HOW YOU CAN SURVIVE LANDLORD WAHALA

Engr. Afolabi Adedeji

We will begin this commentary on a humorous note and introduce what is really a very serious topic with the lyrics & songs of two popular Musicians. Sometime in the mid-1980s, a Female Musician released a hit song that burst many of the Charts in Europe & North America. The relevant extract from that hit song goes thus, “Nothing is going on but the rent. You’ve got to have a J. O. B. (i.e. a job) if you wanna be with me…. No romance, without Finance”. For the benefit of your readers who were still toddlers around that time, it refers to one of the partners in an amorous relationship, challenging the other to pull his/her weight and live up to the responsibility of paying for accommodation, etc.Really, love should usually not be for sale, but being READY for a relationship also presupposes having the wherewithal to provide some basic comforts. Coming nearer Home to Nigeria, our own Afro beat Maestro, Late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, had this to say in one of his evergreen hit songs, “House matter, na different matter…., suffer suffer for world, enjoy for Heaven!!!” Late Fela, utilizing his unique call & response approach was wondering why we (Nigerians) had to endure so much hardship & deprivation including poor accommodation, whilst hoping for a better life in the great beyond with Religion being utilized as an “opiate” to keep us in line??? Music is a Universal Language, and many Musicians effectively use this medium of expression to communicate love, various other emotions or even for satire and a parody on life.
The point to draw from the foregoing is that shelter (or Housing) is very high among the list of basic human needs along with the physiological requirements of food, clothing as well as the need to love and be loved. It is the desire of most Nigerians to own their own Home(s) and to be free from the tyranny of the so-called “Shylock Landlords” (or “Landladies”). This affords dignity and peace of mind in Retirement and old age amongst other benefits. There is also the Business or Commercial side of Housing for those that want to build and sell outright or rent out the houses to others for income earning purposes.
THE CHALLENGES INVOLVED IN LOOKING FOR GOOD ACCOMODATIONProspective Tenants go through HELL (literally) when searching for residential accommodation in almost all major cities in all the six (6 Nos.) Geo-Political Zones of Nigeria. A few of the usual challenges (or “hurdles to cross”) are highlighted below: a) Demand for 2 – 3 years rental payment “up-front”, in these hard times, despite the sometimes “squalid” condition of the space being put up for rent.b) Having to stay one step ahead of “dubious” Estate Agents that may make you pay to a “fictitious” or “fake” Landlord/Landlady, thereby forfeiting your hard earned money. c) All sorts of exorbitant charges, from Fee for Registration Form As A Prospective Tenant, to Agency Fee, through to Agreement Fee, etc., etc. d) In some parts of the country (including Lagos), extraneous issues such as your religion, Ethnic Origin, Marital Status, whether you Drink/Smoke/Philander, etc., may be used (fairly or unfairly) to “disqualify” you from being accepted as a Tenant, even if your money is COMPLETE (i.e. you are Financially competent to pay the rent being demanded).These challenges are not peculiar to Nigeria, because I have a first-hand international experience as a Visitor to the United States of America in the mid-1980s. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, around that time, some Landladies (& Landlords) were “notorious” for “squeezing” Tenants for higher rental payments on accommodation during the cold winter months when they know fully well that the Tenant cannot easily “call their bluff” and move out. So more than a few overseas Visitors as well as Foreign Students in that City felt “safer” in University-owned Apartments (whether Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, also known as “Pitt.”, etc.). 
The current Year 2018 has not seen or experienced any major change in the long-standing relative neglect of the provision of low income Mass Housing for Nigerians. Access to inexpensive Mortgage Loans through the National Housing Fund has also remained elusive if not cumbersome and tortuous, to state things mildly. There are still many unmet needs of Nigerians in the Housing Sector especially Low Income Mass Housing for the poor and owner-occupier accommodation for middle income Families. Access to inexpensive Mortgage Finance is a big hurdle to cross if not a huge “albatross” around the neck of those that desire to buy/own/build their own Homes. 
My own Market Survey (or “shopping around”) in the last few months indicated average Mortgage Lending rates in the neighbourhood of 19% Per Annum (plus or minus a few percentage points). This is “killing” for someone Letting Out the Building so procured for Rental Income purposes, talk less of for someone like me that genuinely needs the Mortgage Facility for the purpose of having a (peaceful & decent) roof over my head!!! Best Practices all over the world indicate that SINGLE DIGIT INTEREST RATES are most appropriate for Mortgage Loans, otherwise it has because something else. 
WHAT IF YOU WERE THE LANDLORD/LANDLADY?
At the risk of being labeled the “devil’s advocate”, I would like us to pause for a moment and search our minds well on whether we are really being fair by labeling/”tagging” Landlords/Landladies as “Shylock” (or merciless/cruel) persons, who want to charge Millennium level rental fees on Houses that they built way back in the 1960s, when the Foreign Exchange Rate was more favourable than it is today (for argument’s sake, One Nigerian Pound to One UK Pound Sterling or 70 US Cents, i.e. stronger than the Dollar) and Cement cost, for argument’s sake only Five Nigerian Shillings per 50 Kilogram Bag. From my “short” experience of about 25 years+ in Nigeria’s Built Environment & Construction Industry, I can say with a great degree of confidence that undertaking to put up a Building Structure for Sale, Lease, Let or Owner-Occupier purposes is fraught with a lot of risk any day – including the risk of going BANKRUPT!!! That risk is what is being compensated for through the charging in perpetuity of rent on the Property by the owner (i.e. the Landlord or Landlady), atcurrent market rates. PERIOD! 
Again, the Landlord/Landlady that built his/her House in 1964, has to buy toilet soap, Gari, Ofada Rice (or Uncle Ben’s Rice or Aunty Caroline’s Rice), Dangote Semovita, Golden Penny Sugar, Salt, etc., as well as pay his/her Children’s School Fees (at Corona School, Atlantic Hall, Dowen College, etc.) at year 2017/year 2018 prices. If such a Landlord/Landlady is already Retired/a Pensioner, it is probably getting a bit late in the day for him/her to join a major Political Party and start making frequent trips to Abuja, our Federal Capital City, for a share of the “National Cake”, i.e. Patronage through Contract Awards/Jobs, so who else but the Tenant will pay for the maintenance of his/her standard of living…. with the high inflation rate in our country Nigeria? Please, just think about all these for a few more moments. What if it were you
THE WAY OUT
I believe that the best way out of this morass is for the available stock of Houses for residential accommodation to be increased rapidly. A recent estimate put the deficit at a shortfall of approximately 17 Million Dwelling Units. The Government has a social responsibility in this regard, but so does the Private Sector and individual Nigerians (i.e. the beneficiaries), themselves. Specific, measures, strategies, policies and approaches that may be adopted to ameliorate the situation, as well as reduce the deficit in Housing are summarized below: 
1.) Houses can be constructed very rapidly through the Industrialized Building Concept/Factory Produced Buildings. This is not entirely new in Nigeria and some familiar examples of where this method has been successfully applied in Nigeria are given below:
·         A company whose name is descriptive of its Product, i.e. “Prefabricated Comfort Housing (PCH) Limited”, was established at Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State, within the last 30 years, but it seems to have gone “belly up”, for reasons which may include Management Problems, infrastructural challenges, weak purchasing power of prospective customers, etc. 
·         HFP Engineering Limited at its Ikota Yard along Lekki – Ajah Expressway, in Lagos State, Nigeria, has an Industrialized Building Factory from where it produced the Mortar Walls that were “coupled/jointed together” to form a substantial part of what is now known as Dolphin Estate in the highbrow neighbourhood of Ikoyi, Lagos. HFP belongs to the Israelis.
·         Bouygues the French Construction “Giant”, utilized the “Pre-Fab” approach for the  quick “delivery” of the High Rise Head Office Building of Great Nigeria Insurance Company Plc, along Martins Street in the heart of Lagos Island, between 1984 and 1986. Apart from the challenge of timely delivery of the finished Building Structure, mixing concrete on site would not have been particularly convenient and/or expedient at the very tight/highly built up area, with all the heavy traffic (unless they worked at night, which will “jack-up” Project Cost astronomically). 2.) Promotion of the wide use of Local Building Materials for Construction. 3.) Creative use of Alternative Building Materials such as Timber, Steel, Glass, Fibreglass, Reinforced Plastics, etc. Some complementary measures are required to make these feasible, such as improvements in our Fire Fighting Services/capabilities in Nigeria, Treatment of Timber meant for House Construction with Fire Retardant Chemicals, Anti-Termite, Anti-Woodworm, etc. 4.) Provision of the Financial wherewithal as well as the creation of a more conducive Legislative environment for Property Developers and those engaged in Housing Delivery, whether Public Sector (State Housing Corporations, Federal Housing Authority, etc.) or Private Sector, through measures such as: Necessary Amendments to the Land Use Act. ü Inexpensive Loans with Government Guarantee.  Tax Holidays (may also be a good incentive). 5.) Mortgage Loans should be offered at Single Digit Interest Rates to those that genuinely require it (19% interest rate is “killing”). There should be simpler access to National Housing Fund (NHF) Loans and with more realistic “PRINCIPAL SUM(S)” for the loans, not the “peanuts” currently available after a cumbersome, tortuous and lengthy Application Procedure. Now that the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) are fully on-stream, it is not out of place to suggest that part of the large pool of relatively inexpensive long-term funds at their disposal should be applied towards Housing Development. I also see a situation in the Second Half of 2018 where more Banks and Financial Institutions will venture into Housing and construction despite the opinion(s) of my “hard core” Professional Seniors such as NSE Past President Emeka Ezeh, FNSE, of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and Mr. Tosin Taiwo, the Managing Director of Harriman & Co., Estate Surveyors, Valuers & Property Consultants. 
There will be abundant opportunity in year 2018 for upper middle class and high-income families to own their own Homes especially in the major cities of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Kano, Ibadan, Uyo and Calabar. A lot of the Housing Deficit in Nigeria is “skewed” in the Low Income, Mass Housing Segment of the Market. The Lekki Axis in Lagos for instance has continued to witness a high tempo of construction activity in the last several months and the development of a number of Private Estates with completed Buildings for outright sale/purchase. It seems apparent that we already have a “glut” in the Lekki Property Market though, whilst prices are not exactly within affordable limits for many willing buyers. 
Demand for decent accommodation by Civil Servants displaced from sold Government Quarters in Lagos and Abuja will also have to be met, either from the existing stock of Houses in the private property market, Direct Labour Construction by Owner-occupiers or purchase of ready-built Houses from Developers, by the few that can afford it. The Professional Bodies also have a role to play by providing inexpensive Prototype Designs for Mass Housing and raising a Volunteer Corps of indigenous Professionals (Engineers, Architects, Builders, Quantity Surveyors, etc) that will supervise these Mass Housing Projects at Nominal Rates of Compensation. 
To make the dream of “Housing for all Nigerians” realizable, concrete steps should be taken to provide affordable, low interest Mortgage Finance to as many people as are interested in having it. To stimulate the development and foster the growth of the local Building Materials Industry, aPolicy may be enforced of granting Mortgage Loans for the procurement of only Homes constructed from Local Building Materials. Tax Holidays and Government Subsidies should also be considered for deserving Producers and Distributors of Local building materials as well as low interest loans Guaranteed by the Government.

