The following types of tenancy come under this head.
i) Rent Free or Gratuitous Tenancy
This type
of tenancy arises where the tenant pays no rent or support the grant with any
other consideration apart from accepting it. The parties rely mainly on the mutual
confidence and friendship existing between them.
However,
the gratuitous tenant occasionally makes some gifts to the landlord in
appreciation of the grant. But this is usually voluntary and not compulsory. It
is pertinent to note here that this kind of tenancy is usually fraught with
dangers of unlawful claim of the land by the
tenant. This is compounded by the
growing value of land due to urbanization. Since the grantees or their
descendants do not pay any rent or tribute to the grantors, with passage of
time and probably extinction of witnesses they tend to claim absolute interest
in the land. The overlords on their part usually look for the slightest excuse
to evict the gratuitous tenants
ii) Service Tenancy
This type
of tenancy comes into being when the parties by a contract agree that the
tenant shall contribute a certain minimum of service in consideration of the
grant to him. Service tenancy, nowadays is being replaced by Cash Tenancy.
iii) Share Tenancy
Here, it is
usually agreed that the landlord should be entitled to a proportionate share of
the produce grown on the land granted. Sometimes, the landlord supplies both
the land and crops to be planted, while the tenant supplied the labour.
iv) Cash Tenancy
This is a
new trend in the history of customary tenancy in Nigeria. It is one of the
consequences of our changing economic conditions, and is fast replacing the
other systems of customary tenancy.
v) Kola Tenancy
This type
of tenancy is common in Ibo land, especially before the present growth in the
value of land. Under this, the grantee needs only take with him some gifts in
form of kola nuts and palm wine to the grantor and a large proportion of these
gifts are usually consumed by both parties under a congenial and friendly
atmosphere.
When a
piece of land is grated to him, he is expected to make annual acknowledgement
of the landlord’s title by a formal gift of kola nuts and wine, and a fixed
quality of crops grown either on the land or elsewhere. This is to show that
the landlord still has a reversionary interest in the land, the case of Sunmoun V. Jinadu7 is helpful in this regard.
In that case the sum of five shillings per annum and four
tins of palm oil per annum as Ishokole were decreed in satisfaction of this
requirement.
It has to
be borne in mind that tribute differs from rent. Tribute has nothing to do with
the value of the land and takes the form of kola nut, palm wine or farm
produce. Its purposes are usually to remind the grantee of the grantors
reversionary interest in the land granted to him.
On its
part, rent in most cases implies payment in cash and bears economic relation to
the value of the land”.