Dear Sir,
THE NEED FOR AN EXECUTIVE BILL TO REGULATE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS
Your Excellency, I personally addressed this letter to you publicly to hasten the attention of your good office that is accessible to all citizens to notify you about the painful exploitations operators of the real estate business are subjecting the citizens of Edo State, our great state.
This letter assumed an urgency following my inability to fully participate through Zoom in the EBSTV Big News of 27th June, 2025, which focused on the real state sector in Edo State. The Big News is one of the innovations of the Mr. Suleiman Aledeh-led new EBS management that have refreshed the timeless professionalism of the flagship broadcast organization’s personnel. It comes up daily at 8.00pm prime time. I urge all Nigerians to always tune in for the worthwhile experience.
I could not be heard after my introduction as a guest owing to a poor network from inclement weather, especially the heavy downpour witnessed almost daily nowadays in Abuja, from where I joined the live studio. Although I could not express my view on air on Friday, I have summarized my key points in this letter for your consideration and action, however.
Of recent, the relationship between tenants and property owners (landlords/landladies) in Edo State have taken a turn for the worse, no thanks to the commendable effort you are making to eradicate cultism, violence and avoidable deaths from our state. Although the business of real estate has always been a hot and exploitative one, especially in Benin City, the crackdown on cultists have worsened the situation. It has added to the pains of law-abiding citizens searching for houses to hide their heads and sleep comfortably in the hands of property owners.
As a result, landlords in Edo State now demand what is called “Anti-cultism Oath” from would-be tenants. This new demand and the processes to fulfill it have added to others and raised the cost of renting an apartment in Edo State to the rooftop. This is a summary of demands by landlords in a glance: (i) rent or lease fee; (ii) agreement fee; (iii) legal fee; (iv) caution fee; and (v) anti-cultism oath. In some cases, tenants are asked to renovate and repair their apartments, threatened thereafter, and denied refund.
A critical study of the sector would reveal the criminal activities of agents, who, in most cases, encourage and force landlords to raise house rents so that their own commissions can be higher. At other times, acting on behalf of property owners, agents rent one accommodation to many tenants just as they fleece tenants for non-existent accommodations and disappear. Today, in Edo State, real estate agents often demand: (i) 20% commission on a fixed rent; (ii) consultation fee; (iii) transport fee; (vi) airtime/data recharge fee etc. The tragedy in all of these is that there are no fixed fees because there is no regulation of the business.
My observation showed that Edo State citizens who have no personal houses to live in or who live in rented apartments in the cities are really suffering. Even those that are looking for offices to establish or situate their businesses also suffer much now. For example, the annual rent for a good self-contain is now above N500,000.00 while a two-bedroom apartment goes for upward of N1 million and above, payable in full in yearly advance or more. For the purpose of legit business premises, it is far higher. The situation pushes tenants, especially young ones, into crimes. They are looking up to you to remedy their hopeless situation.
Your Excellency, real estate is a critical sector that the past administrations have not thoroughly considered until now. While there may be an old law in Edo State passed to regulate real estate business, it is now crystal clear that such a law can no longer regulate today’s challenges in the sector. Edo people appreciate all your actions aimed at curbing cultism, especially as they relate to the need for a deeper knowledge of any person renting an accommodation as well as the arrest and prosecution of alleged cultists. Indeed, this is the time to sponsor an amendment if such a law exists at all.
To arrest the situation, I hereby propose an Executive Bill titled: Edo State Real Estate Regulatory Law or Edo State Tenancy Law. I am also proposing the creation of a new agency, the Edo State Real Estate Regulatory Authority, to which infringements can be referred for resolution before legal action can be pursued in court by parties in line with your administration’s pursuit of Alternate Dispute Resolution ADR (ADR). The law and the agency would ensure among other expectations: smooth relationship between landlords and tenants, a proper regulation of chargeable rents and leases for different accommodation and business space, the proper regulation of the activities of agents, a review of the present prohibitive advance rents, and the prosecution of erring agents, tenant and landlords where ADR can not resolve a dispute.
Sir, it is true you can encourage the House of Assembly to pass this bill or to amend any similar old law that may be in existence. But it is better for you to personally initiate the legal move as an executive action in order for you to continually protect Edo people and cement your place in the hearts of the good, appreciative and unforgetting people of our dear state. Your effort can start in earnest even before you delegate substantive powers for land and housing.
To make my point clearer, Sir, I will refer you to the recently updated Lagos State Tenancy Law under the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Until the law was amended, agents used to be the king and decider in Lagos even before caretakers and landlords. Now, the amendment has stripped exploiters of the system of power while underlining the extent and relevance of each operator.
The Lagos amendment particularly addressed thorny issues as: Advance Rent Restrictions, Mandatory Rent Receipts, Tenancy Agreement Fee Cap, Notice Periods for Termination, Tenant Rights, Dispute Resolution, and Prohibition of Unlawful Evictions.
Your Excellency, if there is anything I can beat my chest about today as your believer and follower, it is the undeniable love you have for Edo people, who freely, fairly and happily voted you as governor on Saturday, 21st September, 2024, in rejection of all other candidates. While Edo people are already testifying of how you hit the ground running and how you are doing well in just seven months, I know you are yet to apply all the great plans you outlined in my presence in your house in Abuja when you were campaigning for votes in the nooks and crannies of our state.
Thank you in anticipation of your positive consideration of this letter. While a new Edo State has indeed risen under your humble leadership, the best is yet to come.
God bless Edo State. God bless Nigeria. Oba ghato kpere, Ise!
Yours faithful loyalist,
Usifo Sebastine Ebhuomhan