| In 2017, I rented a room apartment in Benin, the rent for the apartment was N50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira), and I made additional payments for legal fees and caution. Although the apartment looked clean and decent, I still had to repaint it to give it a facelift. I have lived in the apartment for 3 years without owing rent, but this time around I am finding it difficult to pay my rent. I have called my friends and associates to loan me some money, but it appears everyone I reached out to has their own problems to take care of too. What do I do? |
Paying your rent in advance is one of the many clauses stated in the tenancy agreement signed before the commencement of the tenancy, rent payment is the tenant’s obligation and must be remitted, provided the landlord also honours his or her responsibilities which includes keeping the property in a tenantable condition fit for use by the tenants in occupation throughout the period in view.
From your account, it appears you usually paid your rent on time before now, I think that any reasonable landlord should understand that this is a trying time for you and should also come to you as a good tenant that you’ve been before now and try to find out why it’s becoming difficult for you to offset your rent.
If your landlord didn’t come to you, then go to him or her and explain why you haven’t been able to pay your rent. The reason you should go to the landlord first is to prevent the landlord from thinking you intentionally don’t want to pay, some landlords do not deem it fit to recollect the good times (the period when you paid your rent in advance), their only concern is the rent of today, they may not hesitate to tag you a difficult tenant when you fail to pay your rent. So, a good reason you have to visit your landlord immediately is to dissuade him or her from serving you a quit notice.
There are other ways to renew your rent such as;
Instalment Payment:
You can plead with your landlord to allow you to pay up the outstanding rent by instalment for the current period until you can recover financially and return to your initial method of payment, which is, annually in this case.
Reviewing the Tenancy Agreement:
You can agree with your landlord to review your tenancy agreement to meet your present capacity. You can decide to review the tenancy monthly rather than the initial yearly tenancy so that you will be able to cope with the rent and pay as and when due.
Agree on a Date of Remittance:
Run around to seek financial assistance from family and friends, you can even take a loan from your workplace or cooperative society, ascertain when the money will be complete and available, and agree with the landlord on the best time to pay up the outstanding rents.
Move to a Smaller Apartment:
You should consider moving into a smaller accommodation subsequently to enable you to pay less rent easily without seeking external help in the future.
Get a Job:
If you don’t already have a job, you are strongly advised to look for one because you cannot keep living in a rented apartment without a stable job unless you want to keep experiencing financial difficulties and continue being at the mercy of your landlord.