# What to Check Before Signing a Tenancy Agreement (Nigeria, 2026)
Most Nigerian tenants spend weeks inspecting flats and about ten minutes reading the agreement. That
is backwards. The flat you can see. The agreement is the part that decides whether you get your
money back, who fixes the borehole pump, and whether you can be asked to leave in the middle of a
school term.
The upfront rent in a typical Nigerian letting is a large, single, non-refundable payment made before
you hold any keys. Once it leaves your account, your leverage is gone. Every question you failed to
ask becomes a favour you have to beg for.
This is a checklist for the hour before you sign — what to read, what to ask for in writing, and
which clauses are worth walking away from.
> **The tenancy agreement is not paperwork that follows the deal. It is the deal.** Anything the
> agent promised at the viewing that does not appear in the document has, in practical terms, not
> been promised at all.
## Start with who is actually letting you the property
Before any clause about money, confirm the identity and authority of the person on the other side.
- **Is the landlord named, or an agent?** If an agent signs, the agreement should state whose
authority they act under. An agent who cannot produce written authority to let is a serious
warning sign, and it is the classic setup described in (/how-to-avoid-fake-landlords-nigeria/).
- **Does the landlord's name match the title documents?** You are entitled to ask what the landlord's
interest in the property is. A property held under a family arrangement, or one still passing
through probate, can produce a competing claimant later.
- **Is the property managed by a facility company?** If so, you may have two relationships: one with
the landlord for rent and one with the manager for services. Understand which one you complain to.
(/how-to-choose-a-property-management-company-nigeria/)
explains what a competent manager should actually be doing.
- **Is the description of the property precise?** Flat number, block, whether the parking space,
boys' quarters, storage room or a share of the compound is included. "Self-contained apartment at
the address" is not a description; it is an invitation to argue.
Ask for the whole document, including any estate rules or house rules it refers to. A tenancy
agreement that incorporates a separate set of estate regulations binds you to rules you have not
read.
## The money terms: every naira leaving your hand should have a name
The single largest source of tenant regret is money paid without a label. Insist that each payment
is itemised in the agreement or in a written receipt that references it, and that each one is
described as either rent, a service payment, a refundable deposit, or a fee.
Things to pin down:
1. **The rent itself, and the period it covers.** Exact start and end dates, not "one year from
payment".
2. **What the rent excludes.** Service charge, electricity, water, waste, security, generator diesel
and estate levies are commonly separate. If they are separate, the agreement should say how they
are set and how often they change. (/how-to-budget-for-estate-service-charges-nigeria/) covers how these behave once you are
inside.
3. **Agency and legal fees.** These are customarily charged on top and are not refundable. Establish
who is charging them and for what before you transfer anything.
4. **The caution or security deposit.** Is it refundable, who holds it, and against what can it be
deducted? This is discussed in detail below.
5. **How and when renewal rent is fixed.** A clause that says renewal rent is at the landlord's
discretion gives you no protection at all; a clause requiring written notice of any change some
period before expiry gives you time to plan. If you are already facing this, (/how-to-handle-a-rent-increase-nigeria/) sets out the options.
6. **The account the money goes to.** It should belong to the named landlord or the named agency,
never to an individual whose name appears nowhere in the document.
If you are still assembling the upfront sum, do it deliberately rather than by borrowing at the last
minute — (/how-to-save-for-rent-nigeria/) sets out a structure, and paying with
a loan you have not read properly simply moves the problem rather than solving it.
## The term, renewal and how the tenancy ends
Three separate questions hide inside "how long is the tenancy".
**How long is the fixed term?** This should be unambiguous, with dates.
**What happens when it expires?** Some agreements convert automatically to a periodic tenancy. Some
require fresh negotiation. Some contain an automatic renewal that binds you to another full term
unless you give notice by a specific point — which is exactly the kind of clause that costs people
money when they have already decided to move.
**How does either side end it early?** Look for the notice period required from you, the notice
period required from the landlord, and whether there is any refund of unexpired rent if you leave
early. Many Nigerian agreements are silent on refunds, and silence usually favours the landlord.
Two things worth understanding clearly. First, ending a tenancy lawfully is a process, not a
decision: a landlord who wants possession generally has to serve the notices the law of that state
requires and then obtain an order from the appropriate court. Self-help — changing locks, removing
roofs, cutting power, throwing property into the street — is not a lawful route to possession
anywhere in Nigeria, whatever an agreement says.
