Agency Fee in Nigeria: What Is Legal and What Is Not (2026)

The agency fee, sometimes called commission, is what you pay an agent for finding and showing you a property and helping close the deal. In Nigeria it is customarily 10 percent of the annual rent, paid once, at the start of the tenancy.

That is the legitimate version. The problem is that the fee is often stacked with other charges, inflated, or collected for a service that was never really delivered.

There is no single federal law that fixes agent commission, so 10 percent of the annual rent is a market convention rather than a statutory cap. In Lagos, estate agents are meant to be regulated by LASRERA, the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority, and professional valuers fall under bodies like NIESV.

What the law does control is rent in advance. Under the Lagos State Tenancy Law, 2011, it is unlawful for a landlord or their agent to demand or receive more than one year of rent in advance from a yearly tenant, or more than six months from a monthly tenant. The common demand for two or three years upfront is, strictly speaking, an offence under that law.

The single biggest way renters overpay is fee stacking, where several percentages are piled on top of the rent until the move-in cost balloons.

A fair invoice usually looks like this:

• Agency fee (commission): around 10 percent of annual rent.
• Legal fee (agreement fee): around 5 to 10 percent, for preparing the tenancy agreement.
• Caution deposit: refundable, usually about 10 percent, held against damage.

Be suspicious of vague extras like inspection fees, form fees, agreement fees charged on top of a separate legal fee, or a second agent appearing with their own commission. Ask for every charge in writing, with a name attached to it.

Paying a small, agreed inspection fee to see a property is common in some parts of Lagos, but it is also a classic scam vector. Dishonest agents collect viewing fees from dozens of hopefuls for a property they cannot actually let.

Never pay a viewing fee to someone you cannot identify, for a property whose address you have not confirmed, or where the agent refuses to give a receipt. If you must pay to view, keep it small, get a receipt, and treat it as a red flag if the agent resists.

You have more leverage than you think. Before paying anything:

• Ask for a written breakdown of every fee and what it covers.
• Insist on a dated receipt for each payment, on letterhead or via a traceable transfer.
• Ask whether the agent is registered with LASRERA and get their full name and details.
• Refuse to pay more than one year of rent in advance for a yearly tenancy, and cite the 2011 law if pushed.
• Walk away from anyone who will not put the numbers in writing.

On Flatmates Nigeria, the costs of a listing are shown upfront before you commit, so there is no room for fees to quietly multiply between the viewing and the keys. Payments run through the Flatmates Guarantee, which holds your money in escrow until you have confirmed move-in, and every charge is itemised and receipted. You see exactly what you are paying and why.