Hi all, I'm sorry I don't know the exact section to post this but hopefully the mods will help in moving it to the right section. Thanks.

I'm gonna go straight to the point.

I moved into this small house in Abuja due to pressure from the people I was staying with before now which required that I moved out quickly from there. After searching for a house to stay in within the shortest possible time, I finally settled for this one I'm staying in right now. I paid fully for the house in the presence of about three witnesses that is to say I am not owing a dime.

As with every house, there are agreements binding the tenants and landlords and some of mine includes Paying of water and light bill. Now the issue is that whenever we pay our light bill, after about a week or two it gets disconnected due to the outstanding balance of about N50,000 which is small compared to what so many people are owing in Nigeria but still have their electricity intact and from what I heard he was the one who kept refusing to pay the bills whenever it was given to him by past tenants and hence it accumulated.

The landlord promised fixing prepaid metre when I was moving in but until now he still hasn't and we the tenants have been suffering dearly for this. Everytime the PHCN guys come around, he fights and insults them and this I believe is the reason they have refused to be linient with us which is what he has been doing to us, the tenants too. At a point I even reported him to the police for subtly threatening me verbally and angrily and he was picked up for questioning and ever since then he started avoiding having any confrontation with me.

Now the issue is that we haven't had electricity for over a month now in our compound while our surrounding neighbors constantly have light in their houses. This has made us suffer greatly. Note that we don't owe light bill. We pay whenever there's a new bill and like I stated before, just after a week or two, we get disconnected again and we go ahead to buy wires, get and pay the person to help reconnect it. This has been going on since I moved in here. I later heard that other tenants suffered same with him. I can't remember the last time I ironed my clothes in my house, charged my phone or even watched TV all because of this guy's cruelty.

I had to resort to getting a generator to enable me get light and enjoy a bit of fan whenever I get back from work. My fridge has been lying dormant as I no longer use it to store cooked food. All these has cost me and is still costing me money. I now buy fuel almost every time, eat out because I can no longer cook and store the food in my fridge. He lives in the compound and doesn't care.

My question is this: what can be done to get us out of this misery this heartless guy has put us into? Please we need all the help we can get. The other two tenants are already overwhelmed with the whole situation. Please we need all the help we can get. Location is Abuja. Thanks.

Collect your balance and find somewhere else relocate... You no fit use your own money buy wahala for yourself.

Living in the same house with your landlord or lady is among the 1001 ways to die. Number 6 pricisely.

Offpoint1:
Collect your balance and find somewhere else relocate... You no fit use your own money buy wahala for yourself.

Living in the same house with your landlord or lady is among the 1001 ways to die. Number 6 pricisely.

When he was invited by the Police, I asked for my balance and he said he doesn't have money to pay me except I move out and he gets someone to occupy the place and then gives me the balance but the issue right now is that I don't have money to pay for another place as my rent is remaining about 6-7 months to expire.

ikechukwu21:


When he was invited by the Police, I asked for my balance and he said he doesn't have money to pay me except I move out and he gets someone to occupy the place and then gives me the balance but the issue right now is that I don't have money to pay for another place as my rent is remaining about 6-7 months to expire.

If the man is syphoning the house electric bill, you guys should stop giving him the bill. Assign one of the tenants to do the payment.

If he tries anything funny, una gather am.

The problem is not the current bills but the outstanding before he moved in.
OP, it is possible that the LL doesn't have the money or simply doesn't care.
If the prepaid meter comes, the outstanding will be incorporated into your bills over time.
Decide if you all affected can take up the bill and remove it from your house rent. Else, you have to move after your rent expires.

Hi its seams you like the house and the environment exempt for the light isues and landlord behavior.

If you have enough money to spear go into an agreement with him. Help him pay up the phch bills and have it deducted from your rent money. Pls involve your lawyer if you taking this step

OR

You can get a solar system. The cheapest monthly payment solar system I knew is lumos electricity.

If you unable to get the above steps done then move out of that apartment. Life is too short for dramas

The last thing you want is headache in your home. The landlord will not change anytime soon.

I advice that you leave that compound and rent a new apartment.

