Calabar rent hike sparks calls for control

Residents of Calabar, the Cross River State capital, have decried the high cost of rent in the metropolis, calling on the state government to establish a regulatory task force to check the uncontrollable increment by landlords and House agents.

The cost of rent in Calabar is perceived by many residents as prohibitively high, particularly for basic accommodation like single rooms and self-contain apartments.

South South news gathered that rent increases are frequent and substantial, outpacing salary increases for many, while factors like increased demand from students, the influence of house agents, and landlords viewing property as a long-term investment contribute to this trend.

This affordability crisis has led to residents moving to cheaper, more remote areas and students sharing single rooms.

The situation has become so dire that many are finding it challenging ans difficult to afford a decent place to live.

The astronomical rent hike has been attributed to the activities of house agents who seem to have a stranglehold on the rental market.

Residents lamented that the current housing situation is disconnected from reality as people’s salaries remain stagnant while the cost of accommodation keeps rising

Speaking to South South on Tuesday in Calabar, an activist and public affairs analyst, Dr Efio-ItaNyok, decried the high cost of rent, attributing it to greed and wickedness on the part of landlords, and house agents.

He said, “Rent increase in Calabar is not as a result of a stronger economy, or a more robust economy. It is as a result of the greed of the house agents, primarily  and secondly, the greed of the landlords and the landladies.”

My first accusation is to house agents. It is house agents who actually pressurize landlords or landladies to increase rent. For instance, they may go find a property and that particular property is going for a sum of N200,000 annually. This agent, their percentage for that particular service, for that house, is going to be 10%. So that means for a property of N200,000 value, the house agent is going to get N20,000.

What they now do is that when they find a property of N200,000, they suggest to the landlord or landlady that they are going to hunt and bring somebody who will be able to get this property for N400,000 or N500,000. They are not doing that because they love the landlady or the landlord. They are doing that because of the concomitant effect it will have on their own agency fee”, he explained.

“So, for a property that would have gone for N200,000 and then agency is going to be N20,000, by the time they increase it to N400,000, that means their agency fee is going to be N40,000. By the time they increase it to N600,000, agency fee is going to be N60,000. So it becomes a thing about greed, unbridled, uncontrollable, vicious, and wicked greed on the part of the agents.”

Another resident,Odudu David, who lives in Calabar South, said the  cost of living in Calabar is highly alarming and disastrous, adding that in the past, accommodation  was affordable and presentable.

“For the past years, rent has become very expensive and unbearable for living. To have a suitable one bed room apartment or more, it is at the range of  N500,000 to N1m”, he lamented.

On his part, UkorebiEssien urged the state government to intervene and set up a regulatory body to formulate laws to guide rent increment in Calabar.

Ubok-Abasi Archibong while expressing her dissatisfaction, called on Governor Bassey Otu to step up his people’s first mantra by regulating the activities of landlords and house agents in the area.

A resident of Ambo Street in Calabar South, who identified himself as Lucky Udoekong, stated that the rate at which owners of properties, particularly landlords, are increasing their rent is not commensurate with the local economic realities of Calabar metropolis, seeking intervention from both state and Federal government.

“The issue about rent in Cross River, Calabar in particular, is quite a troubling one because the rate at which owners of properties, particularly landlords, are increasing their rent is not commensurate with the local economic realities of Calabar”, he lamented.