Accra rent is now a second husband
Rent Advance is the real engagement ring
I have come to a conclusion, and I need everybody to sit down for this: my landlady loves me more than any man has loved me in Accra. In Accra, your landlord is more committed than your boyfriend.
She checks up on me every month. She never forgets our anniversary. She knows exactly when my money enters and demands commitment- not a small commitment, TWO YEARS.
Two years advance! In this economy. For one bedroom that cannot even contain my soft life dreams.
In Accra, rent is a relationship status.
Dating is casual, Rent is the real heartbreak
In Accra now, dating is easy. Renting is the real relationship. The one with the trust issues, the long-term commitment, and the family involved from day one.
Oh! boyfriend? you can catch one in a week! ‘chale’, some people even find one at the’ trotro’ station.
But you see a decent one bedroom self-contained, water flows, light is stable, no flooding, landlady does not live on the compound and gossip about your visitors for less than GH¢35k for two years? It does not exist.
Dating is situationship, rent is marriage! A whole lifetime commitment.
And we are paying. Because where will you sleep, in your car? You do not even have a car. You do not even have Uber money past 5pm ‘chale!’.
we are all in toxic relationships with our houses. We pay 40% of our salary to a building that does not even like us back. The kitchen is outside but the agent called it “open concept,” like we are in a Pinterest catalogue and not a compound house in Achimota.
The bathroom tiles have brown flowers from the 2000s, since I was born. original design, vintage, no returns. The agent says, “just manage.” Manage what exactly? My rent? My expectations? My mental health, sir?
In Accra, the real soft life is your location
My friend got a place in East Legon Hills. Hills. That is not East Legon, that is almost Aburi. She pays GH¢2,500 a month. Every month she posts “soft girl era” but her ‘MoMo’ is crying. Her soft life is located on a hill, literally. She needs trotro, taxi, and prayer to get home.
Why is independence so expensive in Accra?
The advance system? ,its pure wickedness, plain and simple. How do you ask a 25-year-old girl who just started earning GH¢3k a month to bring GH¢40k cash, upfront, no instalment, no grace period? Where? Do I look like I sell land? You want two years of commitment from me when I do not even know if fuel prices will still be the same by December.
The price of peace in Accra is two years advance paid upfront!
Boys are now scared to ask “come live with me” because they know you will say yes too quickly not because you love them, but because your rent is due next month and you are tired.
Accra has made housing a love story. Unfortunately, we are the ones paying for the heartbreak.
landlords have replaced husbands, ‘koraa’. We are now saving for rent instead of saving for wedding. The traditional marriage list used to be kente, drinks, dowry.
The new list is: two years advance, agent fee 10%, caution deposit, cleaning, legal fee, moving fee, light bill, water bill. 1 Where is the ring? There is no ring but receipts.
So, if you see me still living at family house at 28, please do not judge me. I am not lazy. I am just not ready to marry a one-bedroom in Laterbiorkoshie.
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