Similar to Nigeria, the rental market in the United Kingdom is in dire straights, with private landlords and agencies requiring applicants to bid to obtain property due to a lack of available housing.

The UK housing market is so dysfunctional, according to a Financial Times analysis of the cost of renting there, that rental growth in central London is expected to reach nearly 20% in the first quarter of 2022.

The situation is grave in Nigeria, where more than 80 per cent of the 200 million residents rent their homes and spend almost 50 per cent of their income on rent. This is made worse by the country's inflation rate, which surged to 18.60 per cent in June 2022.

The situation is the same in the UK as rental homes are getting harder and harder to find. According to the FT study, "we are hearing from people every day who are battling increasingly out-of-reach private rentals, who are struggling to find a place to live."

The report, which quotes Ehrlich talking to the paper’s Money Clinic podcast, adds that even where renters find houses to rent, “they’re being forced to jump through really extreme barriers just to access them.”

Gregory Tsuman, director of lettings at Martyn Gerrard estate agents in north London and president-elect of trade body Propertymark, says there are reports of 40 per cent rent increases year-on-year, adding that “on top of the cost-of-living crisis, it’s pushing a lot of families into financial hardship.”

According to the piece, which includes a remark from Ehrlich speaking on the paper's Money Clinic podcast, tenants "are being forced to leap over really extraordinary barriers just to access them" even when they find rental homes.

There have been rumours of 40% annual rent increases, says Gregory Tsuman, director of lettings at Martyn Gerrard estate agents in north London and president-elect of industry group Propertymark, adding that "on top of the cost of living crisis, it's pushing a lot of families into financial hardship."

Depending on the location, rent hikes in Nigeria range from 30 to 40 per cent. According to a Northcourt Real Estate assessment of the first half of the 2022 real estate market, residential properties are starting to become slightly scarcer in comparison to demand from an expanding population and urbanization.

According to the survey, building material costs have skyrocketed due to inflation, leaving developers torn between investing in new construction or holding off.

A building materials merchant in Lagos' Coker Market named Innocent Amedu agreed by phone on Tuesday that it was probably easier to picture the situation in the building material market than to experience it.

"You shouldn't hold landlords responsible for charging high rent because building materials are so expensive. "You must have spent close to N10 million on rods, cement, and gravel alone if you want to build any house right now before it gets to the DPC level, or at the sub-structure level," he stated.

Even if you are successful in finishing the building, finding tenants will be difficult because many people lack the necessary funds, he continued, "You find that it does not make sense to build to rent the flats out."

According to BusinessDay's research, rent in the hinterlands has climbed by more than 40% over the past year. For instance, two-bedroom apartments are in high demand in the Lagos suburb of Ijegun.

The rent for a two-bedroom apartment in that neighbourhood increased from N450,000 a year to N700,000 between October 2021 and June of this year, according to Oledibe Ezekiel, a health worker who resides there.

Charity Ulasi, a single mother of one who lives in a one-room self-contained apartment in Isashi, a rural neighbourhood in the Alimosho neighbourhood of Lagos, bemoaned the steep rise in her rent, which, in her estimation, has gone from N120,000 when she came in 24 months ago to N350,000 annually.

Renters in the UK, notably in England, are given new protections from "rogue landlords," unlike tenants in Nigeria, and one of these protections is the prohibition of section 21 notices, which permit evictions without cause.

The Lagos State government attempted to safeguard private tenants through the state's tenancy law, but the enforcement was ineffective because there were no substitutes available, much like the council flats in London.

According to long-awaited plans presented by housing secretary Michael Gove, renters in private rented housing in England would receive a wide range of new protections from dishonest landlords. James Pickford, the deputy editor at FT Money, explains.

He notes that a white paper released on Thursday details steps meant to give tenants in the private sector more authority, noting that nearly one in ten of the renters in the private sector who relocated in 2019 and 2020 did so after receiving an eviction notice from their landlord.

For England's 11 million private renters, the government's move to safeguard tenants is a "game-changer," according to Polly Neate, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter. "Tenants will be able to stand up to unacceptable behaviour instead of living in dread," he added.

According to research done by the organisation, up to 75% of private renters in England may have experienced poor or unsafe housing conditions in the previous year, including mould and electrical risks.