Professional landlord: letting several properties yourself, within the law

This page is for owners who let several flats, shops or offices themselves, without an agency: the person who signs the leases, collects the rent and answers to the tax office. It is not a job offer. imonga does not hire landlords; the platform invites owners to register for free and list the properties they have to let. We first set out the rules on residential leases in Togo, Senegal, Benin and Côte d'Ivoire, then the business lease shared by the OHADA countries, tax on rental income and the filing calendar. Every rule points to the official text we read for this page. Where a point could not be checked in an official source, we say so: not verified yet. Managing property on someone else's behalf, under a mandate and for a fee, is covered by a separate page in this series, on property managers.

What is a professional landlord?

The phrase is not a protected title. In the texts read for this page, the landlord is simply the party who lets the premises, and an owner who lets their own property needs no professional card to do it. What sets them apart from an estate agent is that they act for themselves, not for a client.

Côte d'Ivoire puts it plainly: using an estate agency to conclude a residential lease "est facultatif", in other words optional [1]. Approval is required only of those who work as an agency or a broker [1]. In Benin, the professional card and the entry in the register apply to the estate agent who carries out property transactions, property management included, not to the owner [2].

Being "professional" is therefore a matter of scale and regularity: several leases running, rent coming in every month, tenants moving in and out. At that size, three things matter most: a lease that matches the country's text, a paper trail for every payment (receipts, deposits, reviews), and tax returns filed on time. The UEMOA anti money laundering directive covers estate agents "y compris les agents de location", letting agents included; its list of obliged entities does not mention owners who let their own property [3]. If you hand your properties to an agency, the agency remains bound by those duties.

The written lease is now the rule in all four countries

The main change of the past decade fits in one sentence, and each text repeats it: a residential lease must be in writing.

• In Togo, Decree No. 2022-001/PR of 5 January 2022 states that the residential lease is written, and that every lease follows the standard contract drawn up by the housing ministry [4].
• In Senegal, Decree No. 2023-382 of 24 February 2023 applies to residential leases governed by the Code of civil and commercial obligations [5].
• In Benin, Law No. 2018-12 of 2 July 2018 provides that the lease is written and signed by landlord and tenant, or by their duly appointed representatives [2].
• In Côte d'Ivoire, Law No. 2019-576 of 26 June 2019 establishing the Construction and Housing Code sets the same rule and adds compulsory registration of the lease with the tax administration [1].

Wherever we could read the text, three documents go with the contract. First, the inventory of condition, drawn up jointly at move-in and move-out: it is attached to the contract in Togo [4], annexed to the lease in Benin [2] and signed no later than the day the tenant moves in, in Côte d'Ivoire [1]. Second, the rent receipt: rent is paid against a receipt in Togo [4] and Benin [2], and the Ivorian landlord is required to issue one [1]. Third, a receipt for the deposit, since it has to be returned within a set time.

For an owner with ten or twenty leases, these papers are also the best protection. Without an inventory, the Togolese decree presumes the tenant received the home in good condition, which makes it hard to charge them for damage later [4].

Togo: deposit, rent guarantee and the standard lease

Decree No. 2022-001/PR of 5 January 2022 is a public policy text, and it applies "in a first phase" to Greater Lomé [4]. It separates two sums a tenant may be asked for at the start.

The deposit (caution) covers damage. It may not exceed three months' rent, earns no interest for the tenant, and must be returned within one month of the keys being handed back; after that, the balance owed carries interest at the legal rate [4]. The rent guarantee (garantie de loyer) covers arrears and the notice period, and is also capped at three months' rent [4]. Either may be replaced by an insurance policy or a bank guarantee taken out by the tenant [4].

Rent may be reviewed every three years, within a range of no more than 10% of the current rent [4]. A landlord who charges more than the decree allows faces a fine of twice the unlawful increase and must pay the excess back [4]. Some clauses are treated as never written, such as one forbidding the tenant to put up members of their family [4].

The Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing and Land Reform said in March 2022 that the standard contract is available from every town hall, and that verbal leases were over [6]. To take a home back, the landlord gives two months' notice in writing with proof of receipt [4]. When rent goes unpaid, termination proceedings can start one month after payments stop, if the tenant has not topped the rent guarantee back up [4].

Senegal: rent cuts, a deposit paid in instalments, rent paid in arrears

Senegal has long regulated rent levels through the corrected floor area method. Decree No. 2023-382 of 24 February 2023, published in the Official Journal of 28 February 2023, cut residential rents that had not been set by that method, from 1 March 2023: by 15% for rents up to 300,000 CFA francs, 10% between 300,001 and 500,000, and 5% above that [5]. Landlords who had already applied the cuts under Law No. 2014-03 are exempt, provided they can prove it [5].

The same decree changes how a tenancy starts for leases of up to 500,000 CFA francs a month. The deposit may not exceed two months' rent, and only one month is payable on moving in; the rest is spread over twelve months, one twelfth at a time [5]. Rent "cannot be paid in advance": it falls due at the end of the month it covers [5]. Where an agency or broker is involved, its commission on these leases is cut to half a month's rent [5].

For someone with several flats, this has two practical effects. You need to keep the workings behind each rent, or proof of the cut applied, lease by lease. And cash flow changes: the first month is no longer paid up front, and the deposit arrives in pieces over a year.

Benin: a ceiling tied to the value of the home

Law No. 2018-12 of 2 July 2018 on residential leases sets a ceiling that few countries use: the maximum annual rent is 8% of the real value of the home, flat or building [2]. Monthly rent may not exceed one twelfth of the annual figure. The real value adds the land, assessed on the valuation board's scale, to the building [2]. For buildings completed before the law came into force, the value of the building is written down by 2% a year from the sixth year, up to 30% in total [2].

The security deposit is three months' rent, paid when the keys are handed over and refunded at the end of the lease; it cannot be revised while the lease runs [2]. Before the first rent falls due, the landlord gives the tenant a dated, signed breakdown of what the rent covers, updated every 1 January [2]. Rent is paid monthly against a receipt, and a review clause cannot raise it by more than 2% of the initial annual amount [2].

Ending a tenancy is tightly controlled. The termination clause can only be used in the cases the law lists, after formal notice, and only a bailiff (huissier de justice) may evict a tenant [2]. If the property is sold, the tenant has a right of first refusal [2].

Côte d'Ivoire: advance rent, deposits and a three-year review

The Construction and Housing Code, established by Law No. 2019-576 of 26 June 2019, gives residential leases a full chapter of their own [7]. Its money rules are brief. A landlord may not ask for more than two months' rent in advance, and the deposit may not exceed two months' rent [1]. The deposit earns no interest and must be refunded within one month of the keys being returned, less any sums properly justified [1]. Any clause providing for rent in advance, or for any payment other than the deposit, is treated as never written [1].

Rent is paid monthly and may be reviewed "upwards or downwards, every three years" [1]. The party seeking a review must give at least three months' notice before it takes effect [1]. Any increase made less than three years after the lease was signed or renewed is deemed never to have happened [1]. The landlord may only pass on the charges the code lists: energy, water, gas, routine upkeep, minor repairs and taxes linked to use [1].

The lease is registered with the tax administration, and the landlord gives the tenant a copy of the registration within thirty days [1]. When it expires, the lease renews automatically for a tenant in good standing; selling the building is not a ground for taking it back [1]. Notice to repossess is three months, and the landlord must then live in the property for at least a year [1]. According to the government, the penalty for breaking these rules was raised to 300% of the overpayment by the 2020 tax annex, and a free line, 1378, takes complaints [7]. The standard lease is sold in bookshops and available at town halls in the Abidjan district and at the post office [7].

Shops, offices, warehouses: the OHADA business lease

The national texts above only cover homes. When you let a shop, an office or a warehouse, the OHADA Uniform Act on general commercial law of 15 December 2010 applies, in all four countries and in the other OHADA member states.

