PH Residents Decry Continuous Increase In Rents

Residents of Port Harcourt and its environs have lamented over the uncontrolled and continuous increase in house rents in the city.

They have opined that house owners have taken advantage of the rising population and increase in business activities in the metropolis to continuously increase house rent at will, thereby making it difficult for tenants to cope.

Commenting on the issue, one of the residents of Diobu, Elder Felix Iche  said that the way rent is going up in the area have made things look like tenants are working for their landlords and are living at the mercy of the house owners.

He said that first rent he paid in the place he lives was N1,000 per month in the last 10 years (2002), but that the rent has increased to N5,000 per month, pointing out that the high income of oil companies workers have been taken as yard-stick for measuring the capability of Port Harcourt residents, without considering that all residents of Port Harcourt are not high level income earners.

Mr. Smith Ebulu, a trader and a resident of Rumuokwuta in Obio/Akpor on his part has said that the way things are going with rent in Port Harcourt, that if government don’t intervene by gross investment in low cost housing or come up with laws to check obnoxious rent increase, that many workers, especially civil servants will end up working for their landlords all through their life time.

Meanwhile a landlord in Rumuekini area of Akpor Kingdom, Chief M. Tasie has said that he does not like the pressure that tenants go through on the cause of renewing or renting a house.

He said that he does not increase rent for his old tenants, pointing out that he is the only landlord that still collect N45,000 currently for a self contain apartment, and that is why he still have very many old tenants, adding that the issue depends on the individual house owner.

For him, he said “I maintain what ever rent I agreed with a tenant, until he parks out, and that I do to all of my tenant, I don’t increase rent like that.