Against apparent odds, the Senate is pushing towards enacting a bill that will limit house rental in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to three-month advance payment for a new tenant, and monthly payment thereafter.

The proposed law titled “Advanced Rent (Residential Apartments, Office Spaces, etc.) Regulation Bill 2022,” sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi representing Kogi West, scaled second reading in the red chamber last week and got decapped to the Committee on Housing and Urban Development for further input. The committee has four weeks to report back to Senate at plenary.

To be sure, the intention of the bill is noble as it seeks to provide social protection and make life less stressful for the working class in the federal capital, who incidentally are in the majority. In canvassing the bill, Adeyemi said if passed, it would enhance the well-being and living standard of FCT residents as well as minimise corruption and immorality encouraged by the oppressive tenancy system in place.

He noted that the current system whereby landlords demand one to three years of rent in advance overburdens the residents, especially salaried workers, and breeds inequality and moral decadence as low income earners often resort to corruption, prostitution and other forms of criminality to keep a roof over their heads. Other senators argued in the same line, with Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege who presided at plenary saying the bill was “popular” given the number of persons that have shown interest in it.

There’s no doubt really about the bill’s popularity. After it was first read in the Senate on 18th January, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rooted for the bill and hailed the comradeship of its sponsor. NLC President Ayuba Wabba reiterated Labour’s demand on government to provide decent houses and make land available and affordable to the people, adding: “We also remind government that the right to shelter is a fundamental human right and the Nigerian Constitution places a burden on government to redeem this obligation.”

But good soundbites and popularity aren’t determinants of a good law; workability is. The only lawmaker who spoke against the bill, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, hinted at this when he said the issue of rent payment should be governed by free market forces like land availability, cost of building materials and capital outlay. “If government wants to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses, (it) can go into housing schemes, mortgage schemes, housing credit facilities, not control the business of private individuals in an emerging African democracy,” he argued.

Although other senators overwhelmingly overrode Nnamani’s lone argument, the chamber must take care not to enact a lame law. That could be the case if the bill being processed is confined to front-end transactions between landlords and rent-seekers, without addressing back-end factors like provision of mortgage funding, land costs and the cost of building materials, among others. Senate should go beyond playing to the gallery to produce a law that works.

The bill prescribed a three-month jail term or N1million fine for offenders. The proposed law, sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi), passed second reading on the floor of the Senate last week.

It seeks to protect low income earners from any form of oppression by homeowners as well as provide a safety net for landlords against erring tenants. The bill bars landlords from demanding from a fresh tenant, rent in excess of three months. It also bars the tenant from offering to pay rent in excess of three months in case he or she is securing the use of the apartment for the first time. In case of termination of agreement, the bill prescribes a one-month notice to a tenant paying rents on a monthly basis and three-month notice to a tenant paying on a quarterly basis.

The bill forbids arbitrary increase of rent and gives the courts the powers to determine reasonable rent increments. The bill gives exclusive jurisdictions to the magistrate courts to try rent cases, but that either of the two parties could appeal to the High Courts.