The Senate on Tuesday passed for second reading, a bill to stop landlords in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from demanding yearly advance rent payment from tenants.

The proposed legislation is titled, ‘A bill for an Act to regulate the mode of payment of rent on residential apartments, office spaces, etc in the FCT and for other matters connected therewith.’

Recall that CEOAFRICA had earlier reported that the bill, sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi West), was aimed at ending the practice whereby landlords demand an upward yearly advance rent payment from tenants.

Adeyemi said the bill sought to replace the current annual advance rent payment with monthly payments in arrears, in order to make life meaningful for workers who are groaning in pains to pay their rents.

Senator Sabi Abdullahi supported the bill and explained that many residents of Abuja “are groaning in pains to pay house rents in advance”.

He said the Senate would be helping poor Nigerians working and residing in Abuja if the bill was signed into law.

He described it as a welfare-oriented programme that would enjoy the support of Abuja workers and residents.

Senators Ibrahim Gobir and Bala Ibn Na’Allah also lent their voices to support the bill, claiming that it would end corruption among the workers and immorality among the young ladies who engage in desperate activities to pay their rents.

A former governor of Enugu State, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, however opposed the bill.

He said the payment of rent should be driven by market forces.

He insisted that the Senate should not dictate the rent payment modalities to the landlords when government was doing nothing to either regulate the cost of land and prices of building materials.