Section 33 Rent Control and Recovery of Residential Premises Law

Section 33 of the Rent Control and Recovery of Residential Premises Law of Lagos State 1997 is about Offences and penalties. It provides as follows:

(1) Subject to the provisions of any law in force any person who demolishes, alters
or modifies a building to which this Law applies with a view to ejecting a tenant and
without the approval of the Tribunal is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine of
twenty thousand naira or to three months imprisonment.

(2) (i) Any person who in respect of any accommodation to which this applies—
(a) attempts to eject or forcibly ejects a tenant;
(b) harasses or molests a tenant by action or words, with a view to ejecting such
tenant;

(c) wilfully damages any dwelling house; or
(ii) Any person who in respect of any accommodation to which this Law applies—
(a) harasses or molests a landlord in respect of an accommodation let by him by
action or words;
(b) wilfully damages any dwelling house; or
(c) does any act or thing whatsoever calculated to stultify the provisions of this Law
or fails to comply with the requirement or any order made by the Tribunal is guilty of
an offence and is liable to a fine of fifty thousand naira or to three months imprisonment.

(3) A Tribunal shall have power to punish for contempt in the face of the Tribunal
but it may in other cases order the arrest and bring before it any person suspected
of having committed contempt of the Tribunal and such a person shall as soon as
practicable be brought to trial before the Tribunal.

(4) Any person charged with contempt of the Tribunal is liable to a fine of two
thousand, five hundred naira or to three months imprisonment.

(5) Any person who, in respect of any type of accommodation to which this Law
applies, receives a loan or premium from the tenant which, in the opinion of the
Tribunal contravenes the provisions of this law especially in relation to advanced
payment of rent shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine equal to
twice the amount so received as such loan or premium.

(6) Any person who resists, molests, assaults, or in any way obstructs any officer
(or any other person) engaged in the service of any process or in execution of a
warrant of possession, in carrying out an order of a Tribunal is guilty of an offence
and is liable, to a fine of twenty thousand naira or to six months imprisonment.

(7) Any person who has been out of possession, under a warrant of possession, and
unlawfully retakes possession of the premises after possession has been given to the landlord, is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine of fifty thousand naira or to six months imprisonment.

(8) (i) Any landlord who obtained an order for possession of any accommodation
under this Law by fraud, misrepresentation or concealment of any material fact shall
be guilty of an offence and liable to 2 years imprisonment.
(ii) Where any landlord has obtained an order of possession of an accommodation
under this Law and upon an application made by summons by the tenant, the
Tribunal is satisfied that such order was obtained by fraud misrepresentation or the
concealment of any material fact the Tribunal shall order the landlord to pay
reasonable compensation to such tenant.

(9) (i) It shall be unlawful for any person to demand or received more than five
percent (5%) of the annual rent as agreement fee.
(ii) It shall be unlawful for any person to receive any agreement fee without giving a
copy of the agreement to the tenant who paid the agreement fee.

(iii) It shall be unlawful for any person or an agent to demand or receive more than
five percent (5%) of the annual rent as commission.
Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (9) of this section is guilty
of an offence and liable to a term of 2 years imprisonment.

[/membership]