Shop

A shop is a unit let or sold for trade: selling goods, offering a service such as a salon or pharmacy, or running a small business with a counter. Shops on this list page range from a single roadside room to a large showroom.

Kinds you will see in listings.

• Lock-up shop: a small unit with a roller or metal shutter at the front, used only during trading hours. There is no living space and often no toilet inside.
• Shop in a plaza: one of many units in a commercial building, sharing corridors, toilets, parking and security.
• Roadside or frontage shop: a unit built into the front fence or ground floor of a house or block of flats, facing the street.
• Showroom: a larger unit with a glass front, used by car, furniture and electronics dealers.

How renting works. Shop rent is usually paid in advance, often with a service charge for shared services and sometimes agency and legal fees on top. The tenancy agreement sets the permitted use, the term, who pays for repairs and whether you may sublet or make alterations.

The law in Lagos. Outside the exempt areas of Apapa, Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi and Victoria Island, the Lagos Tenancy Law covers business premises, and its definition names shops, offices and shopping malls. Unless the agreement says otherwise, it treats every business tenancy as including landlord duties: not to block your access, not to disrupt your trade or the flow of customers, and to keep the exterior and common parts in repair. If the landlord ignores a written notice to repair and you do the work yourself, a court can award you reasonable compensation. The Law also gives tenants a right to a separate receipt for deposits and service charges, and to a regular written account of how the money was spent.

Shops built into houses. Many roadside shops are added to residential buildings. In Lagos, changing a building's use from residential to commercial needs approval from the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, and the authority has warned that unapproved conversions attract penalties. Ask whether the shop was approved before you sign.

Buying a shop. Single shops are also sold, especially in plazas. Ask exactly what you will receive: a separate title, an assignment of a lease, or a sub-lease from the plaza owner, and for how long.

• Lagos: the busiest shop locations are trading districts such as Lagos Island, Ikeja and Yaba, and the main roads of Surulere and the Lekki–Ajah corridor. In the exempt areas, the lease terms govern rather than the Tenancy Law.
• Abuja: shops are mostly inside plazas and shopping complexes in districts such as Wuse, Garki and Utako.