By Ijeoma Okoronkwo
Every day with the increase in
population, there is a concurrent need for houses to accommodate this rising
population. As a result, there has always been the need for individuals,
corporations and governments to build and lease or rent houses to fill this
void.
These houses could either be for residential or commercial purposes. This
has brought the need to regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants
so as to avoid arbitrary increments in rents, wrongful eviction and illegal
holding over of premises. The procedure for recovery of premises is largely
regulated by statutes.
Accordingly, a landlord who seeks to recover his
premises from a tenant must strictly comply with the provisions of these
statutes. In other words, the slightest deviation from the requirements of the
law will frustrate an attempt to recover possession of premises no matter how
troublesome and terrible such a tenant may be.
Every State in Nigeria now has its
own law on recovery of premises. Some of these laws include:
·
Recovery of Premises Act. Cap 544 Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria (Abuja) 1990
·
Rent Control & Recovery of Residential Premises Law,
Vol. 7, Laws of Lagos State, 2003
·
Lagos Tenancy Law, 2011
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. The Rent Control and Recovery of Residential Premises Law, Vol.
7, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003 expressly include a sub-tenant and
service tenants (homes occupied by virtue of employment) for the purpose of
recovery of premises.
The Recovery of Premises Laws have
been enacted in various States principally to provide for procedures a landlord
must adopt to recover possession. Such procedures are primarily to protect the
interest of the tenant against that of the landlord. Coussey, J.C.A. observed
in the case of Okedare v. Hamid (1955) 15 WACA 17 at 19, that:
“The main object of the Recovery of
Premises Law was to place limitations on the common law rights of a landlord
with the object of regulating the recovery of and restraining summary eviction
from occupied premises.”
At common law, the landlord on the
effluxion of time or expiration of a valid notice to quit, may proceed to court
for possession. However, the Recovery of Premises Laws requires an additional 7
days notice of owner’s intention to apply to court to recover possession to be
given to the tenant. The landlord can only take out a writ after the expiration
of the 7 days. The tenant therefore becomes a statutory tenant and cannot be
evicted by force, but by a lawful court order.
For unlawful eviction, the landlord
can be sued and made liable for damages. In Ihenacho .v. Uzochukwu (1997) 1
SCNJ 117 at 284, the Supreme Court of Nigeria held that resort to self-help by
the landlord to evict a tenant who is in lawful occupation is not within the
purview of the provisions of the Recovery of Premises Law and that such a
landlord renders himself liable to the tenant in trespass. But at common law,
the tenant does not have that right; he is treated as a tenant at sufferance or
a trespasser.
Procedure for Recovery of Premises
Before the procedure laid down in the
Recovery of Premises Laws can be invoked, two factual conditions must be
satisfied:
·
There must be in existence some “premises” as defined by law.
Section 36 of the Rent Control and Recovery of Residential Premises Law of
Lagos State, 2003 defines premises to include, “a house or building or any part
thereof together with its gardens or other appurtenances”
·
The landlord-tenant relationship must be established. However,
in Ihenacho’s case, it was held that the landlord must still comply with the
procedure laid down in the law even if there is no landlord-tenant
relationship; provided the person sought to be evicted is in lawful occupation.
To be continued
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