Hello everyone,
I need your advice on how to proceed in a matter I have with my Landlord, I will try my best to explain details, if you need more information just quote me and I will respond.
When I moved into my apartment, the landlord asked me to pre-pay 3k per month as nepa charges, and for 12 months that is 36k, I was to pre-pay the complete 36k and he will be the one sorting out the nepa bills without having to disturb me at anytime for bills, I agreed to this because in my line of work sometimes 3k can be scarce and I will prefer to eat with the 3k in my pocket than say I want to pay nepa bills, so to prevent any embarrassment if am not able to pay my nepa bill as at when due I gladly handed over the 36k knowing no one will come and disturb me for any nepa bill for 12 months.
Also, we the tenants had to pay 10% of our rent as maintenance/service fee which serves to cover such bills as waste disposal and cleaning of compound and anything that has to do with the compound in general but excludes maintenance of your apartment as that should be taken care of by the tenant him/herself.
I paid these fees the first year without issues, and now I have also paid the fees for the 2nd year of my rent which started reading from middle June 2018. The issue now is that the nepa bills been brought now are huge, the landlord now wants to act wise and says he will refund my money for the nepa bills so i can be paying the bills myself, i initially refused to accept the money back on the grounds that when the nepa bills were lower he was making profit from my money and never thought of returning the excess money back to me and now the bills are higher and he sees he won't make profit but rather he will be at a loss because he will have to take from his own pocket to cover the new nepa bills been brought, after much thought and discussion with a friend of mine who advised me to go collect the money back from the landlord and just overlook the landlords so called wiseness i decided to go collect the money back from the land, only for the landlord to tell me he will give me half of the money and balance me whenever he has the rest balance, i refused to accept this condition and gave him till tomorrow Friday to complete my money and return both the nepa fees and the maintenance/service charge fees, as i was no longer interested in him handling both my nepa bills and maintenance/service issues. I asked him for my complete refund on Monday and have given him till tomorrow Friday to refund the complete money.
I need your advice and suggestion on how to get my money back and if there are any legal actions i can take on my landlord, and if the legal action will cost me and what range should i expect the cost to be in.
Thank you for all your suggestions and advice.

See Yawa.......

henribj:
Hello everyone,
I need your advice on how to proceed in a matter I have with my Landlord, I will try my best to explain details, if you need more information just quote me and I will respond.
When I moved into my apartment, the landlord asked me to pre-pay 3k per month as nepa charges, and for 12 months that is 36k, I was to pre-pay the complete 36k and he will be the one sorting out the nepa bills without having to disturb me at anytime for bills, I agreed to this because in my line of work sometimes 3k can be scarce and I will prefer to eat with the 3k in my pocket than say I want to pay nepa bills, so to prevent any embarrassment if am not able to pay my nepa bill as at when due I gladly handed over the 36k knowing no one will come and disturb me for any nepa bill for 12 months.
Also, we the tenants had to pay 10% of our rent as maintenance/service fee which serves to cover such bills as waste disposal and cleaning of compound and anything that has to do with the compound in general but excludes maintenance of your apartment as that should be taken care of by the tenant him/herself.
I paid these fees the first year without issues, and now I have also paid the fees for the 2nd year of my rent which started reading from middle June 2018. The issue now is that the nepa bills been brought now are huge, the landlord now wants to act wise and says he will refund my money for the nepa bills so i can be paying the bills myself, i initially refused to accept the money back on the grounds that when the nepa bills were lower he was making profit from my money and never thought of returning the excess money back to me and now the bills are higher and he sees he won't make profit but rather he will be at a loss because he will have to take from his own pocket to cover the new nepa bills been brought, after much thought and discussion with a friend of mine who advised me to go collect the money back from the landlord and just overlook the landlords so called wiseness i decided to go collect the money back from the land, only for the landlord to tell me he will give me half of the money and balance me whenever he has the rest balance, i refused to accept this condition and gave him till tomorrow Friday to complete my money and return both the nepa fees and the maintenance/service charge fees, as i was no longer interested in him handling both my nepa bills and maintenance/service issues. I asked him for my complete refund on Monday and have given him till tomorrow Friday to refund the complete money.
I need your advice and suggestion on how to get my money back and if there are any legal actions i can take on my landlord, and if the legal action will cost me and what range should i expect the cost to be in.
Thank you for all your suggestions and advice.

