By: Modou Touray
Dozens of businessmen who spoke to The Fatu Network in this interview lamented unstable rental fees charged by landlords due to the manipulations of agents. According to them, the house agents often adjust a certain amount to the actual fees for themselves which makes it exorbitant to afford.
“Agents manipulate rental fees. Virtually everyone you approach for space to do business; the person will add some amount. They know we really need the space, so they don’t care,” Ahmed Khan of Ranslam furniture shop explained.
Agents are intermediaries assigned by landlords to look for businessmen and companies interested in rental properties, either apartments for offices or business purposes.
“I deal in mobiles. It took me 3 months to get my own space. The landlord is charging D4000 per month but I’m paying D6000 instead. The agent who facilitated the space for me increased it. I have no choice because getting a shop is difficult. My shop is Daru Salam Mobile Shops at Westfield,” Bailo Sowe said.
Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings and business purposes.
Ahagie Basiru Mbye of B&B Cosmetics Kairaba Avenue and Ida Fast Food all made similar appeals for government to enact a law to regulate rent.
“I don’t save much money now because the rental fees are not stable. I pay D5000 monthly. My profit is minimal and sustaining my business is a challenge,” Sheikh Fye of Baifall tailoring workshop asserted.
The Mansajalli Enterprise Internet Cafe and Stationaries also face the struggle of paying D3500 monthly. “The amount I pay is more than the annual profit I make. I do some technical job as a technician to subsidies the rent fees,” Bana Kuyateh said.
Lamin Keita, the general manager of TATA Real Estate explained the dubious tricks in the rental business which he said affects his business.
“I pay D5000 for this apartment but the person I pay the rental fees to is not the real owner of the place. He is making a profit because his elder brother owns the apartments and the real price is D3,700. The business is slow and it’s difficult to pay rent on time,” he complained.
Fabacarr Ceesay owns a bakery shop where he pays D4000 monthly, which is very is sometimes very hard for him to pay. “If the agents want to eat more than the landlords, the rental fees will be very heavy on us,” he said.
The loose term “rent control” covers a spectrum of regulations which can vary from setting the absolute amount of rent that can be charged, to not allowing an increase.
“My uncle is importing second-hand materials from Sweden, sometimes when the business is slow, we cannot pay the rent of D6000 monthly out of our sales. I urge the government to regulate the rent fees because agents are a problem,” Buba Njie said.
The rental fees challenge is affecting the profits of many businesses along Kairaba Avenue and Serrekunda and there is a growing call for the government to regulate rent.
