Gomoa Budumburam residents blame foreigners for high rent
Some landlords and residents in Gomoa Budumburam and surroundings are blaming foreigners for contributing to rising rent prices, overcrowding and increasing tension between tenants and property owners.
Residents who spoke to The Mirror 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 Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, La Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
Single room with porch
A storekeeper stationed at Budumburam Junction, Matthew Annan said the rent for a single room with a common porch currently ranged between GH¢ 200 and GH¢250 a month.
“How can a single room with only a porch cost GH¢250?” he questioned
“Some landlords now demand two years’ advance while others even ask for three years because the foreigners are able to pay upfront.”
According to him, many Ghanaian residents were unable to compete because they often struggled to raise huge rent advances.
Electricity meter
Another resident, Acquah Harrison, said some single room compound houses had as many as eight tenants sharing a single electricity meter, leading to frequent misunderstandings.
“One compound house with eight single rooms can have only one meter for everybody,” he said.
“The stress that comes with contributing money to buy prepaid is too much and the power finishes quickly too,”
He argued that many of the houses attracting high rents had not seen any significant improvement.
“Single room with common porch should not be more than GH¢150 especially when the landlord has not done any renovation works like painting or tiling,” he explained.
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.
Smoking
He, however, identified excessive smoking as one of the major challenges associated with some foreign tenants.
“Smoking is very high. At night they are smoking, at dawn they are smoking and even in the morning there is smoke everywhere”, he alleged.
According to him, some landlords had become cautious and now preferred giving shorter tenancy periods to foreigners until they were satisfied with their behaviour.
A landlord, Hayford Abbew, said he had reduced the duration of rent agreements for foreign tenants because of some experiences he had encountered.
“If I rent to a foreigner now, I first give six months because I want to study the person’s character before extending it,” he said.
Ghana Police Service
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.
Visits
The Mirror also visited Millennium City, Tetegu, Weija , Adabraka and Oyibi to find out if the situation was same.
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 Oyibi, another landlord, Mr Kwame Ahenkorah, said his experience with some foreign tenants had discouraged him from renting to them again.
“One person will rent the room and later you realise about 10 people are occupying it. The frustration is too much,” he alleged.
He further claimed that some tenants left without paying outstanding rent.
Despite the complaints, some residents acknowledged that the increasing cost of rent in many communities was also linked to the growing demand for accommodation and the willingness of some tenants to pay huge rent advances upfront.
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