The Lagos State Tenancy and Recovery of Premises Bill 2025 is still being considered and debated on the floor of the state’s House of Assembly, but much has filtered out from its provisions, raising hope that the frosty relationship between landlords and tenants may end soon.

The Bill is a major reform initiative aimed at modernising rental regulations in the state. It is expected that the Bill will address identified problems by reshaping the landlord-tenant relationship. capping advance rent, regulating agents, providing tenants with legal protection against unfair rent increases, and introducing faster and more transparent eviction procedures.

A city with an expanding population and rapid urbanisation, Lagos faces unending housing challenges, including excessive advance rent demands, unregulated real estate practices, and prolonged eviction disputes. The state’s existing rental law can no longer contain these challenges, hence the new Bill.

With a hyper-active rental market, the state harbours estate agents in their numbers who ply their trade in ways and manners that make the market uncomfortable for renters, while favouring themselves and their principals—the landlords.