The foremost reason why landlords avoid renting to single women is that they suspect them of being prostitutes. A single woman who wants to get a house might have to be accompanied with a man or experience difficulties finding an apartment to rent.
A successful career woman, Olufunmilola Ogungbile, 30, who moved to Lagos after securing a good job with the Ogun state government as a project administrator, was reduced to sleeping on a friend’s couch after five months of apartment-hunting in Abeokuta, Ogun state. Despite being financially independent, she struggled to find an apartment in middle and upmarket areas because she was single.
“The first question the landlord would ask me is if I’m married?” Ms Ogungbile told BBC reporter Abigail Ony Nwaohuocha, “I’d say ‘No’, and they’d follow with, ‘Why not’?”
She said this often left her puzzled.
“What does my marital status have to do with me getting a place to live in?”
She continued:
“Ninety-nine per cent of the landlords I met did not want to rent to me because I am a single woman. Most landlords and agents would tell me, ‘Can you bring your boyfriend or your husband?’ In these kinds of apartments, we don’t like boys coming in. We just want decent people.”
“In this part of the world, if you are not married then you are a prostitute“, she added.
Ms Ogungbile believes she fought back against discrimination in her own little way – by refusing to present a man.
“Part of fighting the stigma was me refusing to bring a spouse or a partner because that was part of the criteria before they would hand me the keys”, she said.
So annoying. I really hate that question. so cos you aint married yet, you can’t own a place to stay. mtchewww