Move out.

That is ridiculous.

ikechukwu21:


When he was invited by the Police, I asked for my balance and he said he doesn't have money to pay me except I move out and he gets someone to occupy the place and then gives me the balance but the issue right now is that I don't have money to pay for another place as my rent is remaining about 6-7 months to expire.

Make i sidon small and listen to elders way get beta thing to talk

I don't get it
Are u the only tenant suffering this problem and if not why havent u tenants come together to complain to the landlord?
Also why does it seem u are the only guy he is targeting in his lodge?
I believe wat is reasonable is for u tenants to come together and meet the landlord and reason with him like civilised humans beings over how to resolve the outstanding nepa bills
There is no how no how he won't listen to u guys if u bring the matter in a group
Don't involve in this matter single handendly
Let the other tenants be involved as well

NobleDeSage001:
The last thing you want is headache in your home. The landlord will not change anytime soon.

I advice that you leave that compound and rent a new apartment.

lol really messed up If ur home that should be a place of rest should be a place of wahala

lefulefu:
I don't get it
Are u the only tenant suffering this problem and if not why havent u tenants come together to complain to the landlord?
Also why does it seem u are the only guy he is targeting in his lodge?
I believe wat is reasonable is for u tenants to come together and meet the landlord and reason with him like civilised humans beings over how to resolve the outstanding nepa bills
There is no how no how he won't listen to u guys if u bring the matter in a group
Don't involve in this matter single handendly
Let the other tenants be involved as well

The guy is just plain wicked and cruel. He doesn't listen to anyone. The only things he wishes is for us to use our money to sort out everything. Once he collects rents from unsuspecting prospective tenants he turns into a monster and every promise he made before they moved into his house becimes null and void. Someone from the same compound told me that no one has ever stayed up to a year in the compound before. We have been using our money to sort out the issue before but we're fed up.

lefulefu:
lol really messed up If ur home that should be a place of rest should be a place of wahala

It's really crazy. Everytime I remember I'm coming back home, I become sad.

aroundtheearth:
Move out.

I don't have another rent for now. Still saving up

Twelfthman:
Hi its seams you like the house and the environment exempt for the light isues and landlord behavior.

If you have enough money to spear go into an agreement with him. Help him pay up the phch bills and have it deducted from your rent money. Pls involve your lawyer if you taking this step

OR

You can get a solar system. The cheapest monthly payment solar system I knew is luminous electricity.

If you unable to get the above steps done then move out of that apartment. Life is too short for dramas

@bolded no, I don't. I rented the house under duress after having checked a couple of others and no success. I urgently had to move out of where I was staying. I have 6 months to go.

ikechukwu21:


The guy is just plain wicked and cruel. He doesn't listen to anyone. The only things he wishes is for us to use our money to sort out everything. Once he collects rents from unsuspecting prospective tenants he turns into a monster and every promise he made before they moved into his house becimes null and void. Someone from the same compound told me that no one has ever stayed up to a year in the compound before. We have been using our money to sort out the issue before but we're fed up.

is he the landlord or just the caretaker? I am yet to see a landlord who would be so uncaring as to mess up his main source of livelihood.anyway wen I was in school I had this same issue in lodge I rented .the former tenants who previously lived there refused paying their light bill and it accumulated.i believe d landlord ejected them or so.so how we resolved the issue was that the landlord paid some amount then we the tenants contributed some amount then the lodge governor invited the nepa official and we appealed that this was the amount we were able to raise.so we paid half of the accumulated fee then d nepa guy cancelled d other one and made out a fresh meter for us.dats how we solved our own.ours was easier cos we were co operative and it was a student environment.ur lodge should also do d same strategy.u should invite d nepa man In charge of ur district then raise some amount and pay to him and appealed to him to cancel d other other half.he go listen.then try and leave dat lodge wen ur rent expire and try rent a place that has a landlord/caretaker with normal faculty.Educated landlords are better.

I just wish you guys could take him to court.

