First-time renter's guide: what nobody tells you

My first rental was a studio in Surulere in 2016. I was 24, earning ₦180,000 a month, and I signed a lease I hadn't read properly because the agent was in a hurry and I didn't want to look cheap. Within three months I'd been hit by a service charge I hadn't budgeted for, a PHCN bill in someone else's name that the landlord expected me to pay, and a neighbour who had apparently been told he could park in my designated space. None of that would have happened if someone had walked me through what I'm about to walk you through.

This is the guide I wish existed when I signed that first lease. It's for anyone renting their own place for the first time in Nigeria — moving out of a family home, relocating for work, leaving university housing. The full step-by-step of the rental process is in the pillar guide how to rent a house in Nigeria; this post focuses on the things first-timers specifically miss.

Write a real budget, not a rent budget

The single biggest first-timer mistake is budgeting for "rent" as if that's the only line item. In Nigeria, rent is usually 60-70% of your move-in cost. The other 30-40% hits you in a pile of smaller fees you've never heard of.

At minimum, budget for:

• Annual rent — the headline number
• Caution deposit — 25-50% of annual rent, refundable at move-out
• Service charge — annual or quarterly, covers shared utilities
• Agency fee — historically 10% of annual rent, ₦0 on NoBroker Nigeria
• Legal fee — 5-10% of annual rent, usually for drafting the tenancy agreement
• Move-in extras — stamp duty, PHCN change-of-name, deep cleaning, mover

For a worked example on a ₦1.8M Lekki flat, see the true cost of renting a home in Nigeria. On that flat, the full move-in cost through a traditional agent is about ₦3.27M; through a zero-commission platform, it's closer to ₦2.85M. The rent itself is only part of the conversation.

The second first-timer mistake is budgeting exactly to your limit. Don't. Keep ₦150,000-₦300,000 in reserve after move-in. You will need it — for the deep clean the previous tenant didn't do, for a plumber the landlord can't be bothered to call, for the meter card top-up you can't avoid.

Understand what "serviced" actually means

A "serviced" flat in Nigeria is one where the landlord or estate manages certain utilities for you: typically 24-hour power (estate generator runs when PHCN is out), borehole water, estate security, waste collection. You pay for this in the service charge line.

What "serviced" does NOT automatically mean: