Following the controversy which trailed the proposed decision for tenants to pay house rent monthly, as opposed to the annual payment, Unicorn Holdings Limited Group MD, Dr. Fred Mafikuyomi has stated that one of the disadvantages of the proposal is that monthly rent payment will cease to encourage mass development.
He said: “One of the reasons why people develop is because they believe there’ll be multiple rental income, maybe a minimum of one year. The thing is , if you cannot pay your monthly rent, you cannot pay your yearly rent either. I think this is going to serve as a big dissentive to developers. One year as a minimum rent is good. It even gives them time to save, because a salary earner for instance will be able to save a certain percentage of his salary every month towards paying his rent. How will they cope doing that if they were paying a monthly rent?”
Recently, the Senate passed for second reading a bill seeking to regulate rent payments in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The proposed legislation, sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi), specifically seeks to stop yearly advance payment of rents and compel house owners to collect rent monthly in arrears.
Noting that Lagos state government is one of the most vibrant when it comes to mass housing, Mafikuyomi pointed that the process of allocation in the state is currently shrouded in mystery.
He continued: “When you look at Imota or Epe, these are some of the locations of the masses. So you see a lot of developments as Lagos State is collaborating with developers. But then, who are the subscribers of these housing? You’ll find out that after the construction they allocate these properties to people who can afford them, hence the lower cadre of people will become tenants where they should be owners. Nigeria is a very rich country in terms of natural resources, and we are too rich for the kind of housing system we parade.”
