The Civil Liberties Organization has written to the Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Uche Ugwu, seeking the assembly’s intervention over rising house rent in Enugu.

The letter signed and delivered to the office of the speaker by a CLO member, Kindness Jonah, said that the rising cost of house rent in the city needed the urgent attention of the house as representatives of the people.

In the letter made available to journalists on Wednesday in Enugu, the CLO blamed some arbitrary charges by middlemen for the rise in rent.

According to the human rights body, the situation is creating an unfriendly atmosphere in the city.

It said, “The twin evils of lawyer fees and agency fees in addition to tuition fee, caution fee; management fee and legal fees are not helping matters. Cashing in on this lacuna, lawyers and house agents as self proclaimed professionals of rentable apartments rip off unsuspecting and hapless prospective tenants.”

He said it was the responsibility of the legislature which made the law to check the excesses of other arms of government.

According to him, the trend could be halted by the state house of assembly through the instrumentality of law.

CLO said, “The Enugu State House of Assembly should as a matter of urgency enact requisite laws on acceptable rents in Enugu State and see to the commensurate enforcement of accommodation rates and rents in the state. Enugu State House of Assembly should enact requisite laws against middlemen interceding between prospective tenants and the landlords. To promulgate a law mandating tenants to deal directly with landlords.”

However, in an interview, a landlord, Ignatius Okeke, said the increase in rents in Enugu was part of the general problems of Nigeria.

“It is a problem of economic challenges facing the country. Landlords themselves are suffering and sometimes the only avenue to survive is through the rents,” he said.

A house agent, Samuel Aniegbo, said though he is an agent, he condemned the high rent in Enugu, saying that it was ridiculous.

“I am an agent but I don’t like what is happening because since I don’t own a house of my own, I am also affected,” Mr Aniegbo said.

The high cost of rent spreads across all parts of Enugu metropolis.

In the Achara layout area, a two-bedroom flat which used to cost between N350,000 and N400,000 annually, now goes for as high as N800,000 and sometimes even more.

In the New Haven area, a three-bedroom flat which hitherto goes for between N400,000 and N500,000, now rises to between N1,000,000 and N1,200,000.

Emene, a suburb of Enugu, is not left out of the exorbitant rent rise as a three-bedroom flat of between N700,000 and N800,000 now goes for between N1,500,000 and N1,700,000.

Also at Ogui New Layout, a one-room self-contained room goes for as high as N600,000, as against N150,000 before now while a single room without toilet and bathroom costs between N100,000 and N150,000 annually.

(NAN)