Apartment Inspection Checklist for Nigeria: 40+ Things to Check Before You Pay

A viewing in Nigeria usually lasts eight minutes. Someone unlocks a door, you walk through rooms that smell of fresh paint, and then you are standing in the compound being asked whether you will take it. Eight minutes later you are committing a year's rent plus fees — often 35–50% on top, as our guide to rental fees sets out — to a flat you have not really examined.

Inspect properly and you find things: a soakaway that smells, a compound that floods in August, a "prepaid meter" that serves the landlord's flat, a Band A promise nobody in the building recognises. Every one of those is either a negotiating lever or a reason to walk. Here is the checklist. Take it on your phone, and take your time.

Before You Travel

• Get the full cost in writing first — annual rent, agency fee, agreement fee, caution fee and annual service charge. If someone will not put the numbers in a message, the inspection is likely a waste of a trip.
• Confirm the exact address, not "off Admiralty Way". Look at it on a map: check what is next door, and how far the nearest bus stop or main road really is.
• Ask who you will meet and whether they are the owner, the caretaker or an agent — and never pay an inspection fee to view, which is the oldest trick in our rental scams guide.
• Ask when the flat is free and whether the current tenant is still in it. An occupied flat you can inspect with the tenant present is a gift — they will tell you things nobody else will.
• Go in daylight, then come back in the evening. Water pressure, traffic, generator noise and street security all change after 6pm.

Water

Water fails more Nigerian tenancies than any other single system, and it is the easiest thing to test.

• Open every tap — kitchen, both bathrooms, shower, and the one in the yard. Let them run for a minute and watch the pressure and the colour.
• Ask where the water comes from: borehole, tanker delivery, or mains. Borehole with a working overhead tank is the reliable answer.
• Ask who pumps and who pays — the landlord, the caretaker, or the tenants by rota. Then ask what happens when the pump fails.
• Look at the tank. Is there one, is it covered, and when was it last cleaned? An uncovered tank is a health problem, not a detail.
• Flush every toilet and watch it refill. Slow refill means low pressure upstairs, which becomes your morning problem.

Power

• Find the meter and confirm it serves this unit only. Ask to see a recent token receipt or bill for it.
• Prepaid or estimated billing? Prepaid means you pay for what you use. Estimated billing means arguing with the disco about somebody's guess.
• Ask which band the feeder is on, then ask two neighbours how many hours of supply they actually get. Band A promises the most hours at the highest tariff; a Band A claim that neighbours laugh at is a claim, not a fact.
• Ask about the generator: is there one, who runs it, what hours, and who pays for diesel? In serviced blocks this lands in your service charge.
• Test the sockets and switches. Bring a phone charger and try several — dead sockets and hanging switch plates say how the place has been maintained.
• Look at the wiring and the DB box. Exposed joints, missing covers or a scorched breaker panel are safety issues you should not accept as "minor".

Structure, Damp & Finishes

• Look up at every ceiling. Brown rings, bubbling paint or sagging PoP mean a roof or plumbing leak, and fresh white paint over one corner means a leak someone hoped you would not notice.
• Check the base of external walls for rising damp — flaking paint, tide marks, a musty smell in a room that has been shut.
• Smell each room. Mould has a distinct smell and paint does not hide it for long.
• Tap the tiles with your knuckle. Hollow sounds mean loose tiles that will lift; cracked tiles in a wet area mean water is going somewhere underneath.
• Open and close every door and window. Do they lock, do the keys exist, are the mosquito nets intact, and do the windows actually shut against rain?
• Check the kitchen cabinets and wardrobes — doors, hinges, shelves, and whether the sink drains freely.

Plumbing, Drainage & Flooding

• Ask when the soakaway or septic tank was last evacuated, where it sits, and who pays when it fills. Then stand near it and use your nose.
• Look at the drains in the compound and on the street. Blocked, silted or missing covers means water has nowhere to go.
• Ask directly whether the compound floods, and look for the evidence — a water line on the fence, sandbags, a raised threshold at the gate, gravel dumped in the driveway.
• If you are inspecting in the dry season, ask a neighbour or a shop on the street what the road is like in July and August. They have no reason to lie to you.
• Check under the sinks for damp cabinets, dripping traps and improvised repairs.

