"Na when you rent house you go realize say one year no far at all. You just move in, blink twice, renewal don reach."
That post went round X this month and every tenant recognised it. The renewal is the most predictable financial event in your year and the one people are least prepared for, which is how perfectly sensible adults end up taking loans at terrible rates every twelve months.
Here is how to stop.
The trap, stated plainly
Your rent is annual. Your income is monthly. Nothing in the system bridges that, so you either save deliberately or you borrow.
And borrowing for rent is unusually expensive, because the loans available for it are short-tenor, high-rate and often informal. A loan taken in month twelve to cover a cost you knew about in month one is the most avoidable money you will lose all year.
The person on X crowdfunding for a first rent payment, and the other one confirming a ₦700,000 transfer "for your rent renewal", are the two ends of the same problem.
The only method that works
Divide next year's total by twelve and move it on payday. That is it.
Not the rent — the total. Renewal is usually cheaper than a first move-in because there is no agency fee and often no fresh legal fee, but there may be an increase, and the service charge is still there.
Work it out like this:
- Last year's rent, plus an honest assumption for an increase.
- Service charge, at the current figure.
- Any renewal or agreement fee — ask now, in writing, rather than discovering it in month eleven.
- Divide by twelve. Move it on payday, to a separate account you do not casually touch.
On a ₦1,200,000 renewal, that is ₦100,000 a month. Painful, but it is the same money you were going to find in a panic anyway, minus the interest and minus the month of dread.
Start the conversation in month nine, not month twelve
Most people discover the new figure far too late to do anything about it.
Ask your landlord or agent, in writing, three months out: what is the rent for next year, and is there any change to the service charge? A written question creates a written answer, and a written answer is evidence.
It also gives you time to act if the number is unreasonable.
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If the increase is unreasonable
One post captured the experience: "How can a landlord just wake up and say he wants to increase someone's rent from 1 million naira to 2 million naira just like that?"
Section 37 of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011 provides a route. A court may consider whether an increase is unreasonable, weighing the general level of rents in the locality or a similar locality for comparison, and may order that the increase be changed to a specific amount.
And crucially, section 37(4) makes it unlawful for a landlord to eject a tenant pending the determination of that action. Challenging an increase does not put you on the street while it is being decided.
Before litigation, try the free route: the Law itself recognises the Lagos Multi-Door Court House and the Citizens Mediation Centre at section 2(3). Mediation costs nothing and moves far faster.
Two practical notes. Collect comparable listings on your street before you argue — section 37 turns on the general level of rents in the locality, so evidence of what similar flats are actually advertised at is exactly what helps. And remember section 1(3) exempts Apapa, Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi and Victoria Island.
Cheaper than any loan: share the renewal
If the number genuinely does not work, the structural answer beats every financing product.
Bringing in a flatmate halves the renewal and halves the service charge. On a ₦1,200,000 renewal that is ₦600,000 each, or ₦50,000 a month saved toward the year after.
Do it properly, though. Under section 7(6) you may not sublet any part of the premises without the landlord's written consent. Ask at renewal, when you have most leverage — a landlord facing a vacancy is far more receptive than one mid-tenancy. Get a second name on the agreement if you can.
A renewal checklist
- Month nine: ask in writing for next year's figure and any service charge change.
- Month nine: if you want a flatmate, request written consent now.
- Every month: move one-twelfth of the total to a separate account.
- Before paying: confirm the figure in writing, and check it against what similar flats are advertised at.
- On paying: collect your section 5 receipt, with names and addresses on it, and a separate receipt for the service charge under section 10.
- Ask for the section 10 account of how last year's service charge was spent. You are entitled to it every six months.
If sharing is the answer, find someone before the renewal rather than after it on roommates, and get the landlord's consent in writing first.
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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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