Hello People,

I moved in to an apartment in Lagos about 4 years ago and all the six tenants have always paid our rent to a bank account (jointly owned) and taken the teller to the Lawyer in troduced to us by the Landlord because he lives abroad with his family. The Lawyer will then issue a receipt for the payment after confirmation. Recently however, he came back home, collected the rent from two tenants whose rent fell due at about the time, and left again. A few days after his departure the Lawyer sent a letter to all tenants that he no longer worked or represented the interest of the Landlord.

About a month later the wife also came home and held a meeting with all the tenents that henceforth all rents must be paid to her and her agents, that she is now divorced from her husband and that the building was constructed using the money she worked for abroad. When we told her that all documents and agreements are in the name of her husband she said she did not care and we must pay her the rent. She then showed us her own apartment and how her husband removed all items from the house the last time he was around. We attempted calling the husband and he admitted that they were divorced but would not deny or confirm his ownership of the house, only that we should not pay her. We later learnt that the bank account(joint) into which we used to pay has been frozen by the bank, after a complaint by the wife that the husband made an unusually large withdrawal that she was not aware of.

Since then she has been sending strange people to harass those of us whose rents have recently fallen due. Please what are my options in this situation? Can I pay her, pay to her husband, or deposit the money at the Rent  Tribunal? Or what?

This one na real wahala o.

1.The landlord confirmed the divorce but wouldnt let you pay to the landlady.

2.The landlady wont let you live in peace if you dont pay to her.

3. The lawyer you know doesnt work for them anymore

4. The joint account frozen.

Okay, i'll advice you go for the lesser evil. Pay the landlady and retain the rent, I believe you will get a refund through the tribunal if eventually the fight between the landlord/lady gets nasty. The landlord is outta the country anyway, so just settle the lady momentarily

Thank you Odunnu, I appreciate your response. However let's wait and see what other NLers have to say.

OP,
Please dont pay anyone any money. This is a lose lose situation.

Inform both of them that till they settle their differences and come to an agreement regarding the ownership of the property you will not release any funds to either of them.
Put this down in writing and employ the services of a lawyer to protect your interests.
If they agree that one or the other can collect the rent, i will strongly recommend that both of them are there and they both sign with witnesses.
Don't take any bullshit from either of them, if they were married they can at least tolerate each oter for 5 minutes it will take to sign any such documents

Till this issue is settled, I will also suggest that you put the money in an account and ring fence it or pay it to your lawyer who should be a trusted party pending the outcome of their dispute.
On the other hand, please start looking for somewhere else to stay

Best of luck

OB

@Tripodent

In situation like these i did advice you to park your load and walk away, being caught up in a messy divorce is not funny and telling them if they don't settle their differences is not your prerogative. while you still have your rent, pay the few months or weeks arrears with a cheque, how they are going to cash it is up to them. Walk away man.

olubuffett:

@Tripodent

In situation like these i did advice you to park your load and walk away, being caught up in a messy divorce is not funny and telling them if they don't settle their differences is not your prerogative. while you still have your rent, pay the few months or weeks arrears with a cheque, how they are going to cash it is up to them. Walk away man.

Yes let all transactions be done through cheques but don't sleep with ur two eyes closed. Give urself a target in the new year to start a building project of ur own, no matter how small,