Seems your landlord and mine are siblings because for the past 7months or so i have been fetching water since he refused to replaced the spoilt pumping machine, he says it's the responsibility of we the tennants to buy him a new one even after we had contributed to repair it twice before it was confirmed "dead". Half his tennants has left but he can't rent out the vacant flats since there's no water, can't wait to get cash and move out never again will i live in a house that the landlord resides too, it's not just worth it at all.

lefulefu:
is he the landlord or just the caretaker? I am yet to see a landlord who would be so uncaring as to mess up his main source of livelihood.anyway wen I was in school I had this same issue in lodge I rented .the former tenants who previously lived there refused paying their light bill and it accumulated.i believe d landlord ejected them or so.so how we resolved the issue was that the landlord paid some amount then we the tenants contributed some amount then the lodge governor invited the nepa official and we appealed that this was the amount we were able to raise.so we paid half of the accumulated fee then d nepa guy cancelled d other one and made out a fresh meter for us.dats how we solved our own.ours was easier cos we were co operative and it was a student environment.ur lodge should also do d same strategy.u should invite d nepa man In charge of ur district then raise some amount and pay to him and appealed to him to cancel d other other half.he go listen.then try and leave dat lodge wen ur rent expire and try rent a place that has a landlord/caretaker with normal faculty.Educated landlords are better.

My brother he is the landlord o. We don't have any issue with doing what you said but the guy is stark illetratre. Several attempts have been made in regard to what you suggested even last month that the PHCN official came around, he suggested same to him but the guy opposed them as usual and was just shouting. Truth is he doesn't want to spend a dime in rectifying the issue. He wants us to handle it all alone. The guy is fraudulent and crooked in nature. I am Igbo by tribe and the guy is also Igbo. Before now I didn't know why people so much dislike my tribe until I met this guy that was when I understood. I say this with great shame. There are other things he has done which contradicts the agreements we had before I moved in but I don't want to state them here to avoid the post being lengthy.

Liposure:
I just wish you guys could take him to court.

How effective is this? What and what is involved?

Tokskob2008:
Seems your landlord and mine are siblings because for the past 7months or so i have been fetching water since he refused to replaced the spoilt pumping machine, he says it's the responsibility of we the tennants to buy him a new one even after we had contributed to repair it twice before it was confirmed "dead". Half his tennants has left but he can't rent out the vacant flats since there's no water, can't wait to get cash and move out never again will i live in a house that the landlord resides too, it's not just worth it at all.

He also did same thing in respect to water to a former tenant here I was told . They said the lady was paying her light and water bill when due but he was spending the money on himself. She got fed up one day after discovering what he was doing as they kept coming to disconnect the water and she had to start paying her water bill to some neighbors directly behind the house and then connect pipe to supply water into her room. It was horrible just hearing it. Just imagine the stress.

@Ikechukwu21

My advise to you would be to save money and move out of that house

IbnBattuta1960:
The problem is not the current bills but the outstanding before he moved in.
OP, it is possible that the LL doesn't have the money or simply doesn't care.
If the prepaid meter comes, the outstanding will be incorporated into your bills over time.
Decide if you all affected can take up the bill and remove it from your house rent. Else, you have to move after your rent expires.

The guy is fraudulent. If it was about the money, he would have sorted the whole issue immediately I and another tenant paid him rent at same time as we both moved in a couple of days apart so he had more than enough money to sort out the bill. The guy doesn't care. None of us are renewing our rent as we're all leaving the compound when or even before our rent expires. The guy is like a wild animal. You can't reason with him. He's like a grade one tout literally no kidding. I never knew these kind of people existed until I met this guy. He was even bold to tell me he was building another house elsewhere as we were returning from the police station after the IPO in charge of the case I reported against him tried to sue for peace rather than escalate the matter.

..we have outstanding debt in our compound,,but then after paying our current bill ,phcn will still come back after a week or 2 for the outstanding debt,we go sha contribute Money giv them..lol..

Me I can't relate. Where we dey na us dey terrorize landlord

Lanlords

This ur case is what we Yorubas proverbially refer to as "Ọrọ yi só sí'ni lẹnu, o bu'yọ si"

You still have a long way to go with ur landlord, ur landlord and you the tenants will still need to throw blow at some point

Pack out then