The Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER, has siad in Abuja throuh a press statement that it will open a Public Case Inquiry (PCI) against unfair and discriminatory practices by Estate Surveyors and Agents To Landlords in major Nigerian cities.
The press statement which was signed by CASER Executive Director, Frank Tietie esq., is reproduced below:
TENANCY MATTERS: UNFAIR & DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES BY ESTATE SURVEYORS, & AGENTS TO LANDLORDS
1. The Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER) is currently studying multiple complaints of unfair and discriminatory practices by Estate Surveyors and Agents to Landlords in major cities of Nigeria.
2. There are reports that some real estate firms in Abuja and Lagos especially demand personal and private documents such as bank account statements from prospective tenants before considering their applications for rent.
3. There are also widely reported cases of outright rejection of rental applications based on discrimination against professionals such as police, lawyers and IT practitioners (suspected as yahoo yahoo).
4. The said discriminations by these estate firms and agents are also on the basis of ethnicity and religion, with persons of South-East (Igbo) extraction reportedly suffering the most.
5. While the above forms of discriminations are actionable in court as civil wrongs, entitling such victims to monetary compensations and apologies, a statutory regime is urgently required to address these forms of ethnic and religious profiling that are growing in major Nigerian cities.
6. Therefore, CASER is opening a Public Case Inquiry (PCI) to collate these abuses of discriminations against citizens of Nigeria whose rental applications are considered on the basis of ethnicity, religion and in some cases financial standing.
7. Interested persons or victims of rental discriminations any where in Nigeria are invited to send reports of experiences or submit opinions and factual cases of such discriminatory practices in rental applications to CASER by email: info@citizensadvocacy.org
or;
by WhatsApp: 07014444498
8. The above is to support the preparation and submission of a policy brief by CASER to the National Assembly and all the State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria
9. Note: CASER has NOT received any funding from any partner for this PCI. It may therefore be unable to offer any financial assistance to any person making a submission or claim where the need arises.
Frank Tietie
Executive Director
Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER).
Abuja
