The cost of renting in Lagos is now enough to make anyone shed tears. You will ask yourself who on earth is earning enough to pay N10 to N40 million per year for accommodation.
This is what a 2 to 4-bedroom accommodation goes for on the Island or even in Ikeja. It is scary to think that if you are not earning upwards of 15 million a year, you cannot rent a place in a “good” location in Lagos. What does one do if one had previously been staying in these areas at a quarter of that rent two years ago?
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I came across a young IT entrepreneur, who has been staying in a 3-bedroom flat in Chevron for 5 years at N3million per year. His rent was recently increased to N10million without much warning. It was a case of take it or leave it, so he came up with an ingenious idea.
He decided to rent out his spare bedroom and his BQ, to offset his rent. He feels that in order to stay where he wants and is used to, necessity is the mother of invention.
A lot of people are migrating further inland to areas like Abijo, Mowe and Ofada, to cheaper estates that were not previously known, in order to afford the criminally high increases in rent and service charges. Despite the hike in rent and sales, more and more estates are being developed on the Island to meet the increasing housing needs.
When and where will all this end, though? Attempts have been made by this administration and previous ones to regulate the sale and rental market, but this has failed woefully at every attempt.
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Landlords feel that the government cannot dictate to them how they should rent out their properties as construction prices for materials and labour have equally sky rocketed. Service charges on some estates are commanding the same amount as previous rental amounts.
Young graduates and professionals do not have a chance of renting in these areas without the bank of mum and dad or some deep pocket sponsor.
It is safe to say that our property market is evolving rapidly and needs government intervention and strict penalties for breaches.
