Since after the days of Shehu Shagari and Lateef Jakande, tenants in Nigeria have been perpetually at the mercy of landlords who not only collect their rents upfront, but also increase same at will.
Shagari and Jakande were the second republic president of Nigeria and governor of Lagos State respectively who, as a matter of state policies and programmes, embarked on massive development of low-cost housing mostly for low-income earning Nigerians.
Many Nigerians who benefitted from those housing programmes are enjoying their comfort of those houses till today.
But, today, a vast majority of Nigerians, especially those that are resident in Lagos, are not finding it easy having a roof over their head even as renters because of high house prices.
As a response to this challenge which, in Lagos, cuts across over 80 percent of the residents, some estate developers, public and private operators alike, have intervened with structured schemes that allow tenants to acquire their houses, pay rents over a period and own those houses.
Legrande Properties
This is a Lagos-based property developer, currently developing 5,000 affordable housing units in Lagos. It has come up with a rent-to-own initiative as a means to meet the huge housing needs in the country. But this initiative, according to Babajide Durojaiye, the managing director, is an opportunity for only contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF).
The initiative is premised on its new project called Alexandra Courts Estate in lbeju-Lekki which is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with Lagos State Government and Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). “It also provides opportunity for loans to off-takers who are contributors to the National Housing Fund scheme up to N15 million,” Durojaiye assures.
At the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (ABAT) Renewed Hope City at Ibeju Lekki in Lagos, Legrande Properties has earmarked 2,500 units for staffers of the TUC, NMA, NLC, NUT, and civil servants.
Mixta Africa
This developer has an initiative for home acquisition focused on affordability. The initiative is called DUO which, according to Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer, is a homegrown solution for mid-income earners who have difficulty paying outrightly for a house or experiencing delays in accessing a mortgage.
The DUO gives renters the opportunity to start out as tenants and end up as homeowners in a simple, straightforward transaction.
“The thought of being a tenant paying your due rent and subsequently becoming a homeowner within three years is the major attraction for interested subscribers,” Akinkugbe-Filani added.
Alpha Mead
Rent4Less and Rent-to-Own are two models this developer has initiated to enable affordability of housing.
“ What should be done is to meet the objectives of landlords and tenants for the system to work,” Femi Akintunde, the Group Managing Director, explained.
