Should I pay rent to my dad?

This young man is in a fix. His father wants him to become a man and face life squarely by gettng an accommodation elsewhere but he is on a very ght budget so he shell lives in his father’s boys quarters. Now, a decision has to be made once and for all.

Habeeb

Graduating from one of the State universities, I got a job as a front desk officer in a PR company in Ikoyi , 2 years after my NYSC service It paid just N70,000, barely enough for transport and keeping body and soul together. Staying with my parents in Surulere, meant that feeding and rent were out of my expenses. I could be sure of breakfast and dinner. I decided to move into the servants quarters (BQ). at the back of the house to have more independence. My dad gave me one of his old cars which I used for a while before it packed up. I still haven’t been able to raise the cash to repair it.

Life was still okay, until my dad asked that I should be a man and get a place of my own. I still don’t know why he came up with that at this time but it is really difficult for me to get a good miniflat on that small salary. I have actually saved up N250,000 but which apartment can I get for that amount in a location close to my office? From what I’ve found out, the least rent I can get a mini flat for, in central parts of the Lagos Mainland is N500,000 – N600,000.

If I decided to move to cheaper areas like Egbeda, Iyana Ipaja and the likes, I could get a comfortable place but I will not be able to sustain the transport fares which will three to four times what I am presently spending daily. This is without considering other costs. Right now, I’m guessing that he just wants to get a tenant in the apartment as an extra source of income now that he is retired. Maybe I should just go to him and offer to pay him N250,000 even though he can get up to N450,000 for the place.

Mr. Sayed (Habeeb’s Father)

Sometimes I feel like we’ve pampered Habeeb too much. At his age (turning 25 next month), I was already married to his mother, paying rent.. I know times are different now but he needs to understand that the days of supplying him with everything he needs are gone. Agreed, right now, I really need the extra source of income from renting out the chalet he now stays in, but the main thing is that he has gotten too used to depending on us and I don’t like that.

I thought I was helping by allowing him take the extra car to ease movement to his new job but that is now looking like a very big mistake.

The car is now grounded and he is not doing anything about it. If he is expecting either me or his mother to take care of that, he is seriously mistaken. Anyway, he knows how everything has been since we retired and with the present economic time5, things have become worse.

What I am just asking is that he should go out of the comfort of this place and try to take on the challenges outside. The job he presently has does not really give him what he needs at the moment and I expect that if he moves elsewhere, he’ll see the opportunities out there. He doesn’t have to work on the Island. There are lots of other opportunities on the mainland that will not be too far from wherever he decides to stay. He just needs to wake up and start taking up responsibilities on his own.

I just hope he doesn’t come to me asking to pay the rent because I will have to treat him like a proper tenant to teach him a lesson. But will it even be proper to collect rent from him? I don’t know if I will but I just need him to move ahead in life.

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