Babatunde Fashola the former Lagos state governor and present Minister of Power, Works and Housing, has appealed to landlords in the country to take arrears in the payment of their rents from low-income earners.
Fashola made this appeal when he spoke at an event organized by the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria REDAN in Abuja yesterday July 5th.
He said:-
“If you ask me to go and bring in advance, one year’s rent, to what I am going to earn monthly in arrears, how feasible is that?“Even my salary as a minister is paid at the end of every month, not even at the beginning, then why should landlord be asking for next year’s salary. And we are complaining that there is corruption?”.
He continued saying:-
“I believe this meeting is about the critical mass of Nigerians, the taxi drivers , market men and women who earn their money daily and are not even sure of making any revenue for that day.Meanwhile , landlords expect advance payments. Those who get paid weekly pay their rents weekly; those who get paid monthly pay monthly rents,” he said
The minister also suggested a Landlord-Tenant-Employer’s relations, whereby the landlord would reach an agreement with the tenant’s employer to deduct the rent on a monthly basis from the tenant’s salary.