The approach is freer. The parties "fix the length of the lease freely", and they also set the rent freely, subject to national rules [8]. Over time, however, the tenant gains strong protection. The right to renew belongs to a tenant who has run their business on the premises "for at least two years", and no clause can override it [8]. For an open-ended lease, notice must be given at least six months ahead, by bailiff or by any means that proves receipt [8].

A mixed portfolio, with flats upstairs and shops on the street front, therefore needs two lease templates and two notice calendars. Benin's 2018 law says so outright: it does not apply to business leases, which fall under the Uniform Act [2].

Tax on rental income, country by country

Rent is taxable in all four countries, but the base and the rate vary a great deal. The figures below come from the codes published by the tax authorities; a more recent finance law may have changed them.

Togo. Rent falls under personal income tax, in the property income category. Net income is worked out after a flat deduction of 50% of gross rent, with no receipts needed, and then property taxes; owners may opt for actual costs before 30 November, for at least three years [9]. The progressive scale applies, from nil up to 900,000 CFA francs to 35% above 20,000,000 [9]. Property tax on buildings is 7.5% of net cadastral income [9]. When the tenant is a company, a public body or an international organisation, it withholds 8.75% of gross rent, credited 3.75% against property tax and 5% against income tax; otherwise the owner pays instalments at the same rate, by the 15th of the following month [9].

Senegal. Net property income is gross rent received less costs, including a flat 30% deduction for upkeep, management, insurance and depreciation, and loan interest; a loss can be carried forward for three years [10]. The income tax scale runs from 0% to 43% [10]. An individual whose gross rent does not exceed 30 million CFA francs a year may opt for the contribution globale foncière, which replaces property income tax and the land tax: one month's rent up to 12 million, a month and a half up to 18 million, two months above that, with a minimum of 30,000 francs [10]. Rent paid by certain tenants is subject to 5% withholding, unless the monthly rent for the unit is under 150,000 CFA francs [10].

Benin. Tax on property income is charged on gross rent at 12%, plus a 4,000 CFA franc levy [11]. Tenants withhold 12% at source, except private individuals renting directly; the withholding settles the tax but does not remove the duty to file each year [11]. The single property tax comes on top, at 6% for buildings in areas covered by the urban land register [11].

Côte d'Ivoire. Property tax has two parts, the tax on property income and the tax on property ownership, both based on the previous year's rental value. The 2018 edition of the tax directorate's leaflet gives 3% and 9% respectively for individuals on a let building [12]. The rate in force in 2026 is not verified yet. Agencies, building managers and other intermediaries who collect rent for owners deduct a 12% instalment from gross rent [12].

Filing, registering and paying: the calendar

A landlord with several properties has fixed deadlines, best entered in a diary once and for all.

| Country | Annual return | Ongoing payments | Lease | |---|---|---|---| | Togo | income return by 31 March [9] | 8.75% instalments by the 15th of the next month [9] | 2% duty on total rent [9] | | Senegal | property income by 30 April, or the CGF before 1 February [10] | CGF at the end of February, April and June [10] | 2% duty on a fixed-term lease [10] | | Benin | list of tenants and rents by 10 February [11] | four instalments, withholdings credited [11] | 1% duty on total rent [11] | | Côte d'Ivoire | property return between 1 October and 15 November, then after any change [12] | four parts, 15 March, 15 June, 15 September, 15 December [12] | registration compulsory [1] |

In Togo, a verbal lease does not escape tax: in the first three months of each year the owner files a return for each building, listing tenants and rents [9]. In Benin, the tax office may set the taxable base itself from lease contracts and land surveys [11]. In Senegal, the official DGID calendar lists the deadline for the contribution globale foncière [13].

In Côte d'Ivoire, the property return form, issued under Article 177 of the General Tax Code, is filled in plot by plot, with each occupant's name and the annual rent scaled up to a full year [14]. Institutional tenants must make rent payments conditional on seeing the owner's tax registration certificate and a copy of that return [12]. An owner letting to a company should therefore have their tax papers in order before signing.

