By EMMANUEL ANTSWEN

Some tenants in Makurdi, the Benue capital, have decried the sudden and astronomical increase in tenancy fees within the city in recent years.

The tenants, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Makurdi on Friday, appealed to the state government to regulate rents and mode of payment in the state capital a d other parts of the state.

They said that the rate at which rents were increased and collected was of great concern to them.

They further attributed the situation to lack of government regulation, urging government to intervene else many households would go homeless.

Mr George Tordue who lives in Inikpi Street, High Level, Makurdi, told NAN that the rate at which her landlady increased the rent was becoming unbearable.

He added that his landlady increased rent yearly without making any renovation in the building.

Tordue explained that though he paid his rent yearly, his landlady kept requesting funds from him in advance every now and then.

“I don’t rest at all my brother. My landlady keeps asking me for money anytime she wants. She also adds the tenancy fee arbitrarily.

“I started paying N80,000 for my apartment in 2019 and she later added N20,000 in 2020. Now it is N120,000.

“This same one-room self-contained apartment is even leaking but she has refused to fix it.”

Another tenant, Mrs Rose Igbawua a resident on George Akume Way, also said she was dissatisfied with the manner her landlord handled tenancy fees.

Mrs Igbawua said that her rent was N220,000 in 2020 for a two-bedroom flat, but suddenly the landlord increased it to N280,000 this year, without any renovation on the building.

She said the landlord had already collected half of the 2022 rent ahead, due to his continual request for money.

“If it is possible, the state government should constitute a body that will regulate tenancy fees, payment plan and house owners’ activities,” she said.

However, a landlord, Mr Jacob Terwase of Benue Crescent, Wadata, said that they decided to increase their tenancy fees due to the high cost of building materials and other commodities generally.

Terwase said, for instance, 20 normal roofing sheets now went for N39,000 as against the N26,000 sold in January.

He said there was no way landlords would invest heavily in their buildings and in the end rent them out cheaply.

Another house owner, Mrs Juliet Asom, attributed the regular tenancy fee upward review to the need for landlords to meet up with the prices of commodities in the open markets.

Mrs Asom who onws a building on Jila Agbo Street, High Level, said that the cost of land and building materials had increased tremendously in the last one year.

NAN reports that a single room apartment that was going for N24,000 between 2018 and 2019 now goes for N36,000 to N40,000 per year.

A self-contained apartment now goes for between N120,000 and N200,000 as against between N70,000 and N90,000 two years ago, depending on location. (NAN)

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