How property service charge frustrates Abuja tenants

Occupants of apartments in especially the central and highbrow areas of Abuja do not only have to pay high rents but are now also facing soaring service charges.

A Daily Trust survey of estates and apartments in the city centre, satellite towns as well as a cross section of estate agents and developers interviewed, found that prospective tenants now shun estates and apartments at those locations because of their high service charges.

Tenants who manage to pay the charges battle frequently with the house owner or caretaker over what they describe as excessive charges for minimal services rendered.

These, as well as some other economic-related factors, have made most houses in the central parts of Abuja to remain unoccupied.

Service charges are often hidden costs factored in the annual rent of a property and in some cases are uncapped and can escalate.

Service charges usually cover maintenance to repairs of the property, upkeep of the roads and gardens and drainage. In most cases they are used to pay for shared services such as security, gardeners, landscapers, cleaners, sewage disposal and standby generator among other services.

The amount for service charge varies from one location to another, the type and size of the property as well as its finishing or aesthetics.

Daily Trust findings showed that just as estates at new districts in the FCT such as Kaffi after the Life Camp area, Lokogoma District, New Gwarinpa, Apo Resettlement and Jahi districts are thriving, so are the number of unoccupied flats booming.

Older properties in the highbrow areas of Abuja are already being taken over by lizards and illegal occupants because the addition of service charges escalates the rent for interested prospective occupants.

Prospective apartment seekers would generally prefer the outskirts of the city including neighbouring states like Nasarawa, Niger and Kaduna where payment of such charges either do not exist or are manageable.

For instance, at areas like Maitama District, Jabi, Katampe Extension, Asokoro and Wuse 2 axis where a 4 bedroom bungalow including boysquarter goes for about N8 million per annum, 10 per cent of the rent fee is levied as the service amounts to N800,000.

At those locations, a 3 bedroom apartment could cost nothing less than N3 million apart from its service charges, while a 2 bedroom flat could go for N1.8 to 2 million.

A 1 bedroom apartment usually cost N1 million for rent while a self-contain is about N700,000 per annum often times excluding the service charge.

A caretaker of a property at Maitama said his apartment has been unoccupied for over three years due to the high rent.

But another property owner said she gave out her boys-quarters for rent for N500,000 in addition to the sum of N50,000 which serves as the service charge of the house for the whole year.

“The service charge covers the environmental fee, water bill and security fee, and I think it is fair compared to other property owners in this area,” she said.

She said although her 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom apartments were still not occupied, she charges N1.2 million for the annual rent for the 1 bedroom, including service charge while the 2 bedroom goes for N2.5 million.

Mr. Ejike Okafor who is agent for some property owners in Abuja, told charge which Daily Trust times was between a individual property.

He said although in some cases, the service charge doesn’t come up during the negotiation of the house but after the tenants must have moved in, then the issue of service charge will surface from nowhere with a high rate and that at the end of the day brings up issues with tenants.

“You will find out that if one tenant is able to pay, the other may not because he didn’t bargain for that and at the end of the day, it brings issues,” he said.

According to the Deputy National President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, there should be no reason a tenant will have to pay the service charge when the landlord has collected the annual rent.

“The land lord should be able to provide maintenance in the house because he owns the property not the tenants. If it is a block of flats in maybe an estate, then there should be a provision for a facility management where both parties will come to an agreement,” he said. that service charges most the bone of contention property owner and the who wants to rent the