There is no equivalent of a lettings portal that you can trust end to end. Lagos housing runs on agents, and an agent is paid by you, not by the landlord, which shapes everything that follows.
What the words in a listing mean
| Listing says | It means |
|---|---|
| Self-contain | One room, with its own bathroom and kitchenette |
| Room and parlour | A bedroom and a sitting room, usually sharing facilities |
| Mini flat | One bedroom, sitting room, kitchen, bathroom |
| Face me I face you | Rooms off a shared corridor, shared bathroom |
| Serviced | Rent includes a generator running to a stated schedule |
| BQ | Boys’ quarters — a small separate unit behind the main house |
“Serviced” is the one to interrogate. It usually means a shared generator and a service charge, billed separately from rent, sometimes monthly and sometimes annually in advance. Ask what the service charge is, what hours the generator runs, and whether diesel is included. Get it in writing.
Mainland or island
The island — Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Lekki — is where a lot of the offices are and where the rent is highest. A two-bedroom flat there runs from about ₦7,000,000 a year.
The mainland — Yaba, Surulere, Gbagada, Ikeja, and outward to Ikorodu and Agege — is where most Lagosians live. A self-contain starts around ₦700,000 a year, and a mid-range one-bedroom runs about ₦1,800,000.
The saving is real and so is the cost of it. Third Mainland Bridge at 7am is not a commute you can shorten by leaving at 7:15. Before you sign anything on one side of the lagoon and work on the other, make the journey at the hour you would actually make it, in both directions.
Before you pay anybody
The single most expensive mistake in Lagos property is paying the wrong person.
- Ask for the landlord. Not the agent, not the caretaker. Meet them, and put their name on the agreement.
- Ask what the landlord’s title is. For a rental you are not buying land, but a landlord who cannot say whether the property has a certificate of occupancy or a [[Governor’s consent]] is a landlord whose position may be contested, and a contested property is one you may be asked to leave.
- Beware omo onile on anything involving land rather than an existing flat. They will present themselves as the family that owns the land and will come back for more.
- Never pay into a personal account for a company’s property, or into any account before you have seen the agreement.
- Get a receipt naming the period the rent covers. The Tenancy Law requires one.
What to look at in the flat
Go in the daytime, and then go back in the evening.
- Water. Where does it come from? Most of Lagos is not on a working mains supply. Ask whether there is a borehole, who maintains it, and what a tanker costs — around ₦25,000 a delivery.
- Power. Which DisCo — Ikeja Electric or Eko? Which band? Is the meter prepaid, and is it in the landlord’s name or the flat’s? Inheriting somebody else’s estimated-billing arrears is a real risk.
- Flooding. Ask the neighbours, not the agent, what the street does in July. Then look at the height of the gate and the watermarks on the wall.
- The generator. Whose is it, who buys the fuel, and what are the hours.
- The road. An unpaved access road is a different proposition in the rainy season.
The money
Budget for the advance and the fees. On a mid-range one-bedroom that is about ₦4,140,000 in total.