By Kate Halim
Looking for good and affordable accommodation in major cities in Nigeria is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Men and women seeking accommodation are stretched to their limits because of the stress they go through just to get what they want.
Doris Olayiga won’t forget in a hurry how she was stressed by agents who she paid to help her secure good accommodation in Lagos in 2021. She told Saturday Sun that at one time, an agent showed her an apartment with many shops in front of the compound and she didn’t like the setting.
She said, “The apartment itself was upstairs but the kitchen was downstairs. The kitchen was sharing a wall with the compound’s security man’s toilet. When I got there, I was speechless. I asked the agent if he thought the house was okay and he said yes. I was shocked. If I had paid for that apartment, I had to go down and up three flights of stairs to cook. I just shook my head and walked away.”
Olayiga recalled that months after that experience, another agent took her to another building that housed a brothel. She said that she was angry with the agent for taking her to such a place after clearly specifying what she wanted in an apartment. “I needed a two-bedroom flat with running water, constant power supply with no shops in the compound or opposite the compound because I love my privacy. But this guy took to me to a building where everybody knows when everybody is going out and when they come in.”
Even though Olayiga has paid for an apartment that met some of her preferences, she said she still remembers how it took her almost two years to secure a good apartment in Lagos. She added that looking for a decent accommodation in a good area in Lagos is like treasure-hunting and it is not an easy task.
Mr Edwin Nwagbara doesn’t like talking about his ordeal at the hands of agents in Lagos. He said that he went to different funny-looking houses with bizarre architectural designs and he got tired. The father of three noted that it was like walking in hell looking for accommodation for his family last year after his landlord served him a quit notice.
“I had four agents helping me look for accommodation last year. What I experienced at the hands of these guys is better imagined than experienced. I needed a three-bedroom apartment, upstairs with running water, a good road leading to the street and in the street plus at least manageable electricity supply. But these guys kept taking me to houses which didn’t meet my specifications at all,” he said.
Nwagabara, a businessman said that after seven months of fruitlessly searching for an apartment, he stopped using the services of two of the agents and retained two. He also told them to make videos of the apartment they wanted him to come and inspect and send to him so that he would know if it was worth his time.
He said: “These agents stressed me. You tell them one thing and they do the opposite. One took me to a house where the compound had no parking space. When I asked him where my wife and I would park our cars, he said we could park them on the street. I wanted to insult him that day but I held back because I didn’t want things to get out of hand.”
According to Nwagbara, it took him a year to get the kind of apartment he wanted for his family. He said that he eventually got a three-bedroom apartment in a safe area with a good road network and borehole water. “I don’t want to state how much I spent on these agents. They don’t care about people and what they are looking for. What they are after is their agency fee. This is why they keep taking people to funny-looking houses and pressuring them to pay for them.”
Yetunde Saka, an events planner said that her mouth couldn’t narrate everything she has been through seeking affordable accommodation in Lagos. She stated that for six months, she has been looking for a decent apartment but has been unable to get one.
Narrating her house-hunting experience to Saturday Sun, the graduate of business administration stated that it has been tedious checking out different vacant spaces without truly getting something good.
“The last one I went to inspect, the toilet was directly opposite the kitchen. The toilet has a door but the kitchen doesn’t have a door. Once you come out from the toilet, you will land in the kitchen, before you move to the bedroom. I wanted to cry when I saw that vacant apartment but I started laughing instead.”
Saka recalled that two months ago, her agent took her to an apartment that looked like a native doctor’s shrine. She said that the doors were so short that she had to bend her head before entering the apartment. And when she got inside, it was dark in the daytime. She added that she became scared when she got into the apartment because she was alone with the agent and didn’t understand why he would bring her to such a place.
“When I asked the agent why the house was dark in the afternoon, he said that when I paid for it, it would get brighter. I asked him if he was joking but he said no and was trying to convince me to pay for the room and parlour self-contained apartment, noting that many landlords don’t rent out their apartments to single ladies like me,” she said.
The story is the same for Feyi Ilesanmi. She said that her experience seeking a good apartment in Lagos was like going to war and not knowing what to expect. She stated that the agents she paid to help her get accommodation last year stressed her so much.
She said: “I spent over N50,000 for inspection and transportation fees, yet the agents kept taking me to funny houses. One took me to a house where the kitchen was in the bedroom. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Another one took me to a vacant space that was too small that my bed wouldn’t fit into the room. I was working full time but spent my weekends following these agents to poorly built houses for inspection.”
Ilesanmi noted that the annoying thing about seeking accommodation in Lagos is that you will tell the agents what you want, you will even show them videos of what you are looking for in an apartment and they will take you somewhere completely different from your choice. “I had to ask one of the agents why they keep showing me the opposite of the kind of apartment I wanted and he said that a house is a house and I should be grateful that I even have money to pay for an apartment. He was trying to convince me to pay for an apartment close to a canal and the house was bent to one side. I told him no and walked away.”
Chinedu Obieke told Saturday Sun that he had to increase his budget while seeking an apartment because the spaces agents were showing him made no sense. He said that one agent took him to a house that had a non-motorable road. The agent said that when he pays for the apartment space, the road to the compound would be fixed immediately.
“I was looking for a two-bedroom apartment for me and my family because water stopped running in my previous apartment and the landlord still had the effrontery to increase rent. I concluded that I would move somewhere else instead of wasting money buying water every day. But securing a desirable apartment in the area I wanted wasn’t easy. The rent was high and I had to increase my budget.”
The father of two recalled how an agent took him to an apartment that had a bar and a church on the ground floor. He said that the bar and the church were facing each other. “The day I went to inspect the apartment space, the church was holding a service while the bar was playing loud music. I was shocked. I can’t imagine bringing my wife and two little children to live in such a chaotic place.”
The businessman said it took him months to get the kind of apartment he wanted for his growing family. He added that he wouldn’t forget how an agent took him to one building where the landlord lived and the man told him that he locks his gate by 9 pm and he doesn’t allow his tenants to have visitors who sleep overnight.
He told Saturday Sun: “I was amused and angry at the same time. How can another human being tell me when to come back to the apartment I paid for and why I can’t have visitors who will stay with me for days or weeks? I told the agent not to say anything to me because I don’t see myself living with such funny rules and regulations.”