House hunting is not for the faint hearted.

Having a roof over one's head is no doubt one of the essential basic needs of man. There's nothing that can beat the feeling of coming back home to a warm cozy apartment in a nice environment after the day's work.

But nothing in life is permanent and change can come knocking at the door anytime soon. One minute you are in one place and the next, you need to relocate for several reasons. You put a call through to a housing agent to get you a nice apartment with specific descriptions but sometimes, you can't help receiving something different from what you want.

In Lagos Nigeria, the rent culture is unstable and volatile. What I mean is that finding a home in Lagos city is not for the faint hearted at all. You need to be rugged in order to get a good apartment or else you will be duped by those shady agents.

The first rule for looking for a new home in my city is to register with a housing agent and wait for their calls on prospective houses. Once you find a place that you like, then the agent will tell you the rent amount plus his agent fee. You as a prospective tenant, are not allowed to speak with the landlord privately.

Moving to the rent amount, the fee is dependent on the area of choice. The rent fee is not uniform. For instance, a one room apartment in Badagry might cost 60,000 a year while that same one room apartment in Ajah could be 350,000 naira a year.

Once the rent fee is agreed upon, the next is agent and agreement fee. Even if the rent is paid, without the agent fee being paid, you might not be allowed to move into the house. Then there's another rule, you as a tenant need to pay a full one or two years rent at once or no deal.

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When in search of a new home, there certain criteria to look out for like a clean and peaceful neighbourhood, availability of portable water and electricity, security, easy access to the main road, easy access in and out of the community*, easy access to the market and supermarkets and so much more. These are basically the requirements to look out for.

What about landlords and homeowners, what would they be looking out for? If I were to be a landlady, I would certainly look out for responsibility rather than riches. Sadly, this is what many landlords are after. I would appreciate a tenant who would treat my property with care, making sure that there are no intentional damages to my property.

I would also look out for someone who is understanding and peaceable. Some tenants have become a thorn in the flesh to some landlords. They damage property, fight other neighbours, owe rent purposely and just constitute a nuisance in their neighbourhood.

Such tenants are just something else and when they are given quit notice, they refuse to vacate the house. No landlord wants such a tenant. However, there are also landlords who are monitoring spirits, uncaring about the state of their property to renovate it, yet they increase their rent regularly. No one is completely innocent, you just have to be smart and trust in God when seeking a home in Lagos.

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Thank you all for reading.

Images are mine.

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