Second, and this matters more than most tenants realise: **tenancy law in Nigeria is state law, not
federal law.** Notice periods, what a landlord may demand in advance, which court hears the dispute
and what remedies exist all differ from state to state. Lagos, Rivers, the FCT and others each have
their own regime, and some states have legislated on how much rent in advance may lawfully be
demanded for certain categories of tenancy. Do not accept a general rule you read online, including
this one, as the rule for your state. Ask a local practitioner or check your own state's tenancy
legislation before you rely on any timeline.
## Repairs, maintenance and the "who fixes it" problem
The most argued-over gap in Nigerian tenancies is maintenance. A well-drafted agreement splits
responsibility explicitly. A badly drafted one says the tenant shall keep the premises in good
repair, which — read literally — makes you responsible for the building.
Push for the document to distinguish:
- **Structural and major plant.** Roof, walls, drainage, the borehole and pump, the electrical
distribution board, the water tank. These are ordinarily the landlord's, and the agreement should
say so.
- **Internal and consumable.** Bulbs, tap washers, keys, cleaning, minor fittings. Reasonably yours.
- **Fair wear and tear.** The document should recognise the concept. Without it, every scuff becomes
a deduction.
- **Response times and who pays if the landlord does not act.** A clause allowing you to carry out an
urgent repair and set the cost against rent, with prior written notice, is worth asking for.
Whatever the wording, build a maintenance line into your own budget anyway. Tenants routinely absorb
costs they could have argued about, simply because the alternative is living without water. (/how-to-budget-for-home-repairs-and-maintenance-nigeria/)
covers how to size that line, and if the argument has already started, (/how-to-negotiate-with-a-landlord-over-repairs-nigeria/) is the practical
follow-on.
Power and water deserve their own questions. Is the supply metered separately or shared? Is there an
estate generator, and is diesel billed by consumption or by flat share? If you intend to install
anything — an inverter, panels, a pump — does the agreement allow it, and can you remove it when you
leave? Read (/how-to-choose-a-solar-installer-nigeria/) before you
commit to hardware in a property you do not own.
## Restrictions you may not notice until they bite
Scan for clauses controlling how you may use the property:
- **No subletting or assignment**, which matters if you may be posted elsewhere or want a flatmate.
- **No business use**, which can catch anyone running work from home. If you are setting up a
workspace, check this before spending, as noted in (/how-to-plan-finances-for-a-home-office-nigeria/).
- **No alterations without consent**, sometimes drafted so broadly it covers shelving.
- **Right of entry.** A landlord or manager should give reasonable notice except in emergencies. An
unrestricted right of entry is not acceptable.
- **Guests, pets, noise and estate curfews**, often imported from the estate rules rather than the
agreement itself. If you keep an animal, confirm the position before you move, not after.
- **Insurance.** Who insures the building, and are you expected to insure your own contents? The
landlord's cover almost never protects your belongings; (/how-to-choose-home-insurance-nigeria/) sets out the difference.
## The deposit, the inventory and the exit
Getting a caution deposit back is decided at the beginning, not at the end. The tenant who documents
the property's condition on day one is the tenant who is not arguing about a cracked tile two years
later.
Before you take possession:
1. **Do a written inventory and condition report**, room by room, listing fittings and existing
damage.
2. **Photograph and date everything**, including meter readings and the state of walls, floors,
plumbing, doors and any appliances included.
3. **Have both sides sign it** and attach it to the agreement as a schedule. If the landlord will not
sign, send it by email or message so there is a timestamped record they received it.
4. **Keep every receipt** for rent, service charge and repairs you funded, in one place. A simple
filing habit, kept up from the first month, is enough.
Then check what the agreement says about deductions. Ideally it requires an itemised statement of any
deduction, within a stated period after you hand back the keys. A clause allowing the landlord to
retain the deposit for "dilapidation" without further definition is worth challenging.
## How to actually negotiate changes to the document
Tenants assume the agreement is a form that cannot be altered. It usually can be, especially before
money moves.
- **Ask for the draft before you pay**, and read it away from the agent.
- **Raise everything at once**, in one written list, rather than drip-feeding objections.
- **Propose replacement wording** rather than only objecting. "Please add: the landlord shall be
responsible for the borehole pump and water storage" is easier to accept than "this clause is
unfair".
- **Get amendments into the signed document**, initialled by both sides. A WhatsApp assurance is
evidence of a kind, but it is not a term.
- **Use a lawyer for anything long or expensive.** For a multi-year commitment or a commercial
element, the fee is small against the exposure — (/how-to-choose-a-lawyer-and-budget-for-legal-fees-nigeria/) explains how to scope that work.
- **Keep the signed original**, plus a scan stored somewhere that survives a lost phone.
