Important questions to ask potential tenants in Nigeria before paying for an apartment.
Landlords are now becoming wiser, due to the growing level of criminal activities such as armed robbery, kidnapping and rituals in Nigeria. Many property owners assume the responsibility of scrutinizing the tenants who apply to rent their apartments or facilities, this is to save themselves the stress of answering to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) when their tenants commit a crime.
Aside from crimes, the landlords try to filter out potential troublemakers and bad tenants. These are achieved by carrying out an intensive investigation into the people applying to rent their facilities. The first approach to the investigation is to supply the potential tenants with a Know Your Client form where details of the soon-to-be tenant would be written. It is from the information provided that the landlord or his agent starts the investigation. The form usually asks for some crucial information like name, email address, former landlord’s contact address and phone number, home town, state of origin, guarantor details etc. However, some landlords still prefer face-to-face interaction with potential tenants to ask key questions and get answers before giving out the account details for payment.
Here are some of the questions to ask potential tenants in Nigeria:
- What is your name?
- Where are you from?
- What is your home town?
- What do you do for a living?
- What is the size of your household?
- Are you married?
- Where do you work?
- What is the name of your present employer?
- What is the name of your former landlord?
- Does he know you are packing out?
- Why are you leaving your present apartment?
- Do you have an insurance policy?
- Has your landlord ever taken you to court?
- Why do you want this apartment?
- What was your last rent?
- How often do you remit your rent?
- What is your position at your workplace?
- Do you take hard drugs?
- How many pets do you have?
- How long have you lived in your present apartment?
These questions are necessary to identify the type of person who wants to rent the apartment. The outcome of the questions should further guide the landlord on whether to consider or reject the applicant.
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