Tenancy
is a contractual agreement in relationship between the Landlord and the Tenant
for a fixed period. Now, if you have a tenant in your house and it appeals he
has not been paying for sometimes now and you want to eject him, there are
procedures clearly lined out by 1999 constitution of Nigeria legal system that should be
followed. In the common law, tenancy agreement can be terminated in many ways
but for now, we shall concentrate on QUIT NOTICE.
QUIT
NOTICE is the one of the ways to eject a tenant. It happens when the tenant
refused to complied with the agreement laid down. The lease will come to an end
by services of a notice to quit by either the landlord or the tenant.
Now,
the length of notice is as follows:
- The tenant at will and weekly tenant shall be given one week notice.
- If it is a Monthly tenant, one month notice will be given.
- If it is quarterly tenant, 3 months notice shall be given.
- If it is a yearly tenant, 6 months notice shall be given.
After
giving the notice based on one of the above situations, when the tenant is
still not vacated the premises, the landlord will serve another 7 days notice
of ownership intention to recover the premises.
Then,
if still the tenant did not leave the premises, the landlord has right to
finally send the matter to court in order to take possession. At this point,
there is no more landlord and tenant agreement.
After
the judgment of the court, the tenant is to pay to the Landlord the arrears of rent
and what is called messy profit. Thereafter, the tenant is to hand over the
keys of the flat or rooms to the Landlord before his/her vacation from the
premises/house.