How to Screen a Tenant in Nigeria: A Landlord's Checklist

Nigerian landlords spend enormous energy on the wrong end of the problem. They negotiate hard on rent, insist on two years upfront, and write agreements full of clauses — and then hand the keys to someone they met twice, on the strength of a bank transfer.

The arithmetic says the opposite is correct. Getting a bad tenant out can take a year of notices and court dates with no rent arriving. Keeping a bad tenant out takes one afternoon of checks. That asymmetry makes screening the highest-return hour available in Nigerian property, and this is what that hour should contain.

Why Screening Matters More Here

In most rental markets a landlord's protection is the ability to remove a non-paying tenant reasonably quickly. In Nigeria that protection is weak, and every landlord discovers it the same way.

To recover possession you must serve the correct notice to quit for the tenancy period — commonly six months for a yearly tenant — then a seven-day notice of intention to apply to recover possession, then file in court. Contested matters routinely run past a year. Throughout it, the rent does not come in, and the legal costs do go out. And the shortcuts are not available: changing the locks, removing the roof, cutting off power or water, or sending people to intimidate a tenant are unlawful, and expose the landlord to a damages claim on top of everything else. Our guide on quit notice and eviction sets out the full process.

The Five Things You Are Actually Testing

1. Can they pay? Income against rent, tested with documents rather than assertions.
2. Will they pay? Behaviour, tested with a previous landlord and a bank statement.
3. Will they look after it? How they have treated the last property, and how they behave at the viewing.
4. Are they who they say? Identity, verified against a document you have seen.
5. Is anyone standing behind them? A real, contactable guarantor.

Everything below is a way of answering one of those five. If a check does not answer one of them, it is ritual rather than screening — and Nigerian letting has plenty of ritual.

The Application Pack

Ask for the same pack from every applicant, in writing, before you agree anything. Consistency matters: a landlord who asks different applicants for different things has no basis for comparison and no defence if a rejection is later questioned.

• Completed application form: full name, current address, occupation, employer, number and ages of intended occupants, intended use.
• Valid government ID — NIN slip, driver's licence, international passport or PVC.
• Two passport photographs.
• Proof of income: employment letter plus three months' payslips, or three to six months' bank statements for the self-employed.
• Guarantor form, signed, with the guarantor's own ID and address.
• Two referees with working phone numbers.
• Previous landlord's name and number — the most valuable line on the form.
• Next of kin, with an address that is not the same as the tenant's.

Tenants who have read our companion guide on documents needed to rent will arrive with most of this already assembled, which itself tells you something useful about how organised they are.

Verifying Identity

Three minutes, and it removes the entire category of fraud where a "tenant" moves in under a name that does not exist.

• See the original document, not only a photocopy or a screenshot.
• Check the photograph against the person standing in front of you, and the name against the one on the application and the bank statement. Mismatches between those three are the tell.
• Note the document number and keep a copy on file.
• Get a second data point — an employer ID, a utility bill, a bank statement header carrying the same name and address.
• For a company let, check the company exists and that the person signing has authority to bind it.

Reading a Bank Statement Properly

Most landlords glance at the closing balance. That is the least informative number on the page, because it can be arranged for a day. Read the pattern instead:

The working benchmark used across the market is that annual rent should be no more than about a third of annual income. Apply it as a guide rather than a rule — a self-employed applicant with lumpy but substantial inflows may be a better risk than a salaried one whose account is stripped bare by loan repayments every month.

Verifying the Guarantor

An unverified guarantor form is decoration. Call the number, and in that call establish four things:

1. That they know they are standing as guarantor at all.
2. That they can state the property address and the rent without being prompted.
3. That they understand they may be asked to pay if the tenant does not.
4. Who they are and what they do, so you can judge whether the guarantee means anything.

A guarantor who is vague about the address, or surprised to be called, is a fabricated guarantor. That single call resolves more applications than any other check on this page.

Make sure the form itself is worth something: in writing, signed, naming the tenant, the property and the sums guaranteed, and stating whether the guarantee continues into renewals. A guarantee that does not survive renewal quietly expires at the exact moment you start needing it.

The Previous-Landlord Call

The most valuable ten minutes in screening, and the one almost nobody does — with a wrinkle that matters.

The Viewing Is an Interview

You learn as much from the viewing as from the file, if you treat it as an assessment rather than a sales pitch.

• Did they arrive on time, or call ahead? The tenant who cannot manage a viewing appointment will not manage a payment date.
• Do they ask about maintenance, water, power and the meter? Good tenants ask practical questions; they intend to live there properly.
• Do they only ask how fast they can move in? Urgency without questions is the commonest warning sign there is.
• Does the occupant count stay constant? "Just me" at the viewing and four people on move-in day is a pattern, not a misunderstanding.
• Is the story consistent across the form, the conversation and the documents? Note the occupation, employer and length of service, and check they match.
• What do they intend to use it for? A residential flat used as a workshop, a church, a store or a shortlet business changes your risk, your neighbours' lives and possibly your insurance.

Red Flags

• Offering more money to skip the checks, or to move in before the agreement is signed.
• Insisting on cash and resisting a bank transfer, or asking that the receipt be issued in another person's name.
• No guarantor, no previous landlord, no referees — with a different excuse for each.
• Details that shift between conversations: employer, income, occupant count.
• Refusing a joint inventory or objecting to photographs at handover.
• Wanting to pay two years upfront but declining any written agreement or identification at all. Money without paperwork is not a good tenant; it is a risk you cannot see.
• Pressure on timing combined with reluctance on documents. Those two together, more than either alone.

None of these is proof of anything on its own. Two of them together should stop the application.

