When Your Landlord Stings The Wrong Area
Jan 18, 2003
THOSE of you who know the benefits of a goodnight’s sleep will concur with me that sleep is sweeter in the early hours of the morning –– say 5:00am.
‘My Landlord Says My Wife Is A Poor Cook And Needs Replacing’
By George Bita
THOSE of you who know the benefits of a goodnight’s sleep will concur with me that sleep is sweeter in the early hours of the morning –– say 5:00am.
I as a matter of fact, keep forwarding my alarm clock wake-up time until my conscience finally sends me running to the bathroom not to be late for work.
Anyway, last Saturday morning, there was a raucous knock on my door. Irked by this intrusion on my cherished slumber, I buried my head deeper into my pillow. This did not help. The intruder kept knocking persistently until I was forced to answer the door while uttering obscenities.
It was the landlord. From the look on her unwashed face, it was obvious she had not come to share breakfast with me. Rather, she just handed me the electricity bill without bothering to say ‘good-morning’ and ordered me to pay up immediately or face eviction. I tried explaining how the month is soon coming to an end and then I will have money, but it only made matters worse.
Without mincing words, she said I should build my own dwelling where I can use electricity as I please.
This is just a tip of the iceberg of the bitter-sweet relationship between tenants and landlords.
A landlord in Bugiri town has new tenants occupying his premises on average every four months. Sources say he is too quarrelsome to deal with.
Sarah Birungi, a tenant in Iganga town, says her landlord keeps asking about the numerous visitors she entertains in her house. “It is none of his business but the man insists on poking his nose into my private affairs.†Birungi is not alone. David Kirunda, who works with Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) in Iganga also has similar complaints. His landlord tries to limit the number of visitors at his rented house.
“When friends come around, she starts asking who they are and how long they will be staying. She even gossips about my wife saying that she is a poor cook and needs replacement.â€
Kirunda says his children find problems while playing about in the compound since they are not supposed to stray into the landlady’s section. On occasions when they defy the directive, a quarrel becomes the order of the day. “Now she has insisted we tenants should not sit for a long time on the grass, because we are ruining its texture†Kirunda adds.
David Lugada, another tenant says since he has been renting, he has come to understand that landlords and landladies are people who wish to have tenants sing their praises.
Lugada says once you chant the house owner’s praises you will no doubt be in their good books. With time they may even turn you into the head-tenant: responsible for collecting money from the rest of the tenants before handing it over as a bulk collection.
“Landlords and landladies look at themselves as saviours helping out a pauper,†Lugada adds.
Meddi Isabirye, a landlord in Bugembe, Jinja district, says tenants are very difficult to understand. You think you know them, but they always surprise you. “They start off on a good footing but change their colours like a chameleon with time,†Isabirye says.
He adds that there are a few good ones, but since the majority are crafty and up to no good, they tarnish the image of all tenants. They always demand for repairs and other services with utmost urgency yet when it comes to paying the rent and accumulated bills, excuses reign supreme.
“There is nothing for nothing. That is what tenants must learn in order to simplify our work as we definitely hate begging them over and over again to live up to our expectations,†Isabirye adds.
Recently, The New vision reported a case of Lira Resident district Commissioner, Charles Egou Engwau, who was involved in a court battle with his landlord after renting premises on Kabalega Crescent in Luzira at sh350,000 per month.
The landlord through Nakawa Court allegedly made the RDC part with sh1.3m while a balance of sh3.3m still had to be paid. All this in arrears.
Similarly, Meera Investments Limited had disagreements with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) over rental fee. The New Vision also reported that in consent judgement No. 264/98, The Registrar of the High court, ordered URA to pay Meera Investment sh665m in arrears for rent owed on plot 1 Parliament Avenue.
There are many other cases that go unreported nation wide. Actually it is common nowadays to come across tenants on the veranda with their property after being forcefully evicted from houses over non-payment of rent.
