Landlord-tenant friction worsens on escalating cost-of-living crisis

…Landlords jittery over tenants’ inability to pay

…Tenants furious over landlords’ arbitrary rent increase

On incremental basis, cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria is escalating and, in more ways than one, it is impacting on health, finances and access to basic needs of individuals, organisations and families.

It is also brewing ill-feeling among friends, family members, landlords and their tenants, among others. More than ever before, expectations and obligations are no longer being met.

One major development that has come with this crisis is that everybody, especially families, are now prioritising their needs and this action favours feeding and getting well which means that family budgets now lean more towards food and health.

It follows that housing which is ranked second, after food, in the hierarchy of man’s basic needs, is now being treated as a luxury item, meaning that those who live in rented accommodation, and they are quite many, are unable to meet their rent obligations to their landlords.

On account of growing poverty among citizens, job losses and shrinking income arising from bad economy, many tenants find it difficult to pay their rents which breeds friction between them and their landlords.

BusinessDaySunday findings show that this friction is getting worse by the day with the escalating cost of living crisis, making the landlords jittery because tenants are unable to pay their rents while the tenants are furious with the landlords for their arbitrary rent increase on the other hand.

A report on The State of Real Estate Market in Nigeria compiled by Pison Housing Company gives a sense and dimension of this friction. The report says Nigeria is one of the most active rental markets globally with about 80 percent of its estimated 200 million population living in rented accommodation and spending over 50 percent of their income on house rent.

“Frequently, landlords and tenants quarrel over sundry issues including inability to pay rents on the part of the tenants and/or landlords’ high-handedness and near-impossible demands. Some of these quarrels often lead both parties to court cases which, rather than improve their relationship, worsens it and leads to quitting the tenant from the house,” Henry Ezike, an estate agent and consultant, confirmed to our reporter on Thursday last week.

Dominic Ulu is a Lagos resident living in Olodi Apapa area of Lagos. His relationship with his landlord, Alahaji Ajibade, is no better than that of a cat and dog. They are always quarrelling over delayed, unpaid or increased house rent which Ulu considers too exploitative on the part of the landlord.

“My landlord is insensitive; at a time like this in Nigeria when everybody is struggling to eat, he is increasing my rent. What manner of man is that? Is he blind or deaf? Let him do his worst; I don’t have a dime to pay him,” Ulu told our reporter who learnt from other tenants that the landlord has taken his case to a customary court.

Similarly, Ebenezer Okonjo, who lives in Ejigbo area of Lagos, is digging it out with his landlord over arbitrary and frequent rent increases.

“I rented this house from the father of my present landlord. He was living in London then. Now he has come back after his father’s death and the first thing he did was to increase our rent,” Okonjo told our reporter.

Continuing, he said, “When I told him I won’t be able to pay a second rent increase, he told me to relocate to my village; that Lagos is not meant for everybody. I felt insulted and told him to his face that he was a wicked man. He quickly gave me a quit notice which I refused to collect from him. Since then, it has been an uneasy calm between us.”

Beyond rent increases, attitudes especially in the case of landlords with exploitative tendencies, could also breed friction in a landlord-tenant relationship as reflected in our findings which show that, generally, the plight of tenants range from unjustifiable rent increases, outrageous service charge particularly on power supply, and disturbance from the landlords.

A teacher in a Lagos private school, who did not want to be named, told our reporter that he and his family rented an apartment in the Ifako-Ijaye area of the state, but his three-year stay in that apartment was a tug of war with his landlord.

“I secured a 2-bedroom flat in that area so that I can spend less on transport fare as the house is close to my place of work. The landlord collected a year rent along with agreement and commission. My experience there was not rosy. The landlord made us pay for almost every damage/renovation of the house,” he revealed.

“One thing that got me irritated was the landlord’s habit of reminding me that my rent would soon be due as if I didn’t know my responsibility. In my third year, he increased my rent by 30 percent. I couldn’t cope because my salary could not carry it. I left the place,” he added.

Akunne Benedict, who resides in Ojokoro area of the state, poured out her frustration with her landlord’s exploitative tendencies, explaining that the man was fond of hiding power bill from tenants in order to make them pay for what they did not consume.

“The landlord lives with us. We are five in number. We hardly see power bill, yet we would be asked to pay as high as N50,000, which is shared among five of us. We have complained to him on several occasions, but he is adamant; he often tells us to leave his house if we are not pleased with the rules,” he lamented.