Senate Moves To Regulate High Cost Of Rent In FCT

 A bill seeking to regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants as well as making provision for rent control in the Federal capital territory today scaled through the second reading on the floor of the senate.

The sponsor of the bill, Senator Smart Adeyemi said the bill when passed into law seeks to address the administration of arbitrary and prohibitive rents handed down to tenants by their landlords as well as ameliorate the hardships faced by tenants especially the low income earners who are the majority of FCT residents.

 Senator Adeyemi lamented that over the years, the cost of acquiring real properties across the major cities of Nigeria has been on the rise, so much so that Nigeria is fast becoming one of the most expensive countries of the African continent.

 Other lawmakers who contributed to debate on the bill, called for massive investment in housing by government and the private sector to bring down the high cost of rents.

The lawmakers also recommended that the act of collecting two years rent in advance by landlords should be outlawed while there should be a provision to protect the inetrest of landlords against tenants who refused to pay as at when due.

The senate therefore referred the bill to its committees on FCT and Judiciary for further legislative action and to report back in four weeks.