If the landlord refuses every amendment and the agent pressures you to pay before reading, treat that
as information about how the next years will go.
## Common mistakes to avoid
- **Paying before reading.** Once the upfront rent has been transferred, every request you make is a
favour rather than a negotiation. Read first, always.
- **Trusting the viewing.** The agent's assurances about the generator, the water and the parking
space are worth nothing unless they appear in the document you sign.
- **Ignoring the service-charge clause.** Rent you can plan for; an open-ended service charge set by
someone else can quietly exceed the saving you negotiated on rent.
- **Skipping the inventory.** Without a dated condition record, any pre-existing damage becomes yours
at exit, and the deposit conversation is unwinnable.
- **Assuming national rules.** Notice periods and limits on advance rent are set by state law. What
applies in one state may not apply in yours, so verify locally rather than repeating a rule of
thumb.
- **Accepting a blanket repair obligation.** A clause making the tenant responsible for keeping the
premises in repair, without carve-outs for structure and fair wear and tear, transfers the
landlord's costs to you.
- **Paying into a personal account.** Money should go to the landlord or agency named in the
agreement, against a receipt that identifies what it is for.
- **Leaving no cash behind the move.** Deposits are refunded slowly, if at all. Moving without an
(/how-to-build-an-emergency-fund-nigeria/) means the first surprise becomes debt.
## A quick scenario
Chidinma and Olamide take flats in the same block in the same month. Olamide pays the day he sees the
place, gets a two-page agreement afterwards, and never reads the clause making the tenant responsible
for all repairs; when the pump fails he pays for it himself, and at exit the landlord deducts for
wall damage that was there when he arrived, which he cannot disprove. Chidinma asks for the draft
first, has the pump and water storage written in as the landlord's responsibility, itemises which
payments are rent and which are service charge, walks the flat with the agent taking dated photos,
and gets both of them to sign a condition schedule. Same building, same rent, entirely different
outcomes — and the difference cost Chidinma one afternoon.
## The bottom line
Treat the tenancy agreement as the real transaction and the viewing as marketing. Get the draft
before you pay, confirm the landlord's identity and authority, insist that every payment is named as
rent, service charge, fee or refundable deposit, and pin down the term, the notice periods and the
renewal mechanism with dates rather than descriptions. Split repair responsibility explicitly so
structure and major plant stay with the landlord, and never move in without a signed, dated,
photographed condition inventory attached to the agreement. Put every amendment in the signed
document, keep a scan and every receipt, and check your own state's tenancy law rather than relying
on a national rule of thumb — because the notice periods, the limits on advance rent and the court
that hears your dispute all change at the state line. If the landlord or agent will not let you read
the document before the money moves, that is your answer about the tenancy, not a hurdle to get past.
## Frequently asked questions
**Do I need a written tenancy agreement at all?**
A tenancy can exist without one, but you lose almost every practical protection. Without a document
there is no agreed record of the rent period, the notice required, or who repairs what. Insist on a
written agreement even for a modest letting.
**Can a landlord change the rent whenever they want?**
Not during a fixed term that states the rent for that term. At renewal, a landlord can propose a new
figure, and what notice they must give and what a tenant can challenge depends on the law of your
state. Get the renewal mechanism written into the agreement rather than leaving it to discretion.
**Is the caution deposit always refundable?**
It should be, subject to genuine deductions for damage beyond fair wear and tear or unpaid charges.
The problem is usually proof rather than principle, which is why a signed condition inventory at
move-in matters so much. Make sure the agreement says how and when the deposit is accounted for.
**What if the agreement conflicts with the estate rules?**
Ask which one prevails, and get the answer in writing. Many agreements incorporate estate or house
rules by reference, meaning you are bound by a document you may never have been shown. Request a copy
of those rules before signing.
**Can my landlord lock me out or cut the power if I owe rent?**
Recovering possession is a legal process requiring the notices your state's law prescribes and,
ordinarily, a court order. Disconnecting services or changing locks to force a tenant out is not a
lawful shortcut. If it happens, seek legal advice locally and keep dated evidence.
**Should I use a lawyer to review a residential tenancy?**
For a straightforward letting, a careful read and a written list of amendments often suffices. For a
long term, an unusual arrangement, a mixed residential and business use, or a very large upfront sum,
a review is cheap relative to the money at risk. Agree the scope and the fee before instructing.
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*This article explains general principles only and is not legal or financial advice. Tenancy and
landlord obligations in Nigeria are governed by state law and vary between states. Before signing,
paying or acting on a dispute, take advice from a qualified legal practitioner in the state where the
property is located.*