A landlord's risks: penalties, arrears and disputes

Penalties fall first on money taken beyond the limits. In Togo, the fine is twice the unlawful increase [4]. In Côte d'Ivoire, the government cites 300% of the overpayment [7], and the code fines anyone who uses false pretences to remove a tenant in good faith in order to relet between 5,000 and 500,000 francs, plus compensation of at least a year's rent [1].

The tax office has its own tools. In Côte d'Ivoire, late payment costs 10%, under-declaration 15%, 30% or 100% depending on how serious it is, and the authorities can collect by "opposition à loyer", taking the rent directly from the tenant [12]. In Senegal, failing to file for the contribution globale foncière leads to an assessment by the tax office [10]. In Togo, tenant and owner remain jointly liable for the tax withheld on rent [9].

On arrears, none of the texts we read lets a landlord take matters into their own hands. In Benin, only a bailiff can evict [2]. In Côte d'Ivoire, eviction goes through the urgent applications judge, who may give the tenant a grace period of up to three months [1]. Before selling an occupied property, remember the tenant's right of first refusal, which exists in Benin [2] and in Côte d'Ivoire, where the tenant has seven days to make a counter-offer [1]. After a sale, the new landlord returns the deposit in Togo [4] and in Côte d'Ivoire [1].

What about other countries?

The UEMOA anti money laundering rules apply in all its member states, including Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger [3], and the OHADA business lease applies in every OHADA state, including Cameroon, Gabon and Guinea [8].

For residential leases and the taxation of rent in those countries, we have not yet opened the official texts. Burkina Faso has a law on private residential leases, and Morocco has Law No. 67-12 on relations between landlords and tenants, but we have only seen them reported in the press: their content is not verified yet, and we quote no figures from them. For Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea and Kenya, the rules specific to residential leases are not verified yet.

Listing your properties on imonga

This is not a job offer. imonga does not hire landlords: the platform invites owners who let several properties to register, present what they do, list their flats, shops or offices to let, and receive enquiries from private tenants, in Africa and across the diaspora. Creating the account and the profile is free; the terms for publishing are set out on the Pricing page. You stay independent, you set your rents within the limits of the law, and you remain bound by your country's rules described above. To begin, create your professional account and choose the "Professional landlord" type.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a professional card to let my own property?

Not according to the texts read for this page: the card or approval is for the agent or agency acting for others. In Côte d'Ivoire, using an agency to conclude a residential lease is optional [1].

How large a deposit can I ask for?

In Togo, up to three months' rent for the deposit, plus a rent guarantee of up to three months [4]; three months in Benin [2]; two months in Côte d'Ivoire [1]; in Senegal, two months for leases of up to 500,000 CFA francs, only one of them payable on moving in [5].

Can I ask for several months' rent in advance?

In Côte d'Ivoire, two months at most, and any other advance clause is treated as never written [1]. In Senegal, rent cannot be paid in advance: it falls due at the end of the month it covers [5].

How often can I raise the rent?

In Togo, every three years and by no more than 10% [4]. In Côte d'Ivoire, every three years, with three months' notice [1]. In Benin, a review clause cannot exceed 2% of the initial annual rent [2].

How is my rental income taxed?

In Togo, on the income tax scale after a 50% flat deduction [9]; in Senegal, after a 30% deduction, or through the contribution globale foncière for gross rent up to 30 million CFA francs [10]; in Benin, at 12% of gross rent [11]; in Côte d'Ivoire, on rental value, at a 2026 rate not verified yet [12].

Does my lease have to be registered?

Yes in Côte d'Ivoire, where registration is compulsory and the tenant receives a copy within thirty days [1]. In Togo, the decree refers to the General Tax Code, which charges a 2% duty [4] [9]. The duty is 2% in Senegal [10] and 1% in Benin [11].