Have you ever had the name ‘Chief tenant’ or Oga Tenant? Those are the nick names given to people who have stayed long in a particular house. This is usually anything above 10 years in any rented apartment with no plans to relocate or build their own houses. Some people even take them for the landlord because of their level of experience when it comes to compound matters.

Such people are never scarce in rented apartments. Why? Because no matter how easy it is to acquire affordable lands in developing areas with your current house rent, some people won’t still act. They would rather prefer to keep enriching their landlords year after year.

For such people; you will hear them give the following sort of excuses for still being an oga tenant;

“I can’t build my house in the bush, God forbid! I will build in the city.”

“I’m afraid of Land grabbers – omo onile.”

“I also want to become an oga landlord, but I don’t have the money yet.”

“God’s time is the best. When it is my time, I will build.”

All these and many more are the endless excuses peculiar to an oga tenant. While giving such excuses time passes by and before long they realize they are getting old and still haven’t built their own house.

We don’t want this to be your story; at Oga Landlord our goal is to make you become a landlord wherever you are with whatever you can afford. Our philosophy is simple; start with what you have, wherever you are because the first house you build is not the last house you will ever build.

So just in case you are tending towards becoming an oga tenant in a rented apartment, this article is here to warn you. We will be exposing the 7 common signs of an oga tenant so that you can assess yourself.

The 7 Common Signs Of An Oga Tenant

If you exhibit the following attitudes and behaviours, then you are officially an oga tenant. We are sure you can relate with some of the things we are going to mention in here, especially if you have spent time living in a rented apartment.

Let’s get started.

1. Poke Nosing into other Tenants Life

One of the most annoying things you will get from an Oga Tenant is that these sets of people are nosy. They show too much curiosity about other people’s affairs. They are the perfect description of a busy body!

They want to know why you are coming home late, when you are going to the market, they want to know what you want to buy and why.

When you dress, especially in a new cloth, they are quick to ask you some annoying questions like “where did you buy it?” “How much did you buy it?” “Are you sure you bought the original one?” “Who gave you the money to buy?”

Even your feeding is their business; they want to know what you are taking for breakfast, what your children are eating as lunch amongst others.

2. Sharing the Electricity Bill

Being the oldest tenant, the Oga Tenant makes it their responsibility to share the monthly utility bills, especially the electricity bill.

In the cause of sharing electricity bill, they give themselves a little amount to pay while the other tenants pay the bulk of the money, you can call it cheating if you like!

It gets worse when you need a copy of the electricity bill to perform a transaction at the bank. They keep giving you excuses, and can even pick up a fight when you ask to verify the bill.

3. Executive Gateman/woman

The senior tenant holds the key to the gates; they are the first to open the door and the last to close the same at night.

Should you stay late, you must be ready to scream at the top of your voice and bang the doors harder, because it would have been locked by Oga Tenant. That energy would have been used for something more productive.

Upon opening the door, Oga Tenant then takes the moment to school you on reasons why you should not stay late at night, which is not bad really. But the way they go about addressing you can be really annoying.

I mean, why go through all these stress without being paid in another man’s property?

4. They Know it all

Experience, they say is the best teacher. This saying is not always applicable to all situation of life; sometimes your intuition can bail you out of complex situations.

Oga Tenants, in their infinite wisdom, feel that because they have stayed so long in a compound they believe only their opinions matter. No matter how good a suggestion is to solve an issue, they find a way to discredit it and insist on the solution they are proposing.

If for some reasons their proposed solution doesn’t work, they never own up. Instead they blame other tenants for not making it work. Even if other tenants had predicted their solution will not work in the first instance.

5. Unsolicited Fashion Police

Ask a youth how he or she feels when quizzed about their style of dressing by older people, it can be embarrassing. We are not encouraging indecent dressing, but this is an attitude that is exhibited by Oga Tenants.

Your visitors are not spared; they assess your guest’s dressing. The very outspoken ones will immediately question your guest, especially if it’s a female guest, while the reserved ones wait for a gossip partner to arrive.

One of the Holy books says ‘show me your friends and I will show you who you are’, they are quick to judge other tenants on this term.

6. They Demand Respect at All Times

In this side of Africa, respect is a big deal. Respect here starts from greetings. For Oga Tenants, a greeting is a must.

They expect you to greet when you wake up, when you are leaving the house for work and expect the same when you return. Yes, it can be that crazy with the senior tenants!

Certain phrases are regarded as an insult. They don’t expect you to call them by name, or address them like you address your mates. Otherwise they will keep grudges and even turn other tenants against you.

Oga Tenants can be that influential, they are the least of the persons you want to have issues with. Even landlords are very cautious when dealing with them, that’s why they have been able to stay that long.

7. Perpetual Story Tellers

Oga tenants are notoriously good at talking about the history of the house or apartment. Do you blame them? After all, they are the oldest living tenants in any house. They can tell you how many people have lived in a particular house.

When they are in their gist zone, they tell you things even the landlord does not know. While listening to stories and gist can be interesting, it can also be annoying and boring when they tell the same story multiple times.

The details in their story will make you wonder who really is the landlord of the house? Which is why we call them Oga Tenants, they are every rental property glorified caretakers.

Action point: Don’t be an Oga Tenant!

There is one way to overcome the mentioned behaviours; it’s by building your own house and be the real Landlord, not an Oga Tenant.

We honestly don’t see any logical reason why you would want to be a glorified landlord (oga tenant) in another person’s house when you can just become your own landlord in your own house.

When you become a landlord, electricity charges will be as a result of your own consumption. You will be able to access your apartment when you please and you will really experience what it feels like to own your house.

The state of tenancy is not one you should continue to enjoy forever. It is a temporary condition that every right thinking person should strive to graduate from. So take active steps, contact us for affordable lands in developing areas today. There are many you can buy with your current house rent!