Imisioluwa Bamidele 

Accommodation, undoubtedly, is pivotal to the academic performances of university students. Sequel to a student’s admission into the university, s/he is expected to find a place of residence. While some students embrace on-campus accommodation because of its proximity to lecture theatres and affordability, some students prefer off-campus accommodation. Unfortunately, students who belong to the latter category are faced with numerous challenges, the chief of which is house hunting.

The pain still stings Opeyemi to date even though a myriad of water has passed under the bridge; the hurtful experience still relieves itself in his head like a movie. He was just a fresh student who did not know how things worked. However, the agent who doubled as a caretaker leveraged heavily on this.

Opeyemi is only one person out of many people who have sad tales to tell about greedy house agents who have ripped them off. 

While house hunting can be hard, housing agents have made it twice as hard. Imposing different fees on the apartments, house agents have made apartments a luxury such that it has become a matter of ‘Cash and Carry’. House hunting which is not supposed to take time has now become a sport to the extent that some people spend months on house hunting and at the end of the day, they may still not find the suitable house they desire.

In lieu of this, NASELS Press decided to reach out to some students to find out their experiences in house hunting. We also reached out to agents to ask why they charged numerous charges.

I was left in disbelief” — Opeyemi

Opeyemi Olatunbosun, a finalist in the Department of Communications and Language Art, acknowledged his ugly experience. Opeyemi revealed, “I have been cheated by an agent. There was once a time I was told to pay my house rent. When I wanted to pay my house rent, the total package was around 75k whereas the total amount was meant to be 65k. The agent who doubled as the caretaker made me lie to my landlord that it was 65k that I paid.”

He added that the incident left him in disbelief, but there was nothing he could do at that point. He also revealed that when he wanted to get an apartment, the agent collected an inspection fee from him, which was N2000. He disclosed that he was taken to several houses that lacked suitability before he finally found what he wanted. 

“They won’t tell you the house you’re going to until you get there.” — Dorcas

Dorcas, a finalist in the Department of English affirmed, “I went to different houses actually. I was thinking I could get a place of 50k but I was wrong. I had to increase my budget. They were even taking me to houses that had poor toilet facilities.” She lamented that most of the houses at Agbowo are not worth the prices placed on them, asserting that only 20% of the houses at Agbowo are worth their discreet prices.

Giving context to the above, she explained that demanding the sum of N250,000 to N300,000 for a new built-in is understandable but requesting this amount for old houses with dilapidated structures is unacceptable.

She further disclosed that she, at a particular time, paid close to the sum of #100,000 for a house that wasn’t worth the price; this was exclusive of the agent fees which would sum up the total package.

She added that she had been cheated before. In her words, she said, “Is it the inspection fee that I should talk about because I tried out different agents so I was paying 2k – in total, I paid up to 15k or 20k and got an inspection fee. They won’t tell you the house you’re going to until you get there.”

Contrarily, she added that she couldn’t entirely blame the agents for charging inspection fees because if one would put oneself in their shoes, one would realize that taking people around to check out apartments is not an easy job, hence they deserved to be compensated, and the inspection fee would serve as that.

Whilst Opeyemi chose to stay outside due to his need for privacy, Dorcas chose to stay outside of the school due to the stress that came with living in the hostel. 

According to her, the kitchen was far from her room. She also had to constantly deal with porters who would always request the presentation of her Hostel Identity Card despite knowing full well that she was a bonafide member of the hall of residence. She could not put up with it anymore, hence her getting an apartment off campus.

“Those inspection fees are ridiculous.” — Martha

Martha, a 400 level student, Faculty of Law, stated that she did not have much experience to share because she was just moving outside of the campus for the first time.

In her words, she said, “I don’t know if I can call it ugly per se because I just moved outside school this session but the only issue I had was the stress of house hunting.”

She said that she did not think the houses were worth the rent but she thought that what was driving up the rent was the amount of the demand and the locations of these houses because elsewhere they would not go for that much.

“I chose to stay off campus because there are no agents in school. It is stressful to get a hostel if you are not a first-year or a final-year student. It is a lot of stress and if you can’t go through the stress, you have to have a connection,” she said.

With respect to the inspection fees, she commented, “I think those inspection fees are ridiculous. I paid 3k for an inspection fee and in a few days’ time when I wanted to pay for the place, I was informed that someone had taken it so later on I had to get another agent. The new agent I contacted ended up taking me back to the same old place, and I felt I had wasted the 3k I paid for the inspection fee.”

