Before you rent a house
If you are still renting, take time to get a house that suits your taste and standard but will not leave you overly indebted. Photo by Rachel Mabala
Let us face it; owning a house is every working person’s dream, however, when the resource envelope is small, you are stuck with renting until you can afford to buy a house. Before you rent that house, these are some of the things you have to put into consideration.
Payment of utility bills
Understand your utility bills and the pattern of consumption. Ronald Eyit, a resident of Kireka in Wakiso District, realised too late that he was spending more than he ought to on electricity.
“When I was moving into my house, there were three houses within one fence and they all shared one power meter. At first, I was okay with it but with time, I realised I was paying a lot of money for power yet I was rarely home. As time went on, we were given individual meters and the amount I was spending on power reduced,” Eyit says.
Distance from the road
Much as rentals that are distant from the road in some cases offer good deals, proximity of your new house from the road is important, be it tarmacked or murram. This helps you save on transportation costs.
Accessibility to the workplace
The easier and cheaper it is to get to your workplace from home, the better it is.
“Before I changed workplaces, Kireka was very convenient for me. I would board one taxi to get to work. Now that I work in Nakasero, I’m considering moving to places such as Bukoto because it is convenient,” Eyit says.
The income-to-rent factor
Different standards of living sometimes determine the kind and status of environment to reside. Anthony Kampikaho, a resident of Naalya, believes it is better to rent a house that is within your means. “You cannot rent a house of Shs1 million when your take home salary is Shs500,000.
You will suffocate on a lot of debts from different people and end up being evicted by your landlord,” Kampikaho says.
Why are you moving?
Shakib Nsubuga, a real estate dealer, says while choosing a house for rent, it is important to establish the reason you are moving in to a new one. “Most people just shift from one place to another without genuine reasons. Before you change houses, you must ask yourself if you need a new house for a family or if you are to use it as your work station,” Nsubuga advises. This will guide your future options as you will look out for something with a solution.
Timing
In some cases, there could be a number of houses to rent within the same location in different seasons of the year.
In such a situation, Nsubuga says, you should look at all the property available to allow you room to negotiate for a better deal.
“There may be need to look at the budget you have and be required to plan around it because sometimes, you may need to slightly adjust and look above your budget to avoid settling for something that you may not like,” Nsubuga says.
Terms of payment
My former landlady asked me to pay three months’ rent advance. When it elapsed, I thought I was to start paying one month at a time.
However, I was shocked when she told me she needed me to start paying two months. To avoid such scenarios, Nsubuga advises that you agree on the terms of payment with your landlord or landlady right at the onset of moving into the house.
Signing a tenancy contract
Stuart Oramire, a lawyer, advises that before renting a house, it is good to understand if you are dealing with the bonafide owner of the house or apartment or the property managers or administrators hired by the owner to manage their property.
Short of this, the agreement or contract, Oramire says, is considered null and void.
“When you sign a contract with the owner, it protects you as the tenant and the landlord. You must understand that the contract must contain the period or duration of tenancy which can be in months or years,” Oramire says. It is also advisable to meet the area local leader.
Due to unforeseen conflicts that may arise between the landlord and the tenant after occupying the house, he says the contract should indicate among other things, how to resolve these conflicts and also clearly indicate the period when the landlord will increase the rent to avoid chances of increasing unnecessarily.
