Living next to the landlord is such a pain!

A property up for rent in Kampala. Renting a house in the vicinity of its owner comes with its share of nightmares.  

By RONA NIISIMA
Posted  Thursday, April 28 2011 at 00:00

 

We dream of having our own homes someday. But, buying or building one is not easy. So, we rent for a while and with that comes not just worries over rent but those sometimes ridiculous rules set by some landlords. It’s harder when your landlord lives right next door. You feel like you’re under a microscope and he or she is watching your every move, waiting for you to step out of line.

My former landlady had such a grip. Many tenants moved out earlier than planned. She regularly asked to inspect “her” houses, checking the walls and doors to make sure we hadn’t damaged them in any way.

On one visit, she asked me to remove the carpets I’d just placed in the bedroom and sitting room, saying that because they were plastic, they would ruin her floors. All my neighbours heard her giving me the talk. I almost failed to leave the house that day.

It turns out I’m not the only one who prefers not to live close to my landlord. Jonah, a tenant in Kibuye, is familiar with the discomfort. He says, “You have to think twice before buying anything nice because he’s always snooping around and ready to remind you that he needs his money.”

“We share the cooking area and if he happens to see you preparing meat or milk, he assumes you just don’t want to pay him yet you can afford the “nice” food.” Jonah adds that sometimes his salary comes late but the landlord expects the rent on the first day of the month.

Kate rents in Soya on Ggaba Road, and says, “My landlord keeps track of everyone who visits and how often. He also doesn’t want people to stay over. One day, my mum was very sick and was admitted to a hospital in Kampala. She was later discharged and the doctor asked me to monitor her condition for at least a week. Letting her stay at my place was the best way I could do. But my landlord said I should have informed him that someone was going to stay over.” She adds, “What hurt me was that his concern was not for my mother’s well-being but rather his property. The rule now is we have to inform him in advance if friends or relatives plan to visit.”

And what do the landlords have to say about living close to their tenants?

Mr Busonga Musoke of Kirinya Parish in Ndeeba owns three sets of two-roomed quartres and recently put up his own house right next to the rentals.

“In the past, I would just come around to collect my rent only to find the tenants had disappeared,’’ he says. “I have problems too. I need special medical care and these houses are my source of income. If people keep running away without paying, then how will I survive?” he asks.

John Semaganda, a tenant in Busega Nateete, says, “Some people just don’t care about things like keeping the place clean. There are also fights about the bills. People use water, power and benefit from the security guard’s services but when it comes to paying, they don’t want to contribute. The presence of a landlord eases that. Many of these people are our parents’ age so we respect them, something we may not do if it were just our neighbours telling us to do the same.”

Having a landlord who lives on his property will create a better chance of getting things fixed quickly. If your sink needs to be repaired, they are just minutes away and you don’t have to wait to report when they come around, which could take weeks. Still, living next to your landlord is bound to give you nerves.