The Lagos State government has said all modalities for the commencement of a monthly rent payment scheme will commence soon.

The Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, disclosed this during the discussion on Rental Policies at the just concluded second Lagos Real Estate Market Place.

According to the Special Adviser, the new initiative will greatly ease the burden of yearly payment on residents, just as she assured that landlords will get their annual payment of house rent upfront.

She said the scheme will benefit the landlords as they have their rent guaranteed and they have an assurance of payment upfront, while tenants will also no longer have that burden of yearly payment of a huge amount of money.

Benson-Awoyinka said: “Tenants can therefore use their huge money for other forms of investments or payment of school fees as the burden of payment of yearly rent is taken away from them completely. So it is a win-win social investment scheme, it is a good one and it is applaudable.”

She explained that to come on board, tenants must meet the qualification which includes ensuring that tenants can make the payments every month. She said the scheme will begin with the formal sector of people with monthly income but promised that once the scheme starts running fine, the informal sector too will be brought on board.

“We are all looking forward to it as it will start from January next year. From today you will start seeing communications about how it is going to work; how existing tenancy will come on board and we are going to have a major launch for the program. We will have communications all over the news medium to show people how it will work and how to get on the program.”

She assured that the scheme has come to stay and it will be sustainable, noting that several Lagos State government policies have stood the test of time and are still working and this would not be an exemption.

“We have kept to all our words right from the beginning of this administration, this is another win-win for us as a state government, as citizens of Lagos, as landlords, and as investors and we all should applaud the state government for this initiative.”

“With this initiative, we can enable tenants to pay monthly rent beyond for properties built by the Lagos State government as we have in the rent-a-home scheme. We have brought private landlords too on board and we know that they are waiting eagerly to see what will happen to them. We know we cannot enforce monthly rent collection on landlords but we have created a platform that will make monthly rent payment possible for tenants and we know when the system begins and runs fine, many more landlords will come on board.

“To make this work, we have brought together several stakeholders including financial institutions, landlord’s financiers, tenants, and the legal and administrative system. We have put all these together as a state government and we will ensure this service is resilient and easily accessible by residents of Lagos State.”

The Special Adviser added that the platform works for both new and previous tenants.

She promised that the informal sectors would also be put into the scheme

She urged Lagosians to take advantage of the platform.