As long as some people have no houses of their own, landlords and landladies will continue to make brisk business. In any case Uganda has never been the former Soviet Union or Libya where government built houses for all citizens. Ends
By George Bita
THOSE of you who know the benefits of a goodnight’s sleep will concur with me that sleep is sweeter in the early hours of the morning –– say 5:00am.
I as a matter of fact, keep forwarding my alarm clock wake-up time until my conscience finally sends me running to the bathroom not to be late for work.
Anyway, last Saturday morning, there was a raucous knock on my door. Irked by this intrusion on my cherished slumber, I buried my head deeper into my pillow. This did not help. The intruder kept knocking persistently until I was forced to answer the door while uttering obscenities.
It was the landlord. From the look on her unwashed face, it was obvious she had not come to share breakfast with me. Rather, she just handed me the electricity bill without bothering to say ‘good-morning’ and ordered me to pay up immediately or face eviction. I tried explaining how the month is soon coming to an end and then I will have money, but it only made matters worse.
Without mincing words, she said I should build my own dwelling where I can use electricity as I please.
This is just a tip of the iceberg of the bitter-sweet relationship between tenants and landlords.
A landlord in Bugiri town has new tenants occupying his premises on average every four months. Sources say he is too quarrelsome to deal with.
Sarah Birungi, a tenant in Iganga town, says her landlord keeps asking about the numerous visitors she entertains in her house. “It is none of his business but the man insists on poking his nose into my private affairs.†Birungi is not alone. David Kirunda, who works with Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) in Iganga also has similar complaints. His landlord tries to limit the number of visitors at his rented house.
“When friends come around, she starts asking who they are and how long they will be staying. She even gossips about my wife saying that she is a poor cook and needs replacement.â€
Kirunda says his children find problems while playing about in the compound since they are not supposed to stray into the landlady’s section. On occasions when they defy the directive, a quarrel becomes the order of the day. “Now she has insisted we tenants should not sit for a long time on the grass, because we are ruining its texture†Kirunda adds.
David Lugada, another tenant says since he has been renting, he has come to understand that landlords and landladies are people who wish to have tenants sing their praises.
Lugada says once you chant the house owner’s praises you will no doubt be in their good books. With time they may even turn you into the head-tenant: responsible for collecting money from the rest of the tenants before handing it over as a bulk collection.
“Landlords and landladies look at themselves as saviours helping out a pauper,†Lugada adds.
Meddi Isabirye, a landlord in Bugembe, Jinja district, says tenants are very difficult to understand. You think you know them, but they always surprise you. “They start off on a good footing but change their colours like a chameleon with time,†Isabirye says.
He adds that there are a few good ones, but since the majority are crafty and up to no good, they tarnish the image of all tenants. They always demand for repairs and other services with utmost urgency yet when it comes to paying the rent and accumulated bills, excuses reign supreme.
“There is nothing for nothing. That is what tenants must learn in order to simplify our work as we definitely hate begging them over and over again to live up to our expectations,†Isabirye adds.
Recently, The New vision reported a case of Lira Resident district Commissioner, Charles Egou Engwau, who was involved in a court battle with his landlord after renting premises on Kabalega Crescent in Luzira at sh350,000 per month.
The landlord through Nakawa Court allegedly made the RDC part with sh1.3m while a balance of sh3.3m still had to be paid. All this in arrears.
Similarly, Meera Investments Limited had disagreements with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) over rental fee. The New Vision also reported that in consent judgement No. 264/98, The Registrar of the High court, ordered URA to pay Meera Investment sh665m in arrears for rent owed on plot 1 Parliament Avenue.
There are many other cases that go unreported nation wide. Actually it is common nowadays to come across tenants on the veranda with their property after being forcefully evicted from houses over non-payment of rent.
As long as some people have no houses of their own, landlords and landladies will continue to make brisk business. In any case Uganda has never been the former Soviet Union or Libya where government built houses for all citizens. Ends