*’We Do Favouritism Because Nigerians Don’t Normally Ask For Reduction, Ghanaians Always Want Price Reduced And Many Landlords Don’t Like That’
*Other Africans Also Emulating Nigerians
There is growing bitterness against Nigerians and some other African nationals in Ghana over their penchant to pay whatever rent, no matter how high, demanded by local landlords.
The development has drawn the ire of Ghanaians in a community and its surrounding areas as they cannot compete with the foreign ‘Elon Musks’ who are obviously running the locals out of the vital accommodation race.
To worsen matters, local landlords prefer the Nigerians and other foreigners and rub their hands whenever a potential tenant from the group comes around to make enquiry on housing availability.
Some residents and others in Ghanaian community, Gomoa Budumburam and surroundings, have thus resorted to blaming foreigners, especially Nigerians, for contributing to the rising rent prices, overcrowding and increasing tension between tenants and property owners.
Residents who spoke to The Mirror, a popular Ghanaian weekend newspaper, complained bitterly that the cost of accommodation in the area had become unbearable and attributed this to the influx of foreigners, particularly Nigerians.
When The Mirror visited communities such as Biakoye, Last Stop, Green House, Sky City and Obour in Gomoa Buduburam last Wednesday and Friday, many residents and landlords expressed frustration over what they described as the changing nature of life in the area.
The foreign nationals living in the area, according to residents, are mainly from Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
Single Room With Porch
A storekeeper stationed at Budumburam Junction, Matthew Annan, the paper reported, said the rent for a single room with a common porch currently ranged between GH¢ 200 (about N23,600) and GH¢250 (about N30,000) a month.
“How can a single room with only a porch cost GH¢250?” he questioned.
Such rooms normally went for GHc150 (about N17,700) maximum, Annan said.
“Some landlords now demand two years’ advance while others even ask for three years because the foreigners are able to pay upfront,” he lamented.
According to him, many Ghanaian residents were unable to compete because they often struggled to raise huge rent advances.
Foreign Preference
Many residents alleged that some landlords openly preferred foreign tenants because they paid rent advances without bargaining.
A housing agent at Gomoa Budumburam, Joe Acquah, who said he had worked in the area for two years, admitted that many landlords preferred foreigners.
“We do favouritism and it is true because Nigerians don’t normally ask for reduction, Ghanaians always want the price reduced and many landlords do not like that,” he said.
Some Fraudulent Tenants Too
The Mirror also visited Millennium City, Tetegu, Weija, Adabraka and Oyibi.
At Millennium City, a landlady, Madam Elsie Osae, recounted how she allegedly lost control over her own property after renting it to a Nigerian tenant for several years.
According to her, the tenant allegedly partitioned her three-bedroom apartment into six smaller rooms and sublet them to other tenants without her knowledge.
“The tenants did not even know I was the landlady because they all knew him instead,” she said.
Madam Osae said she only became aware of the situation after neighbours repeatedly complained about excessive noise and frequent fights in the house.
“When I finally entered the house, I could not recognise my own property,” she stated.
She said she later sought police assistance to eject the occupants.
At the Gomoa Budumburam Police headquarters, Inspector in charge, Patrick Boadu confirmed that landlord-tenant disputes involving foreign nationals had become common in the area and were frequently reported at the station.
He said most of the cases involved rent defaults, eviction disagreements and abandoned rooms.
“Sometimes tenants travel and lock up their rooms for long periods after their rent expires. The landlords then come to make complaints and we assist them to take inventory before the rooms are opened,” he explained.
He cited a recent case involving a Liberian tenant who accused her landlord of illegally removing her belongings while she was away.
“The tenant claimed her rent had not expired. The landlord had presented what was said to be an eviction notice from Rent Control but investigations later showed the document was fake,” he said.
*PHOTO CAPTION: A house under construction in Millennium City,
