Women recall landlords from hell
A comfortable home, even a temporary one, can be quite difficult to come by in Jamaica. That difficulty is multiplied for women, especially single women with children, who are searching for a place to rent. Something about a single mother seeking a home doesn’t match the young, Christian, professional type that landlords seem to favour.
These women share their house-hunting experiences with some landlords from hell.
Geena, 25, writer:
I’ve had my fair share of bad landlords and being turned down because I have a small child, but the weirdest experience was when I went to view a house, where the man was charging $35,000 per month for a tiny room at the back of his house, and he very specifically said I would not be permitted to put panties in the trash. Not diapers, not sanitary pads, but panties.
I turned it down anyway, because it was way too small for the price, but to this day I still wonder if it was a case where he would have gone through the trash looking to see if I had tossed out any panties.
Samantha, 28, digital media marketer:
I was renting a half side of a house off Old Harbour Road, and the rent wasn’t bad, and the house was OK, but I had to leave after a few months because the landlord was stealing electricity from me. The house had two meters, so I was really only supposed to be paying for my usage, yet my bills were more than twice what they were when I was living with my family. My landlord, who was a ‘Christian’, was at home all day, while I went to work and dropped my child off at day care. She had an AC unit, washing machine, and a million lights, yet her bills were always very low. When I brought it to her attention she had the nerve to say, “Anytime you have children to take care of you burn current without even noticing it”.
Kimone, 32, entrepreneur:
I had a landlord give me notice once because he felt like I had too many male friends coming by. The landlord lived abroad! It’s the neighbour who he was paying to watch me. She would draw her curtains and come look every time my grille rattled open or shut. At the time I was single and getting to know a few people, so men would pick me up for dates, and then I also had co-workers who would drop me home, and brothers who would visit and sometimes sleep over. Apparently my neighbour thought I was running a brothel.
Kharonia, 29, customer service agent:
I wanted to move from my mother’s house really badly after I had my second baby, but I could not get anywhere because I was a single mother with two small children. Either they put in the ads straight up that ‘No children or pets allowed’, or when they spoke with me on the phone and I told them, they would tell me the place is no longer available. The fact that I was working at a call centre did not help. I tried getting a place in Kingston for six months. I bought the Sunday paper, checked all the websites, and asked around. In the end I had to let my cousin (with the same last name) pretend to be my husband and call around for me. All of a sudden nobody minded the kids. To this day my landlord thinks my ‘husband’ is abroad working.
Sherice, 27, human resource officer:
My landlord took issue with my boyfriend sleeping over. I was paying $35,000 for a one bedroom flat. I was never late on rent and I was hardly ever there because I usually slept at his house. But he came by a few weekends, too. My landlord first started having an issue with him parking by his door, so he started parking on the street. Then one day he told me that he rented to a single person, not a couple, so I shouldn’t have him sleeping over. I tried working with it, but the creepy man started trying to get involved with me, always knocking on my door at odd hours wanting to talk, and checking up on me whenever he knew my boyfriend was visiting. I had to leave.
