Landlord, Tenant Fight Dirty Over Who To Repair Damaged Apartment

A verbal face-off has ensued between a landlord and his tenant in the Modugari area of Maiduguri in Borno State over whose responsibility it is to reconstruct the parts of the apartment that were damaged by the recent flooding which ravaged the state capital and environs.

During the argument which led to verbal abuse on Saturday, the Landlord of the apartment, Moses Tegwolo, told Punch correspondent that the flood was a natural disaster while noting that tenants can not pin the damage on the landlord.

“I was affected by the flood, I am even yet to repair my side. Am I the cause of the damage?, how will he be telling me that if he repairs it, he will remove the money when next he wants to pay rentage”, the Landlord said.

He continued, “If he can’t stay, he is free to leave. Besides, I told him, let me bring a bricklayer, let them do the estimate. At most, we will just share the loss on a certain percentage. He is insisting.”

The tenant, Ahmed Isah, while explaining his side of the story, said when he rented the apartment, it was not in good shape and had spent a lot of money trying to put it together.

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“When I came here a few months ago, I painted this room, fixed some broken parts on the floor, and even the window when it broke. Nothing was taken out of my rent, and now the flood has destroyed the cemented floor, walls and the house doors. I should still fix everything.

“Since he has said that he will agree to let us share the loss by percentage, no problem, they should come for the estimate. I just hope the percentage division will favour me because things are difficult now.”

It was however, gathered that after occupants from neighbouring apartments intervened, both parties (Landlord and tenant) later agreed on a percentage division of the total amount spent on the repairs.