#LandlordChronicles: Nigerians Share Their Landlord Stories

In Nigeria, stories live everywhere, on the streets, at work, with neighbours, and even within your compound. But one of the stories that are encountered, but often not talked about, is tenants’ relationships with landlords (and landladies), considering they live together in the same house. Nigerians have stories for days on what their landlords have done. Under #LandlordChronicles, Nigerians share their encounters with their landlords–from fake and strict landlords to power tussles and petty house rules.

Which of these stories do you resonate with?

The Fake Landlord

The first place I ever rented seemed perfect. The compound was peaceful, and my landlord appeared to be one of the cool ones. He had a bunch of brothers who came around often, and I was the only tenant in the house, so it felt relatively calm. He was friendly, too, sometimes calling on me to hang out or talk, just to “get familiar.”

At first, I thought it was just hospitality. Until one day, he asked me to borrow him money, not a small sum, but almost twice my salary at the time.

I was stunned. I tried to reach someone I trusted for advice, but they were unavailable. I sat with it for a bit and reasoned that at least I had paid my rent six months in advance. If anything went wrong, I figured I could still stay in the house while I figured things out.

So I did the unthinkable: I took a loan just to send my landlord the money. That was the last I ever saw of it.

After my one-year rent expired, I stayed in the house for about six more months, trying to make peace with the decision. Until one morning, the real owner of the house showed up and evicted everyone. It turned out the man I knew as my landlord was a tenant, just like me.

The Petty Landlord 

When I first moved into the house, my first encounter with the landlord was about the issue of the gate. He told me they lock the gate exactly at 10 p.m. I didn’t mind because I was desperate, and well, I was not a night person. But over time, he started to lock it before 10 p.m. He only has the key to the padlock apart from the general lock. There was a night I came home before 10 and found it locked. I had to consistently bang the gate before he came out. After opening the gate, he started yelling that I was disturbing his sleep at midnight. We had a serious argument about it o. Midnight? Before 10 p.m.? When I got inside, the message I got was him informing me not to renew my rent. Lol.

The second encounter was when my friends started to visit me. Female friends o. Then one day, he called to inform me that his house is not a hostel. He said he was not okay with the number of people coming in. Like, I cannot have friends? I cannot have guests? He said he’s just informing me because he did not want issues with me.

The recent one is the issue of the prepaid metre. He said we had to pay for the processing fee. The agreement was that I’d pay the fee, and it’d be deducted from my rent. But it was a verbal agreement, so to him, it didn’t stand. Because when they brought the metre, he said I’d share it with the other apartments at the back. I was like, “How?” The other apartments were smaller than mine. When they brought another meter, he said he didn’t have money to fix the wiring, but because I wanted a meter to myself, I sha fixed it. He’s so petty.

Landlord, The Dog Owner

My experience is similar to E’s, especially the gate issue. So, my landlord had dogs, and between 6 a.m. and 9:30 p.m., they were locked inside a cage. For context, I fear dogs a lot. But I didn’t have any issue with that because I believed I didn’t have any reason to be out before 6 a.m. or after 9:30 p.m. Also, he said I could delay going in or out if I had a reason, as long as it wasn’t consistent.

One day, I travelled and would get home after 9:30 p.m. I texted him but didn’t get a response. He was waiting for me at the gate when I got there. He just kept grumbling and grumbling like a mosquito. I apologised, and that went.

Then one day, I was heading out for an event around 8 a.m. It was a weekend and I dressed to kill. Oh boy, I was in the middle of the compound when the monstrous animals jumped out at me. I tore my foot and footwear, broke my watch, and couldn’t attend the event. He heard my shouts and didn’t even step out. When he saw me the following day, he said he heard my shout and he was sorry, because he forgot to lock the dogs up.

You would think that was the only time it happened. Chai, dogs too pursue me for that house.