RECOVERY OF RENT ARREARS AND TREATMENT OF DIFFICULT TENANTS IN RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES

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RECOVERY OF RENT ARREARS AND TREATMENT OF DIFFICULT TENANTS IN RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES

 

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
High demand for rental accommodation has been experienced as a result of the creation of thirty-six States and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory because
of the need to house people moving into new States in addition to new ones being employed to fill up created vacancies in the new State and Local
Government Council Departments. There is bound to be an increasing dependency on the private rental market for a long time to come in view of the high
cost of various building materials, high interest rates on mortgage loans and the challenges facing applicants for the certificates of occupancy all these
challenges coupled with poverty and unemployment in Nigeria has made it diicult
for some tenants to pay their rent leading to accumulation of rent
arrears. Due to poor enactment of policy and implementation, some tenants are stubborn and difficult refusing to pay their rent intentionally with dubious
motive to cheat the landlords (Topham, 2012). The absence of many large corporate or institutional investors in the rental property market has widened the
gap.
According to Burke (2000), the relative poor quality of tenancy management coupled with the polarization of estate agency practice have led to conflicts and
disputes between or among landlords, estate agents and tenants as a result of refusal of some tenants to pay their rent areas. Bad tenants can be a real problem for not paying rent on time or leaving properties in a mess. In advanced countries, lodged information about bad tenants in tenancy databases assists estate agents and landlords make more informed decisions before taking in new tenant because some tenant will never abide by both oral and even
written agreement leading to problems between the landlord and the tenants.
Accordingly, a landlord who seeks to recover his rent areas from a tenant must strictly comply with the provisions of the statutes guiding landlord and tenancy agreements in Nigeria. In other words, the slightest deviation from the requirements of the law will frustrate an attempt to recover possession of rent areas and the premises no matter how troublesome and terrible such a tenant may be. Every State in Nigeria now has its own law on recovery of rents, areas and premises. The law in Nigeria is Recovery of Premises Act. Cap 544 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990. Section 2, Recovery of Premises Act Cap
544 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Abuja) 1990 states that a landlord is a person entitled to immediate reversion of the premises and includes the attorney
or agent of any such landlord or any person receiving (whether in his own right or as an attorney or agent) any rent from any person for the occupation of any
accommodation in respect of which he claims a right to receive same. This section further states that a tenant includes any person occupying premises, whether on payment of rent or otherwise, but does not include a person occupying premises under a bona fide claim to be the owner of the premises. It is however imperative that landlord must operate within the confines of the law in the recovery of areas and treatment of difficult tenants in both residential and commercial properties which is what this study is focused on.

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RECOVERY OF RENT ARREARS AND TREATMENT OF DIFFICULT TENANTS IN RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES

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