What to know before renting that house

In Fort Portal, it is common to find posters advertising rooms or apartments for rent and most tenants tend to rush and pay and move in without doing due diligence. Before you pay for that house, consider the following:

Security
Most people looking for rooms to rent rush to pay and occupy a room, only to realise a few days later that the house is not secure. “I always advise them to first consider security because tenancy agreements don’t indicate that a place is insecure, or secure,” John Musiime, a house broker in Kahungabunyoyi, Fort Portal shares, adding that one should consider a house with a perimeter wall, firm windows and doors.

Suitability of area
In addition to security, one needs to inspect the area to find out if it is suitable for them. Is it too noisy and you prefer a quiet place or too quiet for you to live in? Speaking to Buzzfeed, a news website, James Plunkett, a consumer research expert, says: “It is up to the tenant to do their own research and inspect the dwelling and surrounding area before they sign the agreement and move in.”

House ownership
Most tenants trust brokers with money more than their landlord. They pay rent to the broker without knowing the owner of the house they are renting. “After building our houses, we ask house brokers to look for tenants and the challenge we are getting is some brokers receiving rent money without our knowledge and disappearing with it. We advise tenants to always first know real owners of the houses before paying their money,” Allen Kobusige, a landlord in Rwengoma Fort Portal, advises.

Accessibility
One should look out for a house with proper access roads not just small foot paths. “Most of the houses lack tenants because they only have foot paths and cannot be accessed by vehicles. “We always advise landlords before they start construction, they ensure their premises have access roads for both pedestrians and motorists,” Joshua Asiimwe, a house planner advises.

Terms of payments
Agnes Nimusiima, a tenant, says, after paying rent for the first time, they forgot to ask their landlords the forth coming modes of payment.
“Some landlords when you are beginning to rent their premises, they first ask you to pay for three months and in subsequent month, you start paying one month while others they start charging you highly and later they reduce rent,” Agnes Nimusiima, a tenant in Kitumba, FortPortal , says.
Nimusiima says some landlords accept cash while others want their tenants to pay through the bank advising that there is need for a tenant to know the terms and mode of payment before signing the tenancy agreement.

Increments
Find out how often rent will be increased and the percentage increment in a year before signing the tenancy agreement.

Utilities
Most buildings have utilities like water, power but as a tenant before renting a house you need to be sure of the availability of such utilities and know who is liable for utility bills.

In most apartments, utility bills are paid by the landlords while in other places tenants meet the costs.
Robert Mugabe, a tenant in Kyabikokoni, says it is unfortunate some landlords who pay utility bills such as power switch it off in the morning and put it back in evening to minimise power costs while others limit the number of visitors to the tenant to limit consumption.

“My first landlord was paying utility bills on our behalf but during day time, power was always off and water turned off until evening. If I had known it before renting his house, I would not have rented it I just signed the tenancy agreement,” Mugabe, a tenant shares.

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