Time is of essence in virtually everything in life. The very essence of events in life, are governed by time, most commercial ,non-commercial transactions are activated or deactivated by time.
In this piece, we are considering how landlord and tenancy relationship in Nigeria,is controlled by time.
We shall be using Lagos state LAND TENANCY LAW 2011,as our statutory authority.
DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LANDLORD & TENANCY RELATIONSHIP–
- SHORT- TERM/ SHORTLET TENANTS: A short term/short- let rental is a type of lodging sometimes also called vacation rentals, a house, condo, apartment(or a part of one)that is rented for a fee for a fewer than thirty consecutive nights. examples of shortlet or short term rental are those rented on some platforms including,airbnb& vrbo.
In Lagos state,short terms apartments are offered in these locations,Ogudu, Surulere, lekki,Victoria island, Gbagada, ikoyi,Banana island,Isolo.
The rule is that upon the terminal date the tenant is expected to vacate with all his/her belongings .in this case however,the landlord or the manager of the apartment need not to be issue statutory notices(notice to quit & seven days owners intention to take the matter to court for recovery of possession.
It is valid in law, to say that a person who pays the fee to sleep one night, in an accommodation, is a tenant of the landlord of the accommodation.
Section3,of land tenancy law of lagos state stipulates that “A tenancy Agreement shall for the purpose of this law,be deemed to exist where premises are granted by the landlord to aperson for value whether or not it is (a)express or implied (b)oral or written or partly oral or written,(c)for a fixed period.
In a normal shortlet tenancy agreement, the landlord/manager of the accommodation,includes the terminal date and manner of notice, which the tenant shall be availed with Section 13(1) of the Lagos tenancy law,anticipated such manner of notice,in a tenancy such as this in discourse.
The opening paragraphs states “where there is no stipulation as to the notice to be given by either party to determine the tenancy, the following shall apply-(a)A weeks notice for a tenant at will;(b) one month notice for a monthly(c)three months notice for a quarterly tenant(d)three months notice for a half yearly tenant,(e)six months notice for a yearly tenant.
The effect of this provision stated above, is that the land lord and tenant can agree that a tenant can leave with a lesser period of notice, based on the consensual agreement written and signed by both parties as convenient.
Furthermore notice, can be dispensed with, on the agreement of parties, by effluxion of time, where the tenancy is fixed.
CORRESPONDING DAY RULE-This rule simply applies in a situation where the time period is expressed as being a month rather than a number of days, the corresponding day rule in application means that the date will fall on the same day of the following month or,if there is no corresponding day, the last day of the month in which the period(tenancy) expires.
CORRESPONDING DATE: Corresponding date means the corresponding date(for example January 1,2020)the corresponding date is January 1,2021
In Nigeria, especially in Lagos state, a yearly tenancy, half yearly tenancy are governed by corresponding day rule, for example the length of notice for a yearly tenant, shall avail the tenant six months notice, before determination of the tenancy, while a weekly tenancy terminates upon seven days notice,a monthly tenancy terminates after one month of the issuance and service of quit notice.
