I had a telling encounter during my time in the UK. I had just concluded year one and needed to move out of my university's hall of residence. Just around this time, I found a property which I really liked. To place myself in prime spot to get it for rental purposes from the letting agency, I offered to pay a year's rent based on my peculiar Nigerian experience.

Meanwhile, I was asked to hold on till the following day as other interested persons were also coming to view the property. I happily went away in the firm hope that I will get it. The following day, I was shocked to receive a regret call from the agency that the property had been let to some other person.

Confused about the development, I had to do a bit of investigation. From that exercise, I discovered that my offer to pay a full year's rent was my greatest undoing. The guys in the agency have not heard or seen that sort of thing before. That a regular tenant would pay rent for an entire year upfront when he is only paid his salary on a monthly or weekly basis, as the case may be. And I was a student! To them, this meant only one thing: I was involved in some kind of shady dealings. What even made matters worse: I am a Black man from Nigeria!

There is a big lesson here for Nigeria! In our attempt to 'fight' fraud aka '419' and 'Yahoo Yahoo' and graft as a society, these are some of the fundamentals we should be concerned about. I ask in closing: how can a civil servant in Nigeria be asked to pay rent for a year in advance when that same person has not been paid salary for months? In some cases, highly unscrupulous landlords even ask for two years' rent in advance! We are not serious.

@ODNEsq; Listic1

Lalasticlala: Thanks.

The guys in the agency have not heard or seen that sort of thing before. That a regular tenant would pay rent for an entire year upfront when he is only paid his salary on a monthly or weekly basis, as the case may be. And I was a student! To them, this meant only one thing: I was involved in some kind of shady dealings. What even made matters worse: I am a Black man from Nigeria!


A Big lesson is to be learnt here.