Tenants in Niger State have asked the government to tell landlords to stop raising the rent on residences that have been around for more than twenty years.
Because of how bad the socio-economic situation is, Daily Independent writes that people are asking the Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago-led administration to step in and put an end to what they call “exploitative tendencies” of most landlords.
People are asking the state government to step in because there are rumors that landlords agreed to raise rents without caring about how well the houses are built or how well they pass fitness exams.
Some tenants who spoke on the issue all agreed that they are not completely against landlords or owners of houses where there is water, hand-dug ground wells, or bore holes raising the rent a little. However, those tenants who have lived in their homes for twenty years or more and do not have basic social amenities like water should not have their rent raised.
Mr. Ishyaku Abel, a renter in the Fadipe region, is especially anxious that landlords of properties built more than 20 years ago that don’t have water or have had no major modifications are thinking about raising the rent.
Ishyaku wants the state government to step in and tell landlords who are trying to make life harder for people to stop. This is because there have been reports of landlords kicking tenants out for flimsy reasons like saying the houses have been sold or that they need to do some repairs or renovations.
He says that most of the houses in places like Fadipe, Dutsen-Kura (Gwari), Barkin-sale/behind Ashraf gas station, Kpakungu, and Dutsen-Kura (Hausa) are not only old, but also disasters waiting to happen because the structures are already weak and have holes where reptiles and other harmful predators can live.
Ishyaku said he wants the state government to make rules that will protect tenants from landlords and their agents who are only concerned in collecting money and not fixing up their homes so that people may live in them.
Ishyaku, who rents a house in the Maitumbi area, told our reporter that he raised the rent on his house twice in the last twelve years merely to make life easier for his neighbors. He also rents an apartment in Fadipe, which is close to his job.
“I’ve been renting my own house for twelve years now. I chose to be a tenant because of my job.” I raised the rent only twice, and now that I’ve paid off the house, everything I get is jara.
Ishyaku, who said he planned to serve his tenants quit notice in the next five years if he couldn’t build another house after he retired, is joining others in calling on the Bago-led administration to make landlords think about the problems that parents, especially civil servants, are having before they raise the rent.
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