Investigating Tenant Selection Bias and Discrimination in the Enugu Metropolitan Residential Property Market, Nigeria

The rapid rise in Nigeria’s population has led to a corresponding increase in demand for rental housing prompting real estate investors to capitalize on the opportunity by providing private rental housing for the teeming population and offset government’s inability to provide adequate accommodation. As the source of income of a rented house is the tenant, it is important for the landlord or his agent to select the best possible tenant. This paper investigates the tenant selection criteria adopted by registered Estate Surveying and Valuation firms in Enugu metropolis to identify the requirements for tenant selection and to examine the nature of bias and discrimination in their selection process with a view to determining the important criteria required of prospective tenants in securing a rental accommodation. The study adopts a survey research method. Structured questionnaires were administered to 44 registered real estate firms in Enugu metropolis. Data collected were analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII) to rank tenant selection criteria. Findings revealed that though important tenant selection criteria such as employment/occupation (0.9758), nature of employment (0.9635), and ability to pay rents (0.9592) rank 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively, bias and discrimination factors such as ethnicity (0.8976), family size (0.8863), marital status (0.8757), and religion (0.8571) rank 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th respectively. Thus, there is a significant level of bias and discrimination in tenant selection in Enugu metropolis residential property market. The study recommends enactment of legislation that outlines the criteria to adopt when selecting tenants which is devoid of all forms of bias and discrimination, national re-orientation of citizens against ethnic bias which is the predominant form of bias in tenant selection, and enlightenment of landlords and property managers on the consequences of bias in tenant selection.