What You Should Not Screen On

Screen on evidence, not on category. Declining an applicant because of their ethnic group, state of origin, religion, sex or political opinion runs against the anti-discrimination principle in section 42 of the Constitution, and the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 protects disabled applicants specifically. Questions about pregnancy or marital status have no place in a tenancy assessment.

The practical case is as strong as the legal one. Category-based screening is simply a bad predictor: it filters out solvent, careful tenants for reasons unrelated to whether they will pay, and it leaves you choosing from a smaller pool while your flat sits empty. The applicant with six months of clean statements and a previous landlord who would take them back is the better bet, every time, regardless of where they are from.

The Inventory That Saves the Caution Fee

Before the keys change hands, walk the property with the tenant and write a schedule of condition. This is the document that decides every future argument about damage, and most Nigerian landlords do not have one — which is why most Nigerian caution-fee deductions are indefensible.

• Room by room: walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows, locks and keys.
• Fittings and appliances by make and, where possible, serial number.
• Plumbing: taps, cistern, water heater, pump, tank.
• Electrical: sockets, switches, distribution board, any air conditioners.
• Meter number and reading, on the day, photographed.
• Existing damage recorded honestly. Recording a crack protects you both.
• Dated photographs of every room, attached to the schedule.
• Both parties sign every page; each keeps a copy.

Do the same walk-through in reverse at the end, against the same document. Our guide on caution fees and how they get refunded explains what counts as fair wear and tear and what does not, and the inspection checklist doubles as a ready-made inventory template.

Paperwork That Protects You

• A written tenancy agreement, signed before occupation, stating the parties, the property, the term, the rent, the payment dates, the repairing obligations and the notice provisions.
• The tenancy period stated explicitly — monthly, quarterly, yearly. This determines the notice you will owe if you ever want possession, and getting it wrong restarts the whole process.
• Itemised receipts for every payment: rent for which period, caution fee, service charge. A vague receipt is a future dispute.
• The signed inventory, with photographs.
• The guarantor form, signed and verified.
• A file of written communication. Keep repair requests and responses in writing; if it ever reaches court, the landlord with a paper trail wins the credibility contest.

Screening for Monthly Lets and Shortlets

Shorter lets change the risk rather than removing it. You are less exposed to a year of unpaid rent and more exposed to damage, over-occupation and parties, so the emphasis shifts:

• Identity verification stays mandatory. Keep a copy of the ID for every stay.
• Take a refundable damage deposit, and do the inventory anyway — quickly, with photographs.
• Set house rules in writing before arrival: occupant limit, visitors, noise hours, no events.
• Ask what the stay is for. "A birthday" in a residential estate is a warning, not a detail.
• For monthly lets, screen at close to full rigour — income, ID and a guarantor — because a monthly tenant who stops paying still has to be removed through the same slow process as a yearly one.

Our landlord's guide to monthly rentals covers the pricing and turnover side, and listing your property online for free covers reaching more applicants — which is what lets you afford to be selective in the first place.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I screen a tenant in Nigeria?

Collect a written application with identity documents, proof of income, a guarantor and referees. Verify the identity document against the person. Read six months of bank statements for consistency of inflows rather than the balance on any one day. Call the guarantor and confirm they know the property and the rent. Call the previous landlord, not just the current one. Then do a joint inventory with photographs before you hand over keys. The whole process costs an afternoon and is the cheapest protection available to a Nigerian landlord.

What documents should I ask a prospective tenant for?

A completed application form, a valid government ID, two passport photographs, proof of income in the form of an employment letter and payslips or three to six months of bank statements, a signed guarantor form with the guarantor's own ID and address, two referees, next-of-kin details, and where possible a reference from a previous landlord. For a company let, add the certificate of incorporation and a letter on letterhead naming the occupant.

How do I verify a tenant's income in Nigeria?

Bank statements are the most reliable evidence, and what matters is the pattern rather than the balance. Look for regular credits of a consistent size, a salary narration if they claim employment, and whether the account is emptied within days of every inflow. Heavy repayments to lending apps are a warning sign. If an employment letter is produced, verify it by calling the company's main switchboard number that you find yourself, never the number printed on the letter.

Can I refuse to rent my property to someone in Nigeria?

You can decline an applicant on grounds relating to their ability to pay, their references, the number of occupants relative to the property, or the intended use. You should not decline on the basis of ethnic group, place of origin, religion, sex or political opinion; the Constitution treats those grounds as discriminatory, and the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 protects disability. Beyond the legal position, screening on evidence rather than assumption simply produces better tenants.

Is a guarantor form legally enforceable in Nigeria?

A guarantee is a contract and is enforceable if it is in writing, signed by the guarantor and clear about what is being guaranteed and for how long. In practice enforcement means suing the guarantor, which carries the same cost and delay as any other civil claim, so most of a guarantor's value is preventive: an applicant who cannot produce a real, contactable guarantor is telling you something, and a guarantor who knows they are exposed will chase the tenant before you have to.

How long does it take to evict a tenant in Nigeria?

Longer than most landlords expect. You must serve the correct notice to quit for the tenancy period, which for a yearly tenant is typically six months, then a seven-day notice of intention to apply to recover possession, then bring a court action. Contested cases commonly run past a year, during which no rent is coming in. Self-help such as changing locks, removing the roof or cutting off power is unlawful and exposes the landlord to damages, so the courtroom is the only route.

Should I do an inventory before a tenant moves in?

Yes, and it is the single most useful document in the file. Walk the property with the tenant before handover, write a schedule of condition room by room noting fittings, appliances, meter readings and any existing damage, photograph everything with a visible date, and have both parties sign every page. Without it, any deduction from the caution fee at the end of the tenancy is your word against theirs, and it is usually the landlord who loses that argument.

This article is general information about Nigerian tenancy practice, not legal advice. Tenancy law and notice periods differ by state. For a specific dispute or before starting possession proceedings, speak to a lawyer.