Landlord-tenant conflicts often arise from a natural clash of interests: tenants seek an affordable, secure home, while landlords view their property strictly as an investment. This fundamental divide, combined with a power imbalance and economic pressure, frequently breeds tension, distrust and strained relationships. The tension and negative experiences between landlords and tenants usually stem from all or a combination of the following factors:
Economic pressures: Landlords often face their own financial obligations, such as property taxes, mortgage repayments and maintenance costs. In highly inflationary economies, these rising costs often lead to sudden rent hikes, which tenants may perceive as greed or wickedness.
Power imbalance: Landlords control a crucial, essential resource and a basic need — housing. This control can lead to overbearing behaviour, unnecessary monitoring of a tenant’s visitors or personal choices and unjust eviction threats.
Trauma from past tenants: Many landlords have dealt with difficult situations like property damage, abandoned spaces, or chronic late payments. These negative past experiences can make them defensive, strict and distrusting of new, compliant tenants.
Lack of professionalism: Many independent landlords lack proper customer service training or conflict resolution skills. This can lead to poor communication, blunt enforcement of rules and outright rudeness.
Most landlords actually see themselves as lords and carry out eviction of tenants even without a genuine reason. In most cases, to demand for higher rents. Section 21 “no-fault” evictions were officially abolished in England and Wales on May 1, 2026, under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Landlords can no longer evict tenants without proving a specific legal reason. All fixed-term tenancies have transitioned to indefinite periodic tenancies.
To regain possession of a property, landlords must now use an updated Section 8 process, relying on legitimate, court-verifiable grounds (e.g., rent arrears, anti-social behaviour or the landlord’s intention to sell or move into the property).
Knowing your rights as a tenant
While the relationship can sometimes feel deeply personal, landlord and tenant laws exist to protect both parties. In regions like Nigeria, legal frameworks mandate specific procedures for rent increases and evictions, meaning a landlord cannot simply cut off utilities or forcefully lock you out.
Landlord-tenant disputes in Nigeria are governed by state-specific laws, such as the Lagos State Tenancy Law 2011 or the Recovery of Premises Law in states like Oyo or Ekiti. These laws mandate that disputes be resolved through formal statutory notice periods and court processes. Self-help evictions remain strictly illegal.
- Mandatory Statutory Notices: A landlord cannot lawfully evict a tenant without first formally determining the tenancy through legal notices. The timeline depends on the nature of the tenancy:
Yearly tenants: Entitled to at least a 6-month Notice to Quit.
Quarterly and half-yearly tenants: Entitled to a 3-month Notice to Quit.
Monthly tenants: Entitled to a 1-month Notice to Quit.
Once the Notice to Quit expires and the tenant refuses to leave, the landlord must serve a 7-Day Notice of Intention to Apply to Recover Possession.
- The illegality of “Self-Help”: It is a criminal offense for a landlord to use self-help to force a tenant out. This includes:
– Changing the locks or barricading the doors.
– Removing the roof or doors of the premises.
– Cutting off essential utilities (like electricity or water) to compel eviction.
– Physically intimidating the tenant or using hired thugs.
Tenants can seek legal redress and damages from the court if a landlord resorts to these methods.
- Landmark legal precedents: Key Supreme Court and Court of Appeal cases have consistently shaped tenancy conflict resolution:
Ihenacho v. Uzochukwu (1997) 2 NWLR (Pt. 487) 257: The Supreme Court reinforced the principle that a landlord must follow the strict legal procedure of recovering premises, and any resort to self-help is illegal, attracting severe penalties.
SPDC v. Wobe (2021): The Court of Appeal reaffirmed that landlords cannot take the law into their own hands, and statutory tenancies protect the tenant’s right to peaceful possession until a competent court orders an eviction.
- Dispute channels: If a tenant fails to pay rent or breaches the tenancy agreement, or if a landlord unreasonably withholds a security deposit, parties should ideally resolve it amicably or via Legal Aid Council of Nigeria services.
In practice, in Nigeria, landlord-tenant disputes are usually taken to the:
– Magistrate Court (for recovery of premises and rent claims).
– Multi-Door Courthouse (for alternative dispute resolution/mediation).
– High court (for breach of human rights, oppression and violations of tenancy agreements.
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Olufemi Adedamola Oyedele, MPhil. in Construction Management, managing director/CEO, Fame Oyster & Co. Nigeria, is an expert in real estate investment, a registered estate surveyor and valuer, and an experienced construction project manager. He can be reached on +2348137564200 (text only) or femoyede@gmail.com
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