Lady films herself damaging fittings in her apartment after landlord refuses to refund her ‘caution fee’

A lady packing out of an apartment in Cotonou, Benin Republic, has filmed herself damaging the apartment because the landlord refused to refund the money she paid as a ‘caution fee’ at the time she was packing into the apartment.

The lady went on a smashing spree, damaging the water closet, the mirrors, all the sockets in the apartment and the distribution box, among others.

The tenant also splashed the walls with palm oil and used a rag to smear the wall to ensure that the landlord would have to repaint the apartment in order to rent it out to another tenant.

Responding to some harsh comments, Meme Mercee said she begged the landlord to keep one month of the three months payment she deposited with him at the time of taking the apartment.

She said instead of agreeing to the term, he stopped picking up her calls.

When she was told that the landlord would arrest her, she said she was back in Nigeria.

Caution fees are meant to be a lever to be used by landlords to ensure that tenants use the properties thoughtfully and carefully.

At the expiration of the tenancy, the full caution fee is to be refunded by the landlord if the tenant manages to use the apartment well without breaking anything.

However, from comments that trailed the post, it would appear that landlords in Cotonou have made a habit of sitting on the caution fees of their tenants, especially foreign ones.

Watch it here.