Imagine if you could pay your house rent monthly; it’s now possible in Abuja

It’s midnight, and you can’t sleep. You have shut your eyes and attempted to summon the sandman to no avail. It’s a few hours before daybreak, and you’re still tossing around the bed, unable to get a lick of sleep, not because you don’t want to but because your head is full and your mind is racing. It’s almost that time of the year again when you have to renew your rent.

The weeks are fast approaching, and it’s almost as if the walls are closing in on you. You’ve spent the last couple of months saving, but you’re still short, and you don’t know if you can make up the difference in the time left. You can’t sleep, and so do thousands of people around the country battling the same thought and asking themselves the same question: “What will I do?”

Now imagine you had the option of paying your rent monthly. Imagine you could just transfer that month’s rent as you get your paycheck. You will be able to breathe easy and not be burdened by the challenges of saving huge sums which circumstances may force you to dip into.

This option of paying monthly rent has been serially canvassed as one of the ways to ease the rent burdens on Nigerians. Yet, actualising this is still largely far from the reality in most cities. However, Abuja residents are about to get a positive on this with the launch of the monthly rent payment option by FourStrides.

Eligible renters searching for verified homes in Abuja can now apply to pay rent monthly, in partnership with rent financing provider YALO.

FourStrides today launched Pay Monthly, a new capability that allows eligible renters searching for verified homes on its platform to apply to spread their rent into monthly payments, rather than having to meet the entire rental amount as one large upfront payment.

The launch addresses a longstanding mismatch in Nigeria's rental market: most households receive their income monthly, while renters are commonly expected to commit substantial amounts of rent upfront. For many, the barrier to securing a home is not finding one, but assembling a year or more of rent before moving in.

Pay Monthly is offered through a financing partnership with YALO, which pays the property owner upfront while the renter repays monthly. Property owners continue to be paid on their existing terms. The experience stays entirely within FourStrides, from search to move-in.

“FourStrides was built on trust, verified homes, verified people, and a transparent process,” said Serge, CEO at FourStrides. “YALO extends that trust into how renters pay, which is exactly the missing piece.”

1. The renter searches and shortlists a verified listing on FourStrides.

2. When ready to move forward, they apply for a monthly payment plan from within their rental journey.

3. The application is assessed alongside tenant verification, and the renter is notified of approval.

4. Once approved, the renter moves in and pays monthly instead of finding the full amount at once.

For renters, Pay Monthly means more breathing room. Securing a home no longer has to compete with having the full cost sitting in an account on day one. For landlords, it means access to a wider pool of qualified, verified tenants, without changing how they are paid.

Pay Monthly joins verified listings, renter verification, digital agreements and secure transactions on the platform. Each exists to remove a real barrier from renting, and cost upfront has long been one of the biggest.

“This partnership is focused on one thing: making the single biggest barrier to renting in Nigeria, the upfront cost, disappear,” said Morenike, CEO of YALO. “We're not trying to be everything to everyone. We built rent financing to solve rent, specifically and well.”

Pay Monthly is available to eligible renters on FourStrides from 26 August 2026, starting with verified listings in Abuja.