Enugu residents accuse landlords of exploitation

Residents of Enugu, the Coal city, have called on the state government to wade into arbitrary levies charged by landlords in the capital city.

Concerned residents who spoke to DailyPost on the matter urged the Enugu House of Assembly to make relevant laws that would end the continuous exploitation of tenants by landlords in the state.

Mr. Clement Ogbu, who returned from the Northern part of the country as a result of Boko Haram insurgency lamented that landlords and agents milk tenants dry in the state.

According to him: “I had wanted to settle down in a 3-bedroom flat with my family but the cost is just outrageous.

“In most of the houses I checked, the least I was asked to pay was N500,000 for two years; in addition, I was also asked to pay N50,000 as lawyer’s fee and N30,000 as agent fee, making it a total of N580,000.

“In fact, I even pleaded with the landlords to allow me pay for one year, which will be about N330,000, but none of them agreed. It is really very bad that our people should be exploitative. Government should do something about this urgently”, he said.

He said some indigenes of the state had refused to leave the North because of the situation they would face at home.
He said: “indeed most of our people in the North are ready to come home, but they are reluctant because of the high cost of living here”.
Another resident who spoke on the ugly situation blamed it on greed as well as the presence of many tertiary institutions in the state.

According to him: “I think most of our people don’t have conscience, there is so much craze for wealth and it is affecting every system. I still do not understand why house rent should be cheaper in Onitsha, Aba, Owerre and other neighbouring cities than Enugu.

“It is even more worrisome when you consider the fact that the only industry here are tertiary institutions. Students are not even left out as they cough out over N100,000 for one-room apartment; it’s so bad and I think the Enugu lawmakers should emulate their Lagos counterparts by putting an end to this ‘madness”.