with the rules,” he lamented.

Ezike suggested that landlords and tenants should maintain a symbiotic relationship as they are ideally meant to benefit mutually from each other. However, particularly in urban areas where the demand for housing exceeds supply significantly, there often appears to be an imbalanced relationship resembling that of a master and servant, with the landlord assuming a dominant role.

‘With the difficult economic situation Nigerians find themselves, cases of rent default are on the increase and so is the friction between the landlords and their tenants,’ he stressed, pointing out that, while the tenants are complaining of rising food prices, energy and transportation costs, the landlords are adding to their burden with rent increase.

“But if you look at the case critically, you find that it is difficult to apportion blame, because the landlords, especially, those who live on rent from their houses, are also affected by the high cost of living in the country. They too buy from the same market and have to maintain or renovate their houses at a time when building material prices, especially cement, have hit the roof-top,” he said.