Single or Married; The Lagos Landlord’s Criteria

The need for shelter is one of the basic needs of human beings. The search for this basic necessity turns out to be a herculean task when an area or geographical location is densely populated. 

Such is the case in Lagos where house hunting has become a dreaded activity due to the growing challenge in finding affordable and conducive accommodation. A peculiar trend which has become popular as a result of the house hunting difficulties is the act of Lagos landlords refusing to rent their houses to single ladies. 

See also: What You Need to Know About Renting or Buying a House in Nigeria

How Lagos Landlords Reject Single Ladies

It is no longer news that single ladies find it hard to rent an apartment in Lagos. This act is backed up with the notion that single ladies who do not want to stay with their parents or other family members are considered as loose and irresponsible. 

A transaction which is meant to be strictly business and professional has become fraught with personal sentiments and so on. This issue also transcends into renting out of houses to similar or only preferred tenants from similar ethnic tribes. Many young and single women who desire to live alone have become subjects of gender inequality and discrimination.  

Reasons Why Lagos Landlords Reject Single Ladies

Some of the reasons which have come up over time as to why landlords in Lagos do not want to rent out their houses to single ladies include;

Inability to meet up with financial demands: Many landlords believe that single ladies are not going to be able to meet up with paying the rent after the initial duration has expired. This is why they’re usually reluctant to rent out their apartments to them. 

Promiscuous lifestyle: Single Ladies living alone have been termed to be promiscuous, having different people of the opposite sex visit them from time to time. Landlords are usually wary of unfamiliar faces and do not want to have different people enter their house every time. 

Bad Character: Some landlords also believe that a woman who is not staying with her parents or does not have a husband is not submissive and has a bad character. As such, they do not want such ladies in their compounds to constitute a nuisance as time goes on. 

While these reasons hold some water, it is biased and uses a few to generalize a whole. There are also single men who may not turn out to be responsible, yet they do not face as much trouble like their female counterparts when looking for apartments for rent. 

Check out What Landlords and Tenants Need to Know About Tenancy Agreement in Nigeria

The Culture of Renting Husbands for Lagos Landlords

As a result of the current trend, young ladies have now resorted to renting husbands just to be able to rent a house in Lagos. Strange as it may sound, this is the case of many single ladies who have become tired of getting rejections from landlords in Lagos. 

Sometimes, these husbands who have been rented pose as the real tenants interested in getting an apartment for rent. Then they have to keep showing up for some time even after the lady has moved in before they can finally disappear. This is usually a last resort as many ladies get frustrated and tired of being rejected when house hunting, especially when it is an urgent situation. 

In a bid to solve this menace, some online platforms have set out to make house hunting less tedious by listing apartments for rent on their site. However, these listed apartments are usually above the range of affordability for many Nigerians which still leads them back to the traditional methods of finding an apartment. 

Check out What You Need to Know About Shortlets

While there are different criteria for which landlords would want their proposed tenants to meet based on personal preferences, it is unfair to allow these criteria create a brooding ground for gender discrimination. 

At MKH, you do not have to deal with this unlikely occurrence of getting a husband just to secure an accommodation. We have properties that are well designed and affordable which you can invest in to avoid the Lagos landlords drama. You can contact us here for more details to get started.