Three people share a flat. One stops paying, or becomes impossible to live with. Can the landlord remove that one person and leave the other two in place?
The answer depends almost entirely on a decision made months earlier, when nobody was thinking about it: how each person was put on the tenancy.
The three possible positions
1. Everyone is a co-tenant. All names on the agreement, all holding rights directly against the landlord. Removing one person means terminating that person's tenancy — which requires proper notice to them, and a court order if they will not go. The others are unaffected in principle, though in practice the landlord may prefer to deal with the tenancy as a whole. This is the cleanest position and the one to negotiate for.
2. One lead tenant, others with written consent. Under section 7(6) of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011, a tenant may not assign or sublet any part of the premises without the landlord's written consent. Where that consent was given, the occupant is a sub-tenant — and the Law's definition of "tenant" expressly includes a sub-tenant. They have standing, and removing them follows the proper process.
3. One lead tenant, others moved in quietly. This is where it gets bad. The Law defines "persons in unlawful occupation" to include anyone who enters into occupation through the tenant and remains without the landlord's consent.
So the unconsented flatmate may have no security at all, however faithfully they have paid every month. And the lead tenant has breached section 7(6) — which under section 12 gives the landlord the right to institute proceedings to re-enter and determine the whole tenancy.
That is the honest answer to the headline question. In position 3, the landlord's likelier move is not to remove one person. It is to act against the tenancy everyone is living under.
Notice, where the agreement is silent
Section 13(1) supplies the defaults:
- A week's notice for a tenant at will
- One month for a monthly tenant
- Three months for a quarterly tenant
- Three months for a half-yearly tenant
- Six months for a yearly tenant
Section 13(6) adds a useful rule: where the nature of the tenancy is unclear, it is determined by reference to when rent is paid or demanded. Pay monthly and you are likely a monthly tenant.
Section 13(5) covers a fixed term that has simply run out: no notice to quit is required once the term has expired by effluxion of time, but the landlord must serve seven days' written notice of intention to apply to recover possession.
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Nobody can remove anybody personally
This applies to landlords and to flatmates equally, and it is the most important paragraph here.
Section 44 makes it an offence for any person who, in respect of any premises, attempts to forcibly eject or forcibly ejects a tenant, threatens or molests a tenant by action or words with a view to ejecting them, or wilfully damages any premises. Demolishing or modifying a building to force someone out without court approval is also covered.
The penalty is a fine of up to ₦250,000 or six months' imprisonment.
So changing the locks on a flatmate is not a shortcut. Neither is putting their things outside, cutting the power, or sending threatening voice notes — "by action or words" is written deliberately broadly, and your angry messages keep.
Recovery of premises goes through notice and the court. There is no self-help version of it.
If you are the lead tenant with a problem
Your exposure is larger than you think: the landlord looks to you for the whole rent regardless of what anyone else has done.
- Put the position in writing to your flatmate, calmly — what is owed, for which months, and a date for a plan.
- Tell the landlord before he finds out. If you can offer a replacement or a schedule, you are a tenant managing a problem rather than one in default.
- Check the consent position. If your flatmate was never consented to, fixing that may matter more than removing them.
- Use mediation. The Law recognises the Citizens Mediation Centre and the Lagos Multi-Door Court House at section 2(3). It is free.
- Serve proper notice if they must go, using section 13 where your agreement is silent.
- Take advice before court. Weigh the cost and time against the sum.
Prevent it at the start
Every version of this is avoidable in twenty minutes before anyone moves in: all names on the tenancy where possible, or written consent naming each occupant; a written agreement between you covering who pays what and when; a notice period; and a replacement clause agreed with the landlord in advance, because in a shared household somebody will leave early.
Remember section 1(3) too: Apapa, Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi and Victoria Island are exempt from the Law, so there your agreement carries the weight.
Set it up properly from the beginning on roommates.
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This article explains general provisions of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011. It is not legal advice and has not been through professional legal review. For a specific dispute, speak to a lawyer or the Lagos State Citizens Mediation Centre.
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