Collecting 3yrs advance rent dangerous to economy – Fashola tells landlords

Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works and Housing, has said that the house owners who’re receiving two to three years’ rent in advance are causing more danger than good to the country’s economy.

The minister has advocated for monthly rent payments across the federation.

Fashola on Thursday, told state governments to look for easier means of payment of rent, which would be comfortable for both tenants and landlords.

The minister made this revelation during his address at the 2022 National Council Meeting on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, the 11th in the series, which took place in Sokoto State.

While delivering his speech at the occasion, the former two terms governor of Lagos said, “I concede that majority of the houses belong to the private sector and they expect legitimate income from rent for the properties.

“However, I hold a strong view that asking for two to three years rent in advance from working-class people (as distinct from corporate tenants who may prefer to pay in advance) does more harm than good to all concerned and to the economy.

“Interestingly, rent is a matter over which the Federal Government has no constitutional authority because it is a local matter and rightly so.

“But I use the platform of this meeting to challenge and provoke all state representatives to thoughts and action about how we can make the payment of rent easier and comfortable for both tenants and landlords.”

“This is possible if we try and this will give the fullest possible expression to the theme of this meeting which is, ‘Housing our people, by all of government and all our people,” he stated.

The minister told delegates at the meeting that at the Federal Government level, “we have introduced Rent-to-Own into our acquisition/sale model for the disposal of the houses in the National Housing Programme.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.