Abuja Rent Control Bill On The Way.

RESIDENTS of the Federal Capital Territory could not but rejoice that a senator of the republic representing Kogi West, Smart Adeyemi has defied the top elite to initiate a bill to control rent in the capital city. The bill is a long awaited help line to rescue residents groaning under harsh house rent in the face of dwindling economic returns.
Adeyemi had always taken pro-people stance as a senator. His legislative activism which is widely acknowledged by friends and foes centres on upliftment of the lower level of the society. Thus when he spearheaded the rent control bill despite powerful opposition, the senator was seen as simply pursuing his passion. The proposed law is tagged “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Recovery of Premises Act Cap 553 LFN, 1990 and to Re-enact the Recovery of Premises Act (Abuja) 2013 to Regulate the Relationship Between Landlords and Tenants, Rent Control, Recovery of Premises and for other Matters Connected Therewith”.
Adeyemi, the Senate Committee Chairman on FCT, while presenting the bill to his colleagues noted that “It is very evident that the Nigerian real estate sector is somewhat grossly overpriced. The growing demand for properties within the major cities of Nigeria, which include Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Kaduna, Calabar, just to mention a few, is driven by trade, politics, governance, commerce, tourism and the rapidly urbanising Nigerian population.
“However, the growth of the demand for real (estate) properties in Nigeria’s major cities has brought with it, its own attendant problems. This budge has encouraged some public servants to engage in corruption to enable them afford rents within the city”, he told his colleagues. Many senators were also sympathetic to the bill.
Senate President, David Mark, while commenting on the bill canvassed for protection of the rights of both landlords and tenants in the bill and not one at the expense of the other. According to Mark, “The fact is that whatever bill we pass must be balanced. Both parties must be fully protected. We don’t want to stop investment in real estate development. I hope that when this goes for public debate, many people will come to air their views on the issue.
“However, having listened to so many like me who actually know that the struggle is in the blood, not just expressing it outwardly, we will make sure that the downtrodden are looked after, ” Mark said.
The bill stipulates six months imprisonment or a fine of N50,000 or both for landlords who collect more than six months’ rent from a prospecting tenant. It also seeks to regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants and rent control while also focussing on protecting tenants from double agency payments by placing the burden of agency fees on the landlord. The bill proposes that any rent agent, who collects additional agency fee from the tenant, commits an offence punishable under the bill.
In confirmation of the urgency of the bill, the FCT committee has also commenced a public hearing on the bill. The hearing allowed all stakeholders to air their views and propose addition or deletion. In his submission, Adeyemi, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, argued that the proposed law would make it mandatory for all low-income earners to be accommodated in all districts in Abuja.
``You cannot build a district that is entirely for the rich people. For instance, if you go to Maitama, outside the boys quarters, there is hardly any low income earner living anywhere within the area. This is totally wrong because you have to think of drivers, messengers and other people to run the system and we keep all of them hundreds of kilometres away.’’
Adeyemi noted that Nigeria was fast becoming one of the most expensive countries in the real estate sector of the African continent. He said that the Senate would, before the end of the year, summon FCT officials to explain details of land swap agreements with private developers in the territory.
“We want to know how the poor will survive in some of the districts being developed under these land swap agreements,” he said expressing worries that the high rent in the FCT was fuelling corruption in the civil service as some public servants had engaged in corrupt practices to afford rent in the city.
“Those who have refused to taint their conscience with the practice of corruption lose many man hours daily while trying to get to their various offices from their places of residence”, he said.
At the public hearing, the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed called on the Senate to enact a law that would make it mandatory for landlords to review rent at a minimum of three years. Represented by Mrs Ima Okpongete, General Counsel, Legal, FCT, the minister described the two years prescribed in the bill as inadequate. The minister, who pledged the administration’s support for the proposed law raised objections on some exceptions where the proposed law should not be applied.
He questioned the exemption in the bill of residential premises owned and operated by educational institutions for its staff and residential premises for emergency shelter such as refugee camps. The proposed law also does not apply to residential premises in a care of or hospice facility, or any specialised health facility in a public or private hospital.
He said, ``we see there is no clear reason for exempting educational institutions from the application of the Act. Our reasoning is that sometimes educational institutions may give accommodation to some staff and time will come when such a worker is sent out or retired from such educational institutions. If such workers refuse to give up such accommodation, which law should guide the school to evict such recalcitrant staff,’’ he asked.
The FCT minister also recommended a schedule on chargeable rents in various districts in the FCT to guide the implementation of the proposed law.
According to him, ``The proposed schedule should stipulate the districts in the FCT, the ceiling on chargeable rents, because the city is still unveiling and nothing is steady yet.’’ The minister said that such categorisation could be based on the type of houses to be built in a particular district for specific people.
In his submission, Sen. Ita Enang (PDP-Akwa Ibom) said federal workers living in government accommodation were expected to pay rent under the Federal Government monetisation policy.
“The law on monetisation prohibits the provision of houses for staff because all the entitlements of all staff of all categories have been monetised in the civil and public service. Even if you are providing a house that is built for staff, they ought to pay because when you look at your salary there is provision for rent,’’ he said.
Enang also submitted that the proposed law should grant unlimited jurisdiction to Chief Magistrates’ Court on matters relating to rent. The bill had proposed that the Magistrate’s court would only have jurisdiction on matters involving amount of claim not exceeding N4 million. Enang also opposed the proposed establishment of tribunals to settle rent disputes, saying that it smacked of military orientation.
In his submission, a former senator, Mr Abubakar Sodangi, urged the legislators to conduct wide consultation before the passage of the law.
Sodangi, a former Senate Committee Chairman on FCT, argued that the law should make provision for a rent tribunal in the FCT, modelled like the present Environmental and Sanitation Tribunal.
He also expressed support for the categorisation of the FCT into districts for the purpose of putting ceilings on rent payable in each district and the types of houses. He however expressed surprise that Abuja residents did not turn out en-masse for the public hearing in spite of public announcements.
However in his submission, Dr Chris Ekong, a representative of Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, cautioned against the ``categorisation’’ of the FCT in the bill, saying it would lead to discrimination. He urged government to also address the cost of land acquisition in the FCT and the rising cost of building materials.
``These factors affect the total cost of building a house and many landlords take this out on their tenants,’’ he said.
Earlier, Senate President David Mark said that it was ironic that in the midst of sprawling housing estates in the FCT there were still many low income earners living in slums, shanties, under bridges and security posts. Declaring the one-day public hearing open, Mark, who was represented by the Deputy Senate leader, Sen. Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi), pledged the commitment of the Senate to ensure quick passage of the law.