Importances of Tenancy Agreement

Storytelling of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State, 2011.

The landlord and tenant did not sign an agreement. The tenant paid the total agreed rental sum and expected they would have an agreement because he had paid the landlord. He had in his head some imaginary terms and conditions between him and the landlord. He had some expectations of the landlord.

The problem was that the landlord had different terms and conditions in his head. He also had some expectations of the tenant. These terms and conditions and their expectations were not written down for both parties to have a clear and mutual understanding.

So, when they had a serious misunderstanding about the tenancy, the landlord got the tenant arrested by the police. At the police station, the landlord narrated his expectations, the tenant countered that he was not aware of the expectations and responded with his understanding, which was his expectations.

To address the crossroads, the officer in charge of their case asked for an agreement. The two looked lost. There was no agreement. The police rebuked them for their foolishness.

The first and fundamental issue was that under the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011, there was a tenancy agreement between the parties, and it will be deemed to exist where premises are granted by the landlords to a person for value, whether or not it is express or implied; oral or written, partly oral or written, or for a fixed period.

Section 3(a) to (c) of the law says that where there is an exchange of money between a person and landlord to rent premises, whether the landlord and tenant sign a tenancy agreement or not, there shall be deemed to be a tenancy agreement.

This is a very clever provision of the Act to protect people from landlords and their agents who are in the habit of collecting money from unsuspecting members of the public and then rescinding their reasons for collecting the money.

The case that elucidated the provisions of this section was the case of a landlord who collected a rental sum from a person who had approached him to rent his property. The landlord was said to have denied collecting the money for rent. He claimed it was for other things. The question was: what were the things, and how would a random person whom you never knew come and accuse you of collecting money for rent? The matter was resolved in favour of the person, and it was deemed that the landlord and tenant had a tenancy agreement.

Tenancy agreement, just like any other agreement, is important to prevent disputes over agreed terms and conditions, that will be clear and mutually understood.

Lately, tenancy agreements can now be used to show evidence of address, place of residence, or business. It is also used as evidence of tax and recurrent expenditures when dealing with some foreign vendors and partners.