Lagos monthly rental scheme will ease burden of residents – Governor’s aide

The Lagos State Government has said that all modalities for the commencement of a monthly rent payment scheme will commence soon.

The Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, disclosed this during discussion on rental policies at the just concluded 2nd Lagos Real Estate Market Place Conference and Exhibitions that took place at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

According to the Special Adviser, the new initiative will greatly ease the burden of yearly payment on residents, just as she assured that landlords will get their annual payment of house rent upfront.

Benson-Awoyinka said the scheme would benefit the landlords as they have their rent guaranteed and they have assurance of payment upfront, while tenants will also no longer have that burden of yearly payment of a huge amount of money.

“Tenants can therefore use their huge money for other forms of investments or for payment of school fees as the burden of payment of yearly rent is taken away from them completely. So it is a win win social investment scheme, it is a good one and it is applaudable.

“We are all looking forward to it as it will start from January next year. From today you will start seeing communications about how it is going to work, how existing tenancy will come on board and we are going to have a major launch for the program. We will have communications all over the news medium to show people how it will work and how to get on the program” she said.

She explained that to come on board, tenants must meet the qualification which includes ensuring that tenants have the capacity to make the payments on a monthly basis. She said the scheme will begin with the formal sector of people with monthly income but promised that once’s the scheme starts running fine, the informal sector too will be brought on board.

Benson-Awoyinka assured that the scheme has come to stay and it will be sustainable, noting that several Lagos State government polices have stood the test of time and are still working and this would not be an exemption.

According to her “We have kept to all our words right from the beginning of this administration, this is another win win for us as a state government, as citizens of Lagos, as landlords and as investors and we all should applaud the state government for this initiative.

“With this initiative we are able to enable tenants to pay monthly rent beyond for properties built by the Lagos State government as we have in the rent-a-home scheme. We have brought private landlords too on board and we know that they are waiting eagerly to see what will happen to them. We know we cannot enforce monthly rent collection on landlords but we have created a platform that will make monthly rent payment possible for tenants and we know when the system begins and runs fine, many more landlords will come on board.

“To make this work, we have brought together several stakeholders including financial institutions, landlords financiers, tenants and the legal and administrative system. We have put all these together as a statue government and we will ensure this service is resilient and easily accessible by residents of Lagos State.”

The Special Adviser added that the platform works for both new and previous tenants as she promised that the informal sectors would also be put into the scheme.

She however urged Lagos residents to take good advantage of the platform.

Resilience policy

Lagos Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, said the initiative was part of the resilience policy of the current administration.

He said the government had a rental survey and found out that 88 percent of tenants in the state would rather pay their rent monthly.

According to him “We had to pursue this by working with different relevant stakeholders and we now have a model that will work and enable Lagosians pay their rent monthly. Landlords have nothing to loose because they will continue to receive their rent yearly and their default risk is zero.

“We as a Ministry are already looking into the informal sector to involve them into this program but we need to first begin with the formal sector to enable us mimimise the risk level.

“It is easier for us to verify how much those in the formal sector earn and for us to know what we will get and how we will get it. When we succeed on this, we will roll out to the informal sector. There is an insurance pack that helps us manage all of the risk. We have a data plan that helps us fish out defaulters”.

He said the scheme will commence with the formal sector to enable them minimize risk noting that the platform is a social investment for the benefit of Lagos citizens and residents and not a money making investment.

Market platform

The Managing Director, Nobleserve Capital Management, Mr. Korede Adeyemi, described the initiative as a market platform that speaks to social impact.

He said “With what we are doing, every landlord will get their rent annually and tenants at the same will have the capacity to pay their rent on a monthly basis. This platform will be demand driven because of the convenience of payment. People will be able to log into the platform to search for houses.”

Adeyemi noted that the initiative will also sanitize the pricing of houses in Lagos state in terms of tenancy rate. He said this will be possible as the platform tells similar properties in similar areas within Lagos State that can either go for the same price or lower prices and in essence people can shop for rent easily on the platform and rentals will be highly subsidized.

He said the initiative is a robust system that takes care of everyone, adding that it is an intervention platform that will also fish out defaulters.

Managing Partner of Charles Anthony LLP, Mr. Charles Adeosun-Phillips, said it is a social welfare program and it’s a win win for all as the landlords, government, financial institution and all stakeholders win.

 

 

 

Emmanuel Ukoh