Evaluation of the Income of Estate Residents and the Rents Paid in Greater Port Harcourt City, Nigeria

The Private Rental Sector (PRS) encompasses slightly different categories of housing and households in different countries. Rental housing is a vital component in accommodating large numbers of families in less-developed countries and particularly in the major cities. Tenants are defined as households paying a prearranged rent for the exclusive occupation of all or part of a house. As with ownership, renting includes both formal and informal situations. More than half of the people in many African and Asian major cities are tenants. Those who are familiar with Port Harcourt are well aware of the city's acute housing shortage for all strata of society. The private rental market is gentrifying. Private landlords renovate and convert single rooms into self-contained apartments and flats, evicting the original occupants who can no longer afford the cost of this type of housing. The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey of all individuals living in Greater Port Harcourt City (GPHC) private estates with four or more building units constructed between 1978 and 2014. The research design used was the "passive-observational" method. The total number of private estate residents interviewed was 400 (ascertained field research). Each questionnaire was filled out by the head of each household, who was deemed to be the most knowledgeable about household conditions. As a result, the response analysis was based on this figure. The study relied on two types of data: primary and secondary. Primary sources comprised (a) a largely pre-coded questionnaire, administered face-to-face by trained interviewers, (b) Individual Depth Interviews (IDIs) of key informants, (c) direct observation, (d) measurement, and (e) photography. Secondary sources included: (a) unpublished and published material in past theses, books, journals, maps, etc; and (b) the Internet. Some of the findings from the research are; On a 6 - point Likert scale, asking private estate residents what they feel about the rents they pay; the modal rating showed four categories of house types "Too High" and two categories said "About Right. The primary modal reason for residents moving accommodation was "high cost of rent" (21.5%), followed by job related reasons which was 15.25%. The recommendations are as follows: the government should regulate the rents charged by private estate developers through the ministry of housing, which will set rates for different house types and locations. Private landlords in Rivers State will be required to form a functional association, as is done in other developed countries. Private landlords must develop their property using locally sourced materials in order to keep the overall cost of construction low.