Direct answer
Most tenancy agreements in Nigeria are never read again after they are signed. That is fine while the rent is paid and the roof does not leak. The agreement matters on the day something goes wrong: the tenant stops paying, wants to leave early, sublets without asking, or disputes a deduction from the caution fee. On that day, a vague agreement is worth very little and a precise one decides the outcome. This guide goes through the clauses that do the work, and what each one should say.
Why the agreement matters more than most landlords think
The statutes give default rules for when the parties have not agreed something. In Lagos, the notice periods in the Tenancy Law 2011 apply where the agreement does not set its own. Many of the landlord's and tenant's obligations are expressed as subject to the agreement. So the agreement is not a formality layered on top of the law: in many areas, it is the law between the parties.
That cuts both ways. A well-drafted agreement can give a landlord a shorter notice period, a clear rent review mechanism and a clear allocation of repairs. A badly drafted one can leave a landlord with the statutory defaults they did not want, or with clauses a court will not enforce.
The clauses, one by one
Every agreement needs the basics in unambiguous form. The table below lists the clauses that do the most work in a dispute, and what to check in each.
| Clause | What it should say | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Parties | Full legal names of landlord and tenant; business name and representative for a company tenant | A notice naming the wrong party can be defective |
| Premises | Exact address, unit, and any shared or excluded areas | Notices and court orders must identify the premises precisely |
| Term | Start date, length, and whether it is fixed or periodic | Decides whether a notice to quit is needed at the end |
| Rent | Amount, frequency, due date, and how it is paid | The basis of every arrears claim |
| Deposit and caution fee | Amount, what it covers, when and how it is refunded | The commonest end-of-tenancy dispute |
| Service charge | Amount or basis, what it covers, how it is accounted for | Lagos Law requires receipts and a six-monthly account |
| Notice period | The notice either party must give to end the tenancy | Usually overrides the statutory default |
| Rent review | When and how rent can change, and how much notice is given | Avoids disputes over reasonableness |
| Repairs | Who repairs what, inside and outside | Statutory allocation is subject to the agreement |
| Use, subletting, alterations | Permitted use; consent required to sublet or alter | Grounds for ending the tenancy if breached |
| Break and renewal | Any right to end early or renew, and on what terms | Without a break clause, a fixed term cannot simply be cut short |
| Signatures | Both parties, dated, ideally witnessed | Proves the terms were agreed |
The notice clause deserves particular care
Because an agreed notice period usually overrides the statutory default, the notice clause is one of the most consequential lines in the document. A yearly tenancy in Lagos carries a six-month default notice. An agreement that says three months will usually be held to three months.
Be precise. State the length, who it applies to, how it must be served, and whether it must expire on a particular date. Vague wording such as 'reasonable notice' sends you back to arguing about what is reasonable, which is the argument the clause was meant to avoid.
One limit is worth repeating: a notice clause does not let either party end an unexpired fixed term early. If you want that flexibility, you need a break clause that says so expressly.
Rent review and advance rent
A rent review clause should say when rent can be reviewed, how much notice of an increase the tenant receives, and how the new figure is arrived at. In Lagos, unless the agreement provides otherwise, a sitting tenant can ask a court to declare an increase unreasonable, so an agreed mechanism is in the landlord's interest as well as the tenant's.
Where the Lagos Law applies, the agreement cannot lawfully require more than one year's rent in advance from a new or sitting yearly tenant, or more than six months from a sitting monthly tenant. A clause demanding two years upfront does not make the demand lawful. We covered the detail in our article on advance rent.
Stamping and evidence
Tenancy agreements are generally chargeable to stamp duty, and an unstamped instrument may not be admitted in evidence until it has been stamped, with any penalty paid. In practice many agreements are never stamped, and the problem only surfaces when one side tries to rely on the document in court. Ask your lawyer about stamping at signing rather than at trial.
Keep the signed original, and keep a copy where you can find it. An agreement nobody can locate is as useful as one that was never signed.
Common drafting mistakes
Most disputed agreements fail on the same handful of points. They are easy to fix at signing and hard to fix afterwards.
- Copying a template from another state or country with terms that do not fit Nigerian law
- Leaving the tenancy type ambiguous, so nobody knows which notice applies
- Lumping deposit, caution fee, service charge and agency fee into one undifferentiated sum
- No clear rule for how and when the caution fee is refunded
- No mechanism for rent review, so every increase becomes a negotiation
- Unsigned or undated copies, or the landlord keeping the only copy
How Ledge helps
On paid plans, Ledge generates the tenancy agreement as a PDF from the tenancy record, so the parties, premises, term, rent and deposit come from the same place as the rent ledger and cannot drift from it. You can set your own standard clauses once, and every agreement uses them.
Once the tenancy is running, every payment is recorded against it with a receipt, deposits and caution fees are recorded as their own payments, and when a tenancy has to end, Ledge drafts the notice from the same record. It does not work out the notice period; you set the expiry date using the agreement and the law.
This guide is not legal advice and is not a substitute for a lawyer reviewing your agreement, particularly for commercial premises or long terms.
Frequently asked questions
Is a tenancy agreement compulsory in Nigeria?
A tenancy can exist without a written agreement, but without one the statutory defaults apply and disputes over what was agreed are much harder to resolve. A written, signed agreement is strongly advisable for any tenancy.
Does the notice period in the tenancy agreement override the Lagos Tenancy Law?
Generally yes. The notice periods in the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011 apply where the agreement does not set its own. An agreed notice period usually governs instead, though it does not by itself allow an unexpired fixed term to be ended early.
Should a tenancy agreement be stamped in Nigeria?
Tenancy agreements are generally chargeable to stamp duty, and an unstamped agreement may not be admitted in evidence until it is stamped and any penalty paid. Ask your lawyer to deal with stamping at signing.
What should a tenancy agreement say about the caution fee?
The amount, what it can be applied to (such as damage beyond fair wear and tear or unpaid bills), when it will be refunded after the tenancy ends, and how deductions will be shown to the tenant.
Next step
Generate the agreement from the tenancy record
Ledge produces the tenancy agreement from the same record as the rent ledger, with your own standard clauses, and keeps every payment and notice against that tenancy.