There must be enhancement of the local Production of Portland Cement in year 2018. The stage has already been set for this with the privatization of some Government owned Cement Plants over the last few years such as former Benue Cement Company that has been acquired by the “ruthlessly efficient” Mallam Aliko Dangote. We also expect to have a further boost in year 2018 of the local production of reinforcing steel rods at our Local Steel Rolling Mills, Delta Steel, Aladja Steel Rolling Mills, Oshogbo Steel Rolling Mills, Katsina Steel Rolling Mills etc.

SHOULD WE EMBRACE THE ERA OF RENT CONTROL? 

I will say a capital NO WAY to this approach for the following reasons 1.) It will discourage Private Investment in Housing because Entrepreneurs always have a “BASKET” of alternative investments from which they can make a choice as to where best to put their money at any point in time. “ARTIFICIAL” Controls (of Rent) that are too far removed from the dictates of Market Forces (including, but not limited to current Building Material Prices, etc.), will only make investments to migrate to other Sectors (apart from Housing), where returns are higher and less susceptible to Official “tinkering”. 2.) Nigerians are very “creative” at circumventing Laws and the Rent Controls (even if they are revived or brought back) may still be subject to “abuse”. All sorts of below the table Fees/Charges may be imposed by Agents, Officials, etc., that is if we do not end up with a thriving Black Market for Property.

Epilogue

Nigerians, like the citizens of any other country in the free world aspire to having good governance, the good things of life and indeed life more abundant. Affordable Housing, good Roads, Security of life, property and investments, constant power supply from the Mains, safe drinking water, sanitation, good healthcare, good education for children, etc., are not too much to expect, given the abundant human and natural resources that God has endowed us with in Nigeria. Focus on the part of Government, should be on achieving more results (or getting more“mileage”) with the limited Budgets available. Politicians & Policy Makers should seek Professional Advice from qualified Engineers and adhere to it. May we all live to see the end of year 2018 in happiness and sound health (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) and may we all live till a ripe old age and join our Creator in Heaven after our long retirement years lived with dignity on earth, surrounded by (or at least with regular visits from) our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, amen (amin, àse, ise, etc.).

Grant peace in our time, Oh Lord, and give wisdom to our rulers. 

This article was written by Engr. Afolabi O. ADEDEJI B.Sc.(Hons.), M.Sc., MBA (IESE, Spain), FNSE, FCMI, MNIM, MITD Member International Facility Management Association, IFMA – Nigeria (Chapter) Member Nigerian Institute of International Affairs Managing Consultant/Chief Executive Afolabi Adedeji & Associates [‘AA&A’]