A bill seeking to regulate the payment of rents in the Federal Capital Territory has passed the second reading in the Senate.
The purported legislation, sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (All Progressives Congress, Kogi State) seeks to stop the yearly advance payment of rents and compel house owners to collect rent monthly in arrears.
In his debate, Adeyemi said the bill was to cushion the effect of extortionate rents on tenants in the nation’s capital.
He said many properties in Abuja were empty because of the outrageous rents placed on them.
“Many residents of FCT are finding it very difficult to cope with huge rent payment, the reason many of the houses built for such purpose are empty.”
He said some landlords always insist their tenants pay one year or two years rent.
“That is wrong. There are many tenants whose salaries are competing with their rents because they live in cities like Abuja,” he said.
On his part, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger), described the intended law as people-centred and urged on his colleagues to endorse its passage.
“There’s no gain saying that many residents in FCT are groaning under this difficult system where tenants are asked to pay house rent yearly in advance,” Abdullahi said.
Senators Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto) and Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi) also supported the bill.
For Na’Allah, the system where tenants — many of whom receive meagre salaries — are forced to pay rent annually in advance encourages and fosters corruption.
“Where we operate a system that makes it difficult for people to survive, then we may not be able fight corruption notwithstanding the resources deployed for the purpose,” he said.
However, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani (PDP, Enugu) stood against the bill, saying rents are determined by certain market forces, like cost of acquiring land and building materials.
His position did not stop the passage of the bill nonetheless, as it has scaled the second reading.
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