In Nigeria, there are no shortages of laws, different laws and regulations are enacted every now and then. However, where the real issue lies is in the implementation of these laws. Sometimes, it even begins to seem these laws are put in place for cosmetic purposes because little or no effort is put in place to implement them. One of such laws is the rent control law in Nigeria.

Rent control is the standard ceiling placed on the rate that a landlord can charge while allowing the landlord to set the rent freely when letting to a new tenant but subject to the tenant’s right not to accept and preventing the landlord from raising the rent or ejecting the tenant (Basu and Emerson, 2003). The rent control law is a form of intervention or help from the government to protect tenants from landlords who have a penchant for habitually increasing rent and demanding for more than the worth of the property. Before the advent of the rent control law in Nigeria, most tenants were at the mercy of landlords who were prone to increasing the rent almost on an annual basis for no justifiable reason.

Rent control is a residual matter under the 1999 constitution; most states in Nigeria have their individual rent control laws. The law is not intended to deprive a landlord of the dividends of his investment. Under the section 37, of the Lagos State Tenancy Law 2011, a tenant can apply to court for a declaration that the increase in rent is unreasonable and the court has the power to determine this, taking into cognizance of the rent payable in similar properties in that locality. If the court is satisfied that the increase is unjustified, the rent increase can be reversed and changed to a specific amount.

This law, though pretty on paper, practically has little or no implementation. One of the effective ways to implement the rent control law is for the Government to intensify their efforts in the housing sector by providing affordable accommodation, thereby breaking the monopoly that the private landlords have over that sector.

Also, reduction in the cost of building materials will go a long way in ameliorating the challenge often faced by these landlords because if cost of building is expensive, then it is only normal that the property will be expensive