As soon as you start having issues with a property owner, it isn't hard being kicked out especially if he lives there.

He would easily find Faults in anything you do.

You already made the mistake by letting him handle things like that.

Since there wasn't any agreement binding you guys, there's nothing you can do and he knows it.

No need giving him ultimatums. Collect whatever he gives you and ask him when he would give you the rest. Make sure there's an evidence he's owing you.

Also apologize to him (especially if you aren't a buoyant or strong person) and let him know you acted out of annoyance.

Abeg ba simple apology Oooo else you risk putting your self in a position to be taken advantage off.

Now if later he fails to give you the rest of the money (which is likely), no worry as you could as well take it out of the next rent arrears.

Na simple maths be that.


Also Abeg never threathen or give anyone ultimatums if you don't have anything under you.
No do finish come nairaland dey ask what to do - who knows your Landlord might even be on Nairaland and be giving you advices that would favour him or even be laughing at you.


Going forward, learn to handle things yourself.
Also learn to never agree to unnecessary instructions.


You didn't mention if you're living on a flat, self-contain, FaceMeI?, etc.


NB: Sometimes it's not about if the landlord lives within the compound, it's about your personality.
Also whatever you can't continue, never allow it from the start.


Thanks

bassdow:



As soon as you start having issues with a property owner, it isn't hard being kicked out especially if he lives there.

He would easily find Faults in anything you do.

You already made the mistake by letting him handle things like that.

Since there wasn't any agreement binding you guys, there's nothing you can do and he knows it.

No need giving him ultimatums. Collect whatever he gives you and ask him when he would give you the rest. Make sure there's an evidence he's owing you.

Also apologize to him (especially if you aren't a buoyant or strong person) and let him know you acted out of annoyance.

Abeg ba simple apology Oooo else you risk putting your self in a position to be taken advantage off.

Now if later he fails to give you the rest of the money (which is likely), no worry as you could as well take it out of the next rent arrears.

Na simple maths be that.


Also Abeg never threathen or give anyone ultimatums if you don't have anything under you.
No do finish come nairaland dey ask what to do - who knows your Landlord might even be on Nairaland and be giving you advices that would favour him or even be laughing at you.


Going forward, learn to handle things yourself.
Also learn to never agree to unnecessary instructions.


You didn't mention if you're living on a flat, self-contain, FaceMeI?, etc.


NB: Sometimes it's not about if the landlord lives within the compound, it's about your personality.
Also whatever you can't continue, never allow it from the start.


Thanks

Wisdom.... one cold star for you, op will pay

Kingdante:


Wisdom.... one cold star for you, op will pay

lol

bassdow:



As soon as you start having issues with a property owner, it isn't hard being kicked out especially if he lives there.

He would easily find Faults in anything you do.

You already made the mistake by letting him handle things like that.

Since there wasn't any agreement binding you guys, there's nothing you can do and he knows it.

No need giving him ultimatums. Collect whatever he gives you and ask him when he would give you the rest. Make sure there's an evidence he's owing you.

Also apologize to him (especially if you aren't a buoyant or strong person) and let him know you acted out of annoyance.

Abeg ba simple apology Oooo else you risk putting your self in a position to be taken advantage off.

Now if later he fails to give you the rest of the money (which is likely), no worry as you could as well take it out of the next rent arrears.

Na simple maths be that.


Also Abeg never threathen or give anyone ultimatums if you don't have anything under you.
No do finish come nairaland dey ask what to do - who knows your Landlord might even be on Nairaland and be giving you advices that would favour him or even be laughing at you.


Going forward, learn to handle things yourself.
Also learn to never agree to unnecessary instructions.


You didn't mention if you're living on a flat, self-contain, FaceMeI?, etc.


NB: Sometimes it's not about if the landlord lives within the compound, it's about your personality.
Also whatever you can't continue, never allow it from the start.