Security, Access & the Neighbourhood

• Is the compound gated, and is anyone actually at the gate? Ask about hours, and about whether there is a logbook for visitors.
• Check the front door and its lock — and ask how many copies of the key exist and who holds them. Changing the lock at your own cost is a reasonable condition to agree upfront.
• Look at the fence, the gate and the burglary proofs on ground-floor windows.
• Walk the route from the main road to the gate, then imagine it at 10pm. Street lighting, unlit stretches, who is around.
• Ask the neighbours whether there have been break-ins in the last year. Neighbours are the most honest source in any inspection.
• Check phone signal in every room and ask which internet providers actually reach the building — a dead spot matters if you work from home.

Neighbours & Noise

• Ask what is next door and behind — a church, mosque, bar, event centre, welding workshop or school changes what your weekends sound like.
• Ask where the compound generators sit relative to your bedroom window, and how late they run.
• Ask how many people live in the compound and how many share your bathroom, if anything is shared at all.
• Ask why the last tenant left. Listen to how the answer is given as much as to the answer.

Money & Paperwork Before You Pay

• Confirm ownership. Match the person's ID to the ownership or management paperwork, and be sure who you would be paying and why.
• Get the caution fee amount and refund conditions in writing — how much, who holds it, and what has to happen for it to come back.
• Ask for last year's service charge figure and what it covered. "It varies" is not an answer.
• List the defects you want fixed and get the repairs agreed in writing, with a date, before you pay. Afterwards, your leverage is gone.
• Photograph everything on move-in day — every room, every existing scratch, the meter reading — and send the photos to the landlord in a message, so the record has a timestamp. This is how caution fees get refunded.
• Read the tenancy agreement before signing, especially notice periods, repair obligations and rent-review clauses. Our tenancy agreement guide lists the ten clauses that matter.

When to Walk Away

Some findings are negotiating levers — dead sockets, a cracked tile, a lock to change. Others are exits. Walk if you are told you cannot inspect at all, if you are asked for money before you have seen the flat, if nobody can prove a link to the property, if the compound clearly floods, or if the electrical installation is dangerous. There is another flat. There is not another year's rent.

Inspect With the Full Picture in Hand

On ShortRent.app you chat with the person letting the property before you travel, so the price, the power arrangement, the service charge and the caution fee can all be settled in writing first — and the inspection becomes a check of what you were told, not a discovery exercise.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I check when inspecting an apartment in Nigeria?

Test water at every tap and ask where it comes from and who pumps it; confirm the electricity meter serves the unit alone and ask neighbours how many hours of supply they get; look for damp and ceiling stains; check drainage and ask whether the compound floods; test doors, locks, windows and sockets; ask about the soakaway; and ask neighbours about security and noise before you discuss money.

How many times should I visit before renting?

At least twice — once in daylight to inspect the flat itself, and once in the evening to judge noise, street lighting, security and traffic. If you can, visit in the rainy season or ask a neighbour what the road is like then.

What questions should I ask the landlord or caretaker?

Ask for the full cost breakdown in writing, last year's service charge figure, the caution fee amount and refund conditions, who repairs what, when the soakaway was last evacuated, which tariff band the feeder is on, and why the last tenant left.

Should I pay a deposit at the inspection to hold the apartment?

No. Pressure to pay on the spot to stop someone else taking it is the standard script for both bad flats and outright scams. Agree the terms in writing, confirm who owns the property, sign the agreement, then pay — and get a receipt naming the payer, payee and property.

What defects should I get fixed before paying?

Anything affecting water, power safety, locks, drainage or damp. Put the list in a message, get a date agreed in writing before you pay, and photograph everything on move-in day so the caution fee can be defended at the end of the tenancy.