Total package is the whole amount you need to move in, not the rent on the advert. It is the year's rent plus the agent fee, the agreement fee, the caution fee and any service charge. For illustration, fees adding 20% to 30% would turn a ₦1 million rent into a ₦1.2 million to ₦1.3 million package; the actual charges can be higher. On Flatmate, the middle yearly rent across the 45 places priced by the year is ₦800,000, so adding an illustrative 25% for fees would make the total ₦1,000,000. That 25% is an example, not a measured fee total; ask for the actual itemised package.
Why the advert and the invoice never match
Adverts quote rent because rent is the number that sells. The fees are quoted later, individually, usually once you are interested enough to view. None of them are hidden exactly, but they are never added up for you, and the gap between the two figures is where most failed moves happen.
The fix is to ask for the total package as a single number before you view anything, and to ask what each line in it is for. An agent who will not itemise it is telling you something useful.
Building the number yourself
- Start with the year's rent
- The middle yearly rent on Flatmate is ₦800,000 across 45 listings. Use the actual advertised figure for the place you want.
- Add the agent fee
- Normally 10% of the rent. Across the 16 Flatmate listings that charge one and price by the year, the middle is 10%. Zero if you are renting from the person already living there.
- Add the agreement fee
- Normally another 10%, for the tenancy agreement itself.
- Add the caution fee
- Refundable in principle. On the 19 Flatmate listings that record one, the middle is ₦50,000.
- Add any service charge
- On the 28 listings that charge one, the middle is ₦42,500, usually annual and usually covering security, waste and shared power.
- Then split it
- If you are sharing, agree who pays what share of each line, not just of the rent. The caution fee in particular needs a written note of who put in what, because it comes back at the end.
Sharing changes the arithmetic
Splitting a place is the only reliable way most people get the total package down to something they can raise. A room in a bigger flat costs a fraction of the whole unit, and the fees split with it.
It is what people are already doing: members searching in Lagos typically set between ₦100,000 and ₦450,000 a year for their own share. That is the middle of what people actually enter as their budget, not an estimate of what places cost.
Rooms are rarely equal, though, so splitting evenly is not the same as splitting fairly. Work out each person's share against the room they are getting before anyone pays anything.
Questions people ask
What is total package in Lagos rent?
It is the full move-in cost: a year's rent plus agent fee, agreement fee, caution fee and any service charge. For example, fees of 25% on a million-naira rent make a ₦1.25 million package. That is an illustration; use the itemised charges for the place you want.
How much do I need to rent a room in Lagos?
The middle yearly rent across the 34 Flatmate listings in Lagos priced by the year is ₦1,050,000. These listings include different property types; check the room price and all fees with the lister.
Do I have to pay a full year upfront?
Not always. 23 places on Flatmate are priced by the month rather than the year. They are the minority and they cost more over twelve months, but they are the realistic route if you cannot raise a year at once.
Does the caution fee come back?
It is refundable in principle, against damage and unpaid bills. Photograph everything on the day you move in, keep the record, and agree in writing who contributed what if you are splitting it.
Is the total package negotiable?
The rent sometimes moves and the agent fee percentage rarely does. What changes the figure most is who is letting the place: a room let directly by the person already living there usually carries no agent fee at all, which takes a tenth off before you negotiate anything.
Why do agents quote rent instead of the total package?
Because rent is the number that gets you to view. The fees are real and they are not hidden, they are just quoted separately and never added up for you. Ask for the total as a single figure before you spend a Saturday on inspections.
Where to go next
Other things worth knowing before you pay
Measured listing figures update automatically from active Flatmate listings; worked examples are labelled separately. General information, not legal advice; tenancy rules differ by state.