Speaking to journalists in Lagos on Thursday on how to address the challenge of housing deficit in Nigeria, Balogun stated that property owners in Nigeria collect rent in advance, employ the services of middlemen called agents and by so doing, cost of rent is skyrocketing in Nigeria.
According to him, “most property owners in Nigeria would want to provide flexible house rent for Nigerians but the system may not allow it. That’s why we come up with a platform that promotes both the interest of property owners and tenants and ensures a win-win situation for both parties.
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“RentSmallSmall.com is focused on improving rental experience for tenants, reducing vacancy period and vacancy rate for landlords. The platform is an online platform that conveniently connects property owners with tenants to provide them with affordable housing.”
He stated further that the risk of rent default is taken care of by Axamansard which provides insurance cover against jobloss, critical illness, fire and death.
“AxaMansard provides insurance coverage againstrisk default by guaranteeing rent payment to the property owners as and when due; life assurance policy for tenants will ensure that dependents of the tenant are not thrown to the street in case of death but provides housing guarantees for a specified period.
“We welcome new property owners and we urge them to register with us and we assure them that we will provide protection for their property as well as furniture and other appliances that may come woth such property,” he said.
Recently, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, urged property owners to desist from advance rent payment which, according to him, denies many Nigerians from affordable housing.
“If you ask me to go and bring in advance one year’s rent from what I’m going to earn monthly, how feasible is that? Even my salary as a minister is paid at the end of a very month not even at the beginning,” he said.
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