In ten years, rents have been multiplied by three or four according to the associations. A new decree was adopted on March 1 to lower them. But tenants are wary, because a similar measure in 2014 was circumvented by landlords.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Juliet Dubois
The reduction in rents imposed by the decree is staggered according to the amount; up to 15% for the lowest rents, below 300,000 CFA francs, to 5% for rents above 500,000 CFA francs. But some tenants do not even intend to ask their landlord for it because in 2014, landlords had quickly found ways to circumvent it.
“ There are tenants who are afraid to ask for fear of reprisals, explains Elimane Sall, president of the Senegalese association of tenants. We had subterfuges allowed by law and that the landlords used to evict the tenants. That is to say, they give you a six-month leave for personal occupation or else a demolition-reconstruction and as soon as you leave, they put it back up for rent by increasing the price. »
This time, a dedicated institution has been created, the National Rent Regulation Commission of Senegal, or Conarel. Its agents have already received nearly 450 calls, mainly to better understand the decree. Checks are also planned. And the commission reassures: if the lessor refuses the reduction in rent when he is eligible, the tenant can force him to accept the new rent. ” Either he can send it to him by a money transfer system, which makes it possible to keep track, or else go and deposit it at the Caisse des dépôts et consignations via a bailiff or the court, with a letter and a stamp of 2000 francs », Details Momar Ndao, president of Conarel.
Lessors at fault risk fines and up to six months in prison. The only exception: those who had applied the 2014 reduction are not bound by this reduction.