Landlord Goes to Jail in Lagos For Failure To Renovate His House

A landlord, Adebola Mabinuori, was on Thursday sentenced to three months’ imprisonment by a Customary Court in Mushin, Lagos, for failing to put his house in proper habitable condition.

Mabinuori was however, given an option of N20,000 fine.

The prosecuting counsel for Mushin Local Government, Miss Oluwatayo Daramola, told the court that the house, located at No. 56, Ola St., Itire, was in a terrible condition.

According to Daramola, the landlord has an illegal school within the premises.

“There is a school being illegally operated in the house. Many children are packed together in one shop being used as a classroom.

“The shop has been extended with the use of wooden planks. There is no proper ventilation in the shop. The children could suffocate.

“The school children do not even have a toilet they can use. They defecate in the bush,” Daramola said, stressing that the house lacked hygienic sanitary facilities that the tenants could use.

“The house is in a bad state. There are no proper bathrooms and toilets. All the fourteen tenants residing in the house share one toilet which is not properly maintained.This could lead to an outbreak of cholera,’ she said.

Daramola told the court that Mabinuori failed to repair the dilapidated and cracked walls of the house despite a court injunction to do so.

“ The walls of the house are beginning to cave in and the roofing sheets are defective. The landlord has refused to do anything about it.There are so many people living in that house and their lives are in danger, if the house is not renovated soon, “ the prosecutor explained.

She stated that the offence was punishable under Section 7 of the Lagos State Environmental Laws, 2011.

Mabinuori pleaded guilty and said that he was constrained to renovate the house due to the continued stay of his tenants.

“I have given the tenants quit notices but they refused to leave. It is dangerous to carry out renovations when they are still in the house,” he said.

Meanwhile, the proprietress of the school, Mrs Grace Onwunan, apologised to the court for running the school without being certified by the state government.

She said she only wanted to earn a living from owning a crèche to take care of her children.

“My husband abandoned me five years ago. The school is my only means of survival. I started as a crèche but we now have pupils from primary one to four,” she said.

The court president, Dr Abayomi Ipaye, blamed the landlord for allowing the house to depreciate to its current state, and advised the proprietress of the school to desist from running the illegal facility or face sanctions from the government.

Ipaye ordered the landlord to renovate the house before July 13 or it would be sealed up.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/04/landlord-bags-3-months-jail-term-for-failure-to-renovate-building/