As Nigeria’s urban population rises and affordable housing remains elusive, landlords and tenants are transforming family dwelling units into co-living spaces. This trend has led to breaches in building regulations, joint agreements for co-tenants, and increased service charges to reflect a higher occupancy rate, CHINEDUM UWAEGBULAM reports.
Nigeria’s worsening housing crisis, marked by soaring rents, inflation, and inadequate supply of affordable units, is pushing both landlords and tenants to convert traditional family homes into co-living spaces.
From Lagos and Ibadan to Abuja and Port Harcourt, traditional homes once occupied by nuclear families are now being partitioned and shared among strangers, reflecting a broader shift in urban housing dynamics.
The Guardian reported that in many parts of Lagos, co-living is now the new normal in highbrow areas such as Banana Island, Ikoyi, Victoria Island, and Ikeja GRA. Large spaces held by tenants are now being sublet to others to reduce their rent burdens.
For instance, three-bedroom flats are now split into multiple rooms with shared kitchens and bathrooms. The living room becomes a bedroom. Sometimes, even large balconies are converted into sleeping quarters.
For tenants, it’s a compromise driven by soaring rents and shrinking wages; for landlords, it’s a way to maximise earnings in a struggling economy.
The transformation is largely being fueled by Nigeria’s worsening economic conditions. Rent in major cities has spiked by as much as 100 per cent over the past two years, while inflation, hovering between 27 per cent and 33 per cent, has eroded tenants’ purchasing power. Even mini flats now command steep prices, pushing low-income earners, students, and young professionals to seek shared accommodation.
Utilities, food, and transport costs are also at historic highs, leaving tenants with less to spend on rent. In response, they seek creative solutions, turning homes into informal co-living units with multiple unrelated occupants.
Rooms on a budget
IN some cases, tenants, not landlords, are driving the change. They rent large apartments and partition them to sublet to others at premium rates. This informal model has birthed a class of “micro-landlords,” who profit from the housing squeeze, often without the knowledge or consent of property owners.
While subletting may help tenants reduce their rent burden, it has also begun to fray landlord-tenant relationships. These unauthorised practices often violate tenancy agreements, create disputes over utility usage, and introduce security concerns.
Landlords revealed that the overcrowding increases maintenance costs, overloads shared infrastructure like toilets and water pumps, and invites potential legal and sanitation problems.
In extreme cases, landlords have responded with evictions, court action, or lockouts, especially where the number of occupants breaches lease terms or building regulations.
Globally, co-living is viewed as a solution to housing shortages and affordability, popular in cities like New York, Berlin, and Nairobi. But in Nigeria, the trend is largely informal and driven by desperation.
What sets the Nigerian experience apart is the improvisation, converting boys’ quarters, gate houses, corridors, or even garages into rentable spaces. Quality varies widely, with many tenants enduring poor ventilation, limited privacy, and a lack of basic services.
Ironically, some landlords are now exploring ways to formalise co-living to avoid tenant manipulation and maximise income legally. A few now require joint agreements for co-tenants, increase service charges to reflect higher occupancy, or retrofit spaces professionally for shared use.
Also, the increasing popularity of co-living, particularly among young professionals and students, has demonstrably reduced demand for traditional family rental units, especially in urban centres. This is driven by the affordability and communal aspects of co-living, which often offer more attractive value propositions than larger, single-family homes.
Experts explain why shift in housing preferences
AS Nigeria’s housing demand continues to outpace supply, experts agreed that the government must act urgently by encouraging affordable housing development through public-private partnerships and providing rent-to-own schemes for young professionals.
Also supporting cooperative housing and rental subsidy programmes, enforcing planning regulations to ensure safe housing modifications, and until systemic solutions are in place, shared living, once seen as a last resort, is quickly becoming the norm for Nigeria’s urban population.
An urban planner, Mr Ayo Adeniran, told The Guardian that the affected residential units are mostly older three-bedroom apartments or duplexes with four to six bedrooms, previously occupied by larger families but now owned by ageing landlords with fewer household members. “Many of these homes are being let or leased to young tenants, most of whom are trying to cope with the economic reality of living close to their workplaces,” he said.
According to him, the health and safety implications of these informal housing modifications, particularly in high-density areas, could be dire for residents. He noted that the issue should not only be seen from the lens of increasing density but from the adequacy of facilities to support population growth and urbanisation.
“Land is inelastic, and cities are organic in nature. They will grow whether we plan for them or not. The responsibility lies with the government to anticipate growth and provide adequate infrastructure. Housing must be seen not just in physical terms but also from its social and economic dimensions. Cities must be resilient and function as productive economic engines of the nation,” Adeniran stressed.
On the response of local planning authorities, Adeniran, a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, explained that development control offices are enforcing planning regulations. “Governments at all levels should prepare enforceable plans backed by appropriate regulations. Planning must be given its pride of place. A city without a sustainable plan is doomed,” he warned.
He also called for a review of urban renewal policies. “Revised zoning and gentrification could be formalised to address the co-living trend, which has become prominent in cities since the COVID-19 pandemic. There should be adequate stakeholder consultations that go beyond a purely technical approach,” he said.
Adeniran further advocated incorporating condominiums and multiple low-income housing options into state housing policies, supported by government-guaranteed low-cost funding at state and local council levels. “Prospective tenants should be incentivised to buy into the housing policy. Employers, with government support through effective land reforms, can still play their traditional role in housing delivery,” he added.
The immediate past chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), Dr David Olawale, warned that rapid urbanisation and unregulated building conversions are compromising safety and worsening infrastructure stress.
He explained that this trend is the reason physical development plans in Lagos are being reviewed in terms of density to accommodate the growing population. “Many of these modifications are done without building approval or adherence to design standards,” Olawale said. “It’s a short-term fix that could pose long-term risks.”
He advocated for the formalisation and modernisation of co-living spaces as part of the country’s urban renewal policy. According to him, such adoption would provide more homes for citizens and help bridge the national housing gap.
Olawale noted that co-living spaces have gained popularity in Nigerian cities due to housing shortages, high rents, and limited financing options.
Nigeria still needs more houses
TO reduce over-reliance on this model, he urged the government to address the structural housing deficit by investing directly or through public-private partnerships (PPPs) in affordable rental and ownership housing.
He also recommended converting underutilised public lands and dilapidated buildings into affordable housing units.
He further called on local planning authorities and other government agencies to be proactive by reviewing operative development guidelines and providing adequate infrastructure to support the growing population.
Similarly, the Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Anambra State branch, Mr Raji Adewale, told The Guardian that the rise of co-living is significantly reshaping Nigeria’s rental market, presenting both opportunities and challenges for landlords and tenants. He said his firm, Raji Adewale & Associates, has observed these trends in Abuja, Lagos, and Anambra.
Adewale noted that while family units remain a significant market segment, there is a growing shift towards smaller and more adaptable spaces, even within the family housing market. “This trend is particularly noticeable in higher-income areas where co-living options are more readily available. Landlords of larger properties are finding they must offer greater flexibility and, in some cases, lower rents to remain competitive,” he said.
He added that many landlords remain hesitant about tenant-led conversions due to concerns about potential property damage, increased wear and tear beyond normal use, and difficulties in managing multiple tenants within a single unit.
“Liability concerns, particularly in cases of tenant disputes or accidents, are also significant,” Adewale explained. Furthermore, he highlighted the lack of clear legal guidance in some areas regarding subletting and shared occupancy, which fuels landlords’ apprehension.
“However, a growing number of landlords recognise the potential for increased rental income and higher occupancy rates through co-living arrangements, particularly in areas with high demand for affordable housing,” he said.
