HNWK103: THE PADLOCKED GATE.

Hello people, welcome to my blog.

When you see Lagos Tenants please hug them. Though this happened over ten years ago but the memory is as fresh as recently harvested pumpkin leaves.

I was pregnant with my second son and the house we were living was no longer conducive,so we decided to rent another apartment but this time around we settled for a mini flat popularly know as room and parlour self-contained.

After a lot of asking and searching,we were directed to one and i liked what I saw during viewing. Another added advantage was that the price was okay with our budget. We settled for this house and in no time,we made it a home.

The main gate of the house was usually locked by the landlord by eighy thirty in the night or nine, I was never told not to open the gate after it had been locked so i never thought there could be any looming war from me opening the gate for my husband when he comes back from his store around nine thirty in the night.

About six months after we moved in, i went to the gate to open it for my husband as usual then I meet a new lock different from the key i have, i had to knock at the landlord's apartment to collect the key but to my surprise, this man and his family pretended not the hear me knock.

My husband slept out for the three days. On the fourth day,he summoned the landlord for a conversation and the landlord apologized then changed the padlocks to match the key with us claiming that his bed room is not close to the living room that was why he never had me knock in the previous day.

We continued living like nothing happened till the same scene re-occurred. This time around, the man claimed he was out of town, this made my husband to sleep out for three months. Though he comes home to bath, eat and have a change clothes in the morning but we hardly see because I work nine to five.

This became a big threat to my marriage but we managed all the same. During this period, we talked more on phone like couples in diaspora trying to make it work. At the end of the year when we had to renew our rent, the landlord miraculously became available.

This time around we discussed our displeasure with himand he apologized. The apology only lasted a while as he went back to his old ways after two months. As time goes by, my husband prefare to sleep all day and not go to his store.

When husband finally got tired of the situation,he took the bull by the horns one night and created scene on the street by using stone to hit the gate till the landlord forcefully came to open the gate.

The following weekend, the landlord returned our balance and ask that we pack out the following week. With the help of family and friends, we got another apartment though not as big as the fomer one but with peace of mind.

After we moved into the new house then I understand that our previous landlord was trying to make us financially incapable to renew our rent so he will ask us to move out and give the house to another tenant so as to collect another agent and agreement fess.

The threat was not only to my marriage but also our finance too then i understand that it's not all houses that are worth making a home.

Thank you for taking your time ro read through.

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