Please Collect Rents In Arrears – Fashola Beg Landlords

Fashola Pleads With House Owners On Behalf Of Tenants

Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing has called on landlords across the country to start demanding for rents in arrears, while urging them to understand the plight of low-income earners in the country.

Fashola begged that from today July 6, 2018 landlords should be more considerate, while advocating payment of rents after each month, as against what is obtainable across the country currently.

He argued that salary earners weren’t receiving their salary in advance but in arrears.

Fashola made this known while speaking on the theme, ‘Innovative housing finance model as a catalyst for home ownership,’ at an event for real estate operators in Abuja.

He recommended that there should be a landlord-tenant-employer’s relation, whereby the trio would agree that the employer deducts the tenants rent from salary and pay to the landlord.

Fashola said, “If you ask me to go and bring in advance one year’s rent from what I’m going to earn monthly in arrears, how feasible is that?

“Even my salary as a minister is paid at the end of every month, not even at the beginning; then you the landlord is now asking me to bring next year’s salary, and we’re complaining that there’s corruption.

“I tried to intervene as a governor, passing the resolution to our own council in Lagos then, but the outcome was not peaceful, because there were landlords in our midst.”

The minister made it clear that he was not pleased with the practice of advance rent payment, arguing that all the developed economies Nigeria was being compared to were not collecting one year’s rent in advance.

“Those who get paid weekly, pay their rents weekly; those who get paid monthly, pay monthly rents,” Fashola stated.

According to him, the masses, unlike the well to do in the society, cannot afford to pay their house rents in advance.

“I believe this meeting is about the critical mass of Nigerians, the taxi drivers, market men and women who earn their money daily and are not even sure of making any revenue for that day. Meanwhile, landlords expect advance payments,” the minister told his listeners.

Fashola charged all landlords in the country, starting from Friday, July 6, 2018, “to agree to take one month rent in arrear,” noting that the payment pressure on the side of the tenant would be reduced in 12 months.

The minister also stated that there was no country in the world where everybody owned a home.