“Yes, I have not really had an ugly experience as others. It was during a period when I was transitioning from my first year to my second year at the university and I wanted to change apartments. I went through a lot in the hands of agents. I will get there and they will ask me to pay an inspection fee. Not only that, I observed that whenever it is the period when students are searching for apartments, that is when agents increase the prices of houses across the board but when the tension lessens, the prices crash.”

She added that most of the houses were not worth the prices being attached but it was due to the desperation of students and the agents were out to milk all they could out of students especially when ‘it was a time they were searching for houses badly’.

Sharing a personal experience, she said, “How will you take me to a room in a flat where I will have to share a toilet and a bathroom with two people? And the price tag is 250k. It does not make any sense.”

She further added that she chose to stay off campus because of the stringent rules attached to the hostels on campus. She revealed that she was a working-class student who would often leave work at late hours hence the hostel rules could not work for her.

According to Tonia, “I did not pay any agent fee, and I have never been cheated by an agent. Never! The only agent I gave an inspection fee was because I chose to give him. He was very patient. He was very kind and he had taken me to check out several houses so the inspection fee I paid was to compensate him for his efforts.”

AGENTS SHARE THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY

“Agents only liaise between landlords and students.” — Favour 

Clearing the air, Favour Vincent, a 400-level student of the Department of English, who works as a house agent said, “To start with, it is not the agent fees per se that make the rent expensive. You need to understand one thing —houses were not used to being expensive. It was catalysed by the increase in hostel fees. When the landlords caught wind of this information, they followed suit in jumping the rent of their houses.

“Landlords have a huge role to play here but the painful thing is people don’t see this part – It is the agents that people relate with directly that they often blame. The thing is that landlords have been inflating prices – The basis of fees that people pay is 40% of the rent.”

“20% of the rent is for the Agent for a standard home ranging from 2 bedroom to 3 bedroom. 10%  is for the caution fee. The remaining 10% is for the agreement form that the prospective tenant will be getting from the agents,” she explained.

She added that corrupt agents are also responsible for the hike in rents, and this was one of the reasons she came into the market to set an order for change.

With respect to the factors responsible for the increase in rent, she revealed, “It is not just the agents; there are other factors that provoke the increase in rent. One is that the demand for houses exceeds the supply because houses are limited so agents often increase the prices to scare off people who can’t pay but even at that, people are still willing to pay, barring the cost of the houses.”

She added that ‘another factor is that some of the houses are already under the care of an agent therefore if one is bringing in a prospect, there is already an established amount and one cannot charge less therefore it is not just dependent on the agent because there are corrupt agents.’

Expounding on the breakdown of the charges attached to house rent, she reiterated, ‘10% is for the agreement form. 20% is for the agent while the remaining 10% is for the caution fee for repairs and damage; it is a form of insurance. People don’t maintain houses well. That is the major reason for the high charges by landlords. Now with this breakdown, a house of 200k will go for 280k as the total package.”

“Without house agents, there will be serious problems getting a shelter.” — Nosa

Nosa, who works as a house agent as a side hustle said, “I do not see a correlation between the amount agents charge for their service and the house rent of an apartment fixed by a landlord/landlady. To clarify to an extent, some fees come with the first payment of the rent. The agreement fee, the caution fee, (which is often refundable), and the agency fee. Most times an apartment has what is called a service charge used to maintain the wellness of the building, like waste disposal, compound sanitation, electricity bill, and even security levy.”

He added that he did not think agents charge too much because skilled workers like carpenters, lawyers, electricians, and even medical specialists charge for their services according to different metrics. Agents should also be seen as specialists and skilled workers, and sometimes, other factors can determine the compensation for the service they render.

On the inspection fee, he said, “Hospitals charge patients for card fees and consultation fees before attending to any of their clients so why should this be different for House Agents? House agents should be seen as specialists and experts who most times without them, many people will have serious problems getting a shelter.”

He added, “Do you think that it’s right for a house hunter to inspect apartments at about 3 to 5 different locations eating up about the quality hours of an Agent’s productive time without receiving an ‘inspection fee’?  Of which, most times, the said house hunter never gets any of the apartments no matter how good the places might be.”

He further added that he did not think agents charged exorbitantly; rather he would have an agent pronounce a certain amount for either the rent or total package of the apartment, therefore the house hunter(s) should simply ask for the breakdown. He stated that many house hunters often misconstrued fees meant for agents and other fees that came with the apartment.

