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Dear Halima,
I am a tenant residing with my family in a three bedroom apartment in Surulere , Lagos State. I am a yearly tenant and i pay my rent regularly. Recently i complained to my landlord about a leaking roof in my apartment, but he bluntly refused to inspect his property. While i was still trying to figure out a way to fix the roof, the landlord instructed his lawyer to serve us with a six months ‘notice to quit’. This quit notice was served on me, on the 1st of August 2009 to expire on the 1st of February 2010 but my rent expires on the 30th of December 2009. When i called the lawyer, he said the Notice was in order and that though my rent expires on the 30th December2009, my Landlord was allowing me to stay for two months free, before parking out. I don’t have an alternative apartment to move into. Please i need your legal advice.
Christian Chidi.
Surulere Town
Dear Chidi,
Thanks for your mail, when you complained to your landlord about the leaking roof, what was his response? secondly were you rude to him? Legally a land lord is suppose to repair those damages that are caused on his property as a result of natural wear and tear. This includes the roof of a building ,the walls and other external structure or fittings. Your approach matters a lot. When you need your Landlord’s attention you need to be very polite and subtle. If you explain to him in kind words what you are going through i believe he would have a change of heart. Secondly a standard quit notice for a yearly tenant must be six months to end at the expiration of your current tenancy. Now since your rent expires on the 3oth of December 2009 , your landlord ought to have issued you a notice to Quit at least in June 2009, so that you get six clear months notice to end on the 30th day of December. Since he issued yours on the 1st of August 2009, it simply means that your notice to quit is not valid. If he takes you to court, the matter would be thrown out of court that day. A valid notice to Quit must not be short by even a day and must end on the anniversary day of your current Tenancy which is 30th December 2009. So congratulations! you have another one year to stay in the house while you try to make peace with your landlord. Like i tell my clients who are Tenants, never make trouble with your Landlord, instead try to be his friend.
Dear Halima,
I am a tenant(single lady) residing in a two bedroom apartment, three months ago i needed money for my school fees so i had to sub-let one of the rooms in my apartment to a fellow colleague for only six months. The agreement was that she would only stay for six months. In the beginning she seemed a good responsible girl, but after some months her attitude changed towards me. She became very arrogant, would not clean the apartment , was keeping late nights. Before the expiration of her rent i told her to leave my house, but she refused. So in annoyance i locked her out of the house for three days. Instead of begging me to let her pack her things and leave, she broke into the house with the help of some neighbours, removing her belongings and some of my items. I quickly made a report to the police. The girl was detained for breaking and entry and my landlord was invited by the police, and instead of supporting me, the landlord brought an action against me for sub letting a room in my apartment without his knowledge he also made claims for the damages caused on his property as a result of the breaking and entry. Please i don’t want to loose my apartment as my landlord has served me a quit notice. I need your help.
Fatima
Abuja
Dear Fatima,
Thanks for you mail. I have to be very blunt with you. It was very wrong of you to sub- let a room in your apartment to anybody without first notifying and getting consent from your landlord. So your landlord was right to have denied you and accused you of sub letting. Also it was wrong locking out your co tenant, your actions amounted to trespass to person and chattel. Which means you deprived her from having access to her own space and property after all she paid you for it. Living with people is not easy, you ought to have considered this before letting her move in with you. Did you find out why she needed your place, and how she had been living with others before meeting you? A property Agent would do his homework well before letting out an apartment. You were only interested in the financial gain. Your friend also had her own faults, breaking and entering is a serious criminal offence in Nigeria. First she is not a legal occupant of the apartment, secondly in such a situation she would have contacted the police before breaking the door. despite.
Now my advice to you is that you apologise to your Landlord and appeal to him to forgive you. The worse scenario, is that if he doesn’t forgive you and , if you don’t pack out, your landlord would take the case to court. At this stage you would need a lawyer to represent you, i also suggest that once your case is mentioned in court, and the Magistrate or Judges gives you the opportunity to speak you must apologise publicly to your Landlord, your lawyer can also help you out. I wish you luck.
Barrister Halima Musa-Bakwunye is the Principal Partner at MUBAK LEGAL CONSULT . she is a legal practitioner and Arbitrator practicing in Lagos State.
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