A member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ayodele Adio, has claimed the Lagos Government is not doing enough to address housing challenges in the state and is suggesting a cap on rents.
Adio said this on Friday during an interview on Channels Television, The Morning Brief.
”The Lagos state government, over the last 24 years, hasn’t invested enough in public or affordable housing to breach the supply gap in the market.
”And has left the arena completely for the private sector, who think squarely about earning a profit from the properties that they develop, and that’s why you see rent continue to climb.”
READ ALSO: Report Tenancy Agreement Fees Higher Than 10 Percent, Lagos Govt Tells Residents
Adio noted that to address the issue, there should be a short-term measure, a midterm measure, and a long-term measure.
He suggested a cap on rents, agency, and legal fees.
“The first is that we need to cap the cost of agency fees and legal fees at 5%. And once we do that, we cut the entire cost of the ridiculous 20% rate on agencies and agreements that are currently being charged by unscrupulous agents across the state,” he said.
According to the ADC chieftain, the cost of rent and the pathway to home ownership must be grounded in reality, which is based on wages and income at the moment.
READ ALSO: Lagosians Grapple As Rents Hit New Highs
He said rents are rising faster than wages and income can catch up with.
“That’s why to solve this problem, we have to pursue a multifaceted approach because the reality is the core of the problem is the lack of supply into the market,” Adio explained.
The ADC chieftain also asked for a cap on rent increment, suggesting that property owners should not hike prices above certain percentages.
“Today, as we speak, a landlord can issue you a notice to raise his rents by 100% and 200% with just four months to the expiration of your rent.
“So I am proposing that we must ensure that the notice of increase of rent must be 12 months, so that you have a year, because that’s the entire life cycle that it takes us to plan to pay our rent, to make a decision whether you can afford that property or not.
“The third thing, and I think the most important thing, is to cap the amount of rent increase on properties that are currently occupied as we speak. And that cap has to be based on inflation,” he said.
Lagos Cautions Property Owners, Reps Seek FG’s Intervention
Last May, the Lagos State Government cautioned against the collection of tenancy agreement fees beyond the stipulated 10 per cent.
It asked residents to report such an abnormality to the authorities.
The Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Housing, Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, who spoke at the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing, warned against violation of the state’s tenancy law, which caps tenancy agreement fees at 10 per cent.
“We have been overwhelmed by reports of the activities of these unscrupulous elements making life hard for Lagosians with agreements and commissions that are like asking for an arm and a leg,” Odunuga-Bakare said in a statement issued by the Lagos State Government.
“We are calling on members of the public not to keep silent but to report such agents and landlords to us, for the government cannot be everywhere, every time.”
In October, the House of Representatives decried the arbitrary rent increases in Nigeria, calling for no more than 20 per cent of the existing rent, irrespective of infrastructure improvements or other factors.
This followed a motion by the member representing Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency, Bassey Akiba, on the “Need to Regulate Arbitrary Rent Increase and Protect Tenants from Exploitation.”
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