“It is right to collect inspection fees because you’re rendering a service.”—Mr Bolarinwa

According to Mr. Bolarinwa who is both a Pastor and a real estate agent, “I will not totally agree to the fact that agents contribute to the increase in the rent because if you are getting the house directly from the landlord, there are not much charges asides from the service charge and the caution fee but if you are getting it from the agent, agreement fee and the agency fee will be inclusive and these are all justified.”

He added that landlords have outsourced the management of their houses to agents because of the negative experiences they have had with tenants and so that the agents could help keep the tenants in check.

He clarified, “Agents don’t charge much. Firstly, you don’t expect me to offer a service to you and you will not pay me adequately for it. Then secondly, the agent fees are fixed which are 29% of the rent for the Agent, and 10% for the agreement (Legal). These are our normal charges for every house in Ibadan. Some houses have service charges while some do not.”

On inspection fees, he disclosed; “It depends on the level of the relationship I share with my client. There are some clients that I collect inspection fees from while for some, I let it slide. Also, it is right to collect inspection fees because you’re rendering a service. So it is not about whether the client will like the house or not, courtesy demands for such a tedious service, the agent is paid an inspection fee.”

He added that corrupt agents have posed problems to the business because many a time when people were not able to define their reason for joining the Real Estate Business, abuse is inevitable, and the first vision of any realtor must be to solve the House Hunting problem and not to add to it.

EXPERTS’ OPINION

“The panacea is a price control mechanism.” — Barr. Adeleye 

Barrister Adebola Valentine Adeleye, who is a Legal Officer and the principal of Puzzle Law Firm commenting on the need for a regulation of the fees that agents charge said: “Nigeria lacks price control mechanism that is why anybody can just wake up tomorrow and say I want to increase the price of my house or I want to increase the price of my goods and services. Assuming there was a price control mechanism in place, there would be uniformity in the prices of things generally. Now back to the issue of the agents’ charges, in Nigeria, no regulation in place states that real estate agents should charge a certain amount. It is just you who is paid as a middleman between the prospective tenant and the landlord, they midwife the house hunting process.”

Commenting on the legality of inspection fees, he commented “Well, I will say Yes and No. Yes, in the sense that we are all humans. Why will I leave the comfort of my house to come and show you something and yet you are the one that wants this thing and I won’t be paid for rendering that service? So, I can say Yes because they are rendering a service so even if they don’t later rent that property, they should be paid”

He added, “Now, here is the thing, there should be a clause between both the prospect and the agent such that if he or she doesn’t eventually like that particular property. For example, if the agent takes the prospect to see a 5-bedroom duplex, he or she has to pay the agent 10k for an inspection fee but if he or doesn’t like the property, he or she may tell him that he or she will pay 5k or 6k. This will be stated in the clause.”

Commenting on who is to blame for the issues with rentals, Barrister Adeleye said; “Both the landlord and the agents are to be blamed. Some agents were dishonest. If you ask them to send you pictures or videos of a house, some will doctor the image or video or even send you a false image. In the case of the landlords, some landlords refuse to pay their house agents and in the bid to survive, the house agents beef up the prices of the house in order to make money. But if there were a price control mechanism in place, this issue would be resolved and this law would be enforced in all states in Nigeria.”

He added that valuation is another issue because “Most landlords will often say they bought the land around 5-10  years ago, and since the value of things is not the same, the price of their rent has to also increase. But if there is a price control in place, it will regulate the price of the things in the past that have now appreciated in the present and the things in the present that will later appreciate in the future.”

“There’s a need for adequate legal and government intervention.” — Barr. Ayodele

In the opinion of Barrister Isaac Ayodele Esq., a Corporate and Property Consultant, barrister, and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, he said, “Well I think agents should not charge an inspection fee at all, and this is because an agent is supposed to be acting on behalf of the landlord who ordinarily should be responsible for the agent’s fee. Inspection fee is an aberration occasioned by the greed on the part of the agents and pressure on the part of ‘house hunters’.”

Barrister Ayodele chose to blame neither the landlord nor the agents. According to him, he would rather blame a lack of adequate legal framework and a lack of interest on the part of the government.

“Lawyers have a professional association (NBA) that regulates their charges on property transactions and that is why lawyers charge 10% on their services in property transactions. Also, Surveyors also have a body that regulates their work in property transactions. Agents are not professionals. Anybody can wake up tomorrow and decide to become one. That being so, regulating their charges is a huge mountain to climb. The only person that can keep them in check now is the Landlords if they so wish,” he added.

Proposing a solution, he called for adequate legal and government intervention. He cited instances of rent control laws in various states that have not been amended to suit the current economic realities. He surmised that if these laws were amended, some of the issues being faced by house seekers would have been addressed.