How to save for your first apartment, fees and all

A yearly rent is hard enough to save for; see how to save for yearly rent. A first apartment adds costs that renewing tenants don't pay, and they all fall due in the same week. This page is about planning for the full move-in total.

What a first apartment really costs

On top of the rent, a new tenancy usually comes with:

• An agency fee, paid to the agent who found the place.
• An agreement (legal) fee, for drawing up the tenancy agreement. In 2025, the Lagos governor's Special Adviser on Housing said agreement or legal fees are set at 10% of the annual rent, and that charging more violates the state's tenancy regulations.^[1]
• A caution fee, a deposit against damage, usually refundable when you leave.
• Moving and setting up: transport for your things, a bed, cooking gas, kitchen basics, curtains, and any repairs or painting before you move in.

What Lagos rules say about advance rent. Under the Lagos State Tenancy Law 2011, as reported in 2025, it's unlawful for a landlord or agent to demand or receive more than one year's rent in advance from a new or prospective tenant.^[1] A new tenancy bill would go further, including capping agency fees at 5% of annual rent,^[2] but as of June 2026 it was still a bill that would take effect only if passed.^[3] Lagos also has a real estate regulator, the Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA).^[2]

An example move-in total

An illustration, for a ₦800,000-a-year flat. Ask for every fee in writing; yours will differ.

Cost	Amount	Paid to
One year's rent	₦800,000	Landlord
Agreement (legal) fee, at 10%	₦80,000	Lawyer or agent
Agency fee, at 10%	₦80,000	Agent
Caution fee	₦50,000	Landlord (refundable)
Moving and setting up	₦150,000	Transport, bed, gas, kitchen items
Move-in total	₦1,160,000

The rent is ₦800,000, but the day you get the keys costs ₦1,160,000. Planning for the rent alone leaves a ₦360,000 gap in the week it matters most.

Few people have a cushion for a gap like that: among formally included adults in Nigeria, only 10.6% can raise ₦156,000 within seven days without difficulty.^[4]

How to save for it, with or without Delight

1. Get the full list in writing before you commit: rent, agency, agreement and caution fees, and anything else the agent or landlord charges.
2. Add your own setting-up costs. A place you can't sleep or cook in isn't ready to live in.
3. Divide the total by the paydays until you pay. ₦1,160,000 over 10 paydays is ₦116,000 a payday.
4. Keep the landlord money apart and hard to reach until the week you pay, so a hard month can't borrow from it.
5. Keep setting-up money separate. It's spent in small pieces after you get the keys, not in one payment.
6. Pay by bank transfer and get receipts for every payment, from the agent and the landlord. Confirm who you're paying before you send money.

Set it up in Delight

1. Check your tier. A move-in total above ₦500,000 needs Tier 3, which has no maximum balance. Upgrade early, because the address check takes a day or two.
2. Create a repeating Rent budget and add a Stack to it in the Grow tab. Set the target to the landlord and agent total (rent plus agency, agreement and caution fees) and the due date to the week you'll pay. Choose No, lock until due, or Yes, unlock when fully funded if your move date isn't fixed yet. Each time the budget is funded, your chosen share moves into the Stack. Stacks don't pay interest, and closing a locked Stack early costs 5% of its balance.
3. Time the due date to the payment week. On the due date, the Stack's money is spendable for 7 days; after that, anything left moves to the Rent budget's surplus.
4. Create a one-time Moving In budget for setting-up costs, with an end date after your move. Place it below rent and essentials under Funding priority, and check that Auto-fund is enabled, so it fills from each payday until it reaches its amount.
5. Pay the agent and landlord by bank transfer from the Rent budget. Bank transfers carry the standard charge, plus ₦50 stamp duty on transfers of ₦10,000 or more.
6. After you move in, keep the Rent budget and Stack going for next year's renewal, at next year's price. See how to save for yearly rent.