Are you a landlord and it is oftentimes a herculean task evicting a tenant from your property due to the rigorous nature of our court process of eviction? Or are you a tenant and the landlord comes in and out of your let apartment as he deems fit without your permission, or does some other annoying acts? The best way to avoid these kind of issues from both parties is by having a Tenancy Agreement.

A Tenancy Agreement also known as a Rental Agreement, simply put, is a formal agreement between a landlord and a tenant. It is a written contract between a house owner and a person seeking to occupy a property within a short time frame. In a Tenancy Agreement, the landlord is referred to as the lessor and the tenant the lessee. Such an agreement usually defines the parties, the period of the rent, the location of the property, the amount of rent payable and other covenants well defined.

ADVANTAGES OF A TENANCY AGREEMENT.

1. Duties and obligations of each party are clearly stated. Some of these are:

(I) Bills and other outgoings payable. (e.g Electricity, water, waste etc);

(II) Acts permissible;

(III) Refundable payments (if any).

2. Both parties have a clear understanding on how the rent is to be terminated.

3. A tenancy agreement serves as a formal proof between the parties rather than an oral one.

Although some people are of the opinion that tenancy laws in Nigeria are more favourable towards the tenant than the landlord due to the requirement that specific Notices to Quit be issued to a tenant before or after the expiration of the rent as stipulated by law, with its antecedent cumbersome eviction procedure. For example, the Lagos State Tenancy Law, section 13(1) prescribes the length of notice to be given where there is no agreement between the landlord and the tenant to determine the tenancy, which are; one month's notice for a monthly tenancy, three months’ notice for a half-yearly tenant and six months’ notice for a yearly tenant. The argument remains neither here or there as tenants too have been known to suffer wrongful eviction from their landlords.

Nevertheless with a tenancy agreement, the provision of the law above will not apply. This provides the parties the liberty to draw up it terms as they deem fit.

A tenant is expected to read and understand the terms of the contract before signing. At Consule Legal, we always advise to involve a lawyer for a better explanation of the terms before appending your signature.


J. A. A

consulelegalonline@gmail.com
07011804887

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