Thanks

thank you for your contribution, greatly appreciated
there was an agreement, a written agreement which covers the rent and the nepa fees and service charge
but the landlord should i say is defaulting on the nepa charges
i am living in a mini flat
i could easily roll over the money he is owing me into the next rent, but since i do not personally know if i will be renewing again, am hesitant towards him owing me
i allowed him handle all these transactions cos it was the first time i will be renting an apartment, and the man claims to be a pastor, i felt he could be trusted to do the right thing, but alas he can't be trusted when it comes to money matters
concerning him giving me quit notice, i don't have an issue with that, what i do have an issue with is his timing, he might decide to give me quit notice towards the end of my rent which makes it difficult to get a place to my taste, so if that happens do i have a case against him? for instance if he gives me quit notice a month or two before my rent expires, is it legal/is he within his right as a landlord to give quit notice under such short notice?
this landlord has frustrated nearly if not all the tenants
he uses substandard products for whatever he is doing in the compound, the electrical wires are substandard and can't even give full current electricity in an area where there is full current electricity supplied
he doesn't make any arrangements for the compound to be cleaned even though thats covered in the service charge
he doesn't make attempts for the waste bins to be removed even though thats covered in the service charge already paid to him
so all these makes me want to collect my service charge money back and know that i will only pay when asked to pay, and not for someone to just collect money from me and do absolutely nothing

henribj:


thank you for your contribution, greatly appreciated
there was an agreement, a written agreement which covers the rent and the nepa fees and service charge
but the landlord should i say is defaulting on the nepa charges
i am living in a mini flat
i could easily roll over the money he is owing me into the next rent, but since i do not personally know if i will be renewing again, am hesitant towards him owing me
i allowed him handle all these transactions cos it was the first time i will be renting an apartment, and the man claims to be a pastor, i felt he could be trusted to do the right thing, but alas he can't be trusted when it comes to money matters
concerning him giving me quit notice, i don't have an issue with that, what i do have an issue with is his timing, he might decide to give me quit notice towards the end of my rent which makes it difficult to get a place to my taste, so if that happens do i have a case against him? for instance if he gives me quit notice a month or two before my rent expires, is it legal/is he within his right as a landlord to give quit notice under such short notice?
this landlord has frustrated nearly if not all the tenants
he uses substandard products for whatever he is doing in the compound, the electrical wires are substandard and can't even give full current electricity in an area where there is full current electricity supplied
he doesn't make any arrangements for the compound to be cleaned even though thats covered in the service charge
he doesn't make attempts for the waste bins to be removed even though thats covered in the service charge already paid to him
so all these makes me want to collect my service charge money back and know that i will only pay when asked to pay, and not for someone to just collect money from me and do absolutely nothing

I want to assume you have an agreement paper when you rented the apartment.

Check to see what and what were.written there.
If it states he can do anything he's currently doing, then you have got no case against him.
But if doesn't state anything he's currently doing, then you do have a case against him.

Except the agreement document states otherwise, no landlord can give you quit notice of less than 6-months. If he does and succeeds and it's not contained in the agreement document, then it means you either don't know your rights or you're a weakling.

Once again, go through the agreement document and try to understand what can or can't be done.

That's the way to fight him.

NB: If anything happens and you are invited by an elder or an oba for settlement, you have the right to ignore such invites (as conclusions are mostly to the benefit of.the landlord). Only welcome court or police invites and learn to stand your group when you need to.



Tenants suffer in the hands of Landlords because they either are afraid of being evicted (because they have got no money) OR they are weaklings.

bassdow:


I want to assume you have an agreement paper when you rented the apartment.

Check to see what and what were.written there.
If it states he can do anything he's currently doing, then you have got no case against him.
But if doesn't state anything he's currently doing, then you do have a case against him.

Except the agreement document states otherwise, no landlord can give you quit notice of less than 6-months. If he does and succeeds and it's not contained in the agreement document, then it means you either don't know your rights or you're a weakling.

Once again, go through the agreement document and try to understand what can or can't be done.

That's the way to fight him.

NB: If anything happens and you are invited by an elder or an oba for settlement, you have the right to ignore such invites (as conclusions are mostly to the benefit of.the landlord). Only welcome court or police invites and learn to stand your group when you need to.



Tenants suffer in the hands of Landlords because they either are afraid of being evicted (because they have got no money) OR they are weaklings.

Thank you, your advice is greatly appreciated. I will make sure to go through the agreement again.