Are you single, married, what ethnicity? Are some of the ‘landlord prejudices’ facing tenants

Some landlords are particular on whom they let houses to. PHOTOS: FILE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI, KENYA: When Hellen Waweru’s workmate wanted to move houses with her young family, Waweru directed her to the flat she stayed in Buru Buru, Nairobi. Waweru was shocked when her friend later informed her that the landlord did not accept families in the flat.

“That is when it hit me that there were no kids in the whole flat and that there were more young tenants than older people,” says Waweru, who was living with her two sisters.

The landlord had informed her friend that only bachelors, bachelorettes and couples with no kids were allowed to live in the house. He directed her to another flat nearby to try her luck.

“Apparently, once a couple or a tenant got a kid, they were given a notice to vacate the premises,” she says. “It was even stated in the lease agreement.”

The predicament of Waweru’s friend is shared by many. Some landlords have resorted to racism, tribalism, stereotypes and other forms of discrimination to lock out some people from accessing their houses. Questions about one’s religion, workplace, tribe, relationship status, family size or even previous tenancy are common as landlords try to sieve their potential tenants. 

According to Section 10 of the Human Rights Code, discrimination based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability and gender or sexual orientation is forbidden.

Many landlords and estate agents are using several justifications including suspicion, rising terror activities and some set rules, to lock many would-be renters.

“There is a house in my neighbourhood where only single people or couples without children are allowed. The landlord says children will deface his house by smearing mud or writing on the walls,” says John Malala, a resident of Kilifi town.

Aesthetically, kids are a gamble as they are known to deface buildings as they play. They will take any lighter material for a writing pad, scribbling without care.

DIFFERENT STROKES

But there are also landlords who prefer families due to the perceived stability they offer.

Salim Mangi, a resident of Likoni, Mombasa County, explains that bachelors are not favourites with landlords who own Swahili-type of houses. Due to the use of a common corridor and washrooms, there is a collective responsibility for all tenants to ensure cleanliness, something most bachelors don’t like.

“Very few bachelors would like to be seen bending over cleaning the corridor,” says Mangi. “So their laziness and ego will always be a reason for tension in the entire house. Some landlords just choose not to admit them.”

Some landlords also don’t allow single male tenants in to avoid nocturnal movements of questionable female characters invited by the male tenants.Tension among tenants has also been used by some landlords to refuse to admit college and university students and bachelors to their houses.

“The problem with students is that they are always having their friends over and doing parties even at weekdays,” says Samuel Wachira, a caretaker at Kahawa Wendani, Nairobi. “They are always walking in and out and the loud music they love does not sit well with other tenants, especially those with young kids.”

Wachira says that landlords do not discriminate, but just reason out on who to accommodate with the least stress on all parties.

“You either accommodate students or families. Mixing the two sets of tenants is always a recipe for disaster,” says Wachira, adding that cases of theft are rampant when there are many young people as tenants.

Employment is another factor in landlord prejudice. A landlady who sought anonymity said she learnt the hard way how employment, or the lack of it, can fracture the relationship between an owner and a tenant.

“I had built four rental rooms just behind the family house. Unfortunately, only two tenants were paying regularly by the end of the first year,” says the lady who lives in Kiambu. “The other two were in the informal sector and had a problem paying. As a mother and a good neighbour, I tried to understand their problems. I accommodated them but I was incurring losses. They played hide and seek with me.”

According to her, tenants who work in the formal sector are easier to deal with when it comes to collecting rent than businesspeople or those in the jua kali sector.

“These days, I would rather have an empty house than let to a person with irregular income,” she says.

Tribalism is another major ground for discrimination. The 2007/2008 post-election violence saw many landlords discriminate against tenants from communities they didn’t like. With neighbours turning violent against one another during the chaos, some landlords were forced to only take tenants from their ethnic communities or perceived ‘friendly’ communities. Other tenants would avoid living in houses full of people from other communities.

Ephraim Murigo, the Secretary General of the Urban Tenants Association of Kenya (UTAK), points out that some landlords prefer tenants from their own tribes “as they are easier to handle”.

“Landlords with fewer units — less than 50 tenants — like ‘yes’ men. There is less suspicion between the landlord and tenants in such cases compared to having tenants of different identities,” says Murigo, adding that landlords of bigger housing projects do not have the time to discriminate against tenants based on their tribes.

TRIBAL STEREOTYPES

Stereotypes with tribal connotation have also barred some tenants from changing houses. Stereotypes about cleanliness, frequency of marital strife and other cultural practices are also what landlords look for.

“Some tribes are just stereotypically dirty and housing them will eventually lose you tenants,” says an owner of a modern building on Waiyaki Way. “As a landlord, once you choose to admit a member of such a community, you should be ready to lose other tenants because they would not stand the filth they will encounter.”

According to the Secretary General of Kenya Tenants Welfare Union (KTWU) Kennedy Miheso, cases of landlord prejudice form a big part of the complaints made to the union.

“We have not documented them for the last three months but on average, we receive eight to ten complaints a month,” says Miheso.

“It is a big problem because the landlords, by the fact that they own the premises, feel like they can choose whom to house. This discrimination is very wrong and contravening rental laws,” he said.

The union has a three-point solution in such circumstances, with reconciliation being the first action. “If reconciliation fails, we do civic education for both parties before recommending the tenancy tribunal as the third option. The High Court is a last option but few cases get to that level,” said Miheso.

KTWU has received many discrimination cases, including somewhere tenants complained of interference from landlords.

“Some landlords have been accused of meddling in their tenants’ affairs, almost running their lives,” says Miheso.

Murigo said that landlord discrimination is rampant because most tenants do not know their rights and obligations. He says the problem might be less rampant in about two years due to more awareness campaigns and also because more people are looking at the courts to resolve issues.

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