Fashola urges landlords to collect monthly rents

Former Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has called for the review of tenancy laws in states to compel landlords to collect rents monthly.

The former governor of Lagos State spoke at the launch of his book titled: “Nigerian Public Discourse: The Interplay of Empirical Evidence and Hyperbole,” in Lagos.He also reflected on the burden of housing surplus in rural areas whereby their owners are confronted with deficits in cities, thereby predisposing them to renting houses.

Fashola said payment of rent for up to three years or more by tenants to landlords should be discouraged, adding that it is overwhelming to tenants.

He pointed out that many houses are unoccupied due to the way rents collection are structured and collected.Fashola said: “If you do not understand how dramatic and painful that three, four or five years rent has become to our nation, we have not consciously done anything to it.