Yididya Tesfaye hailed from Hawassa city, securing a job as a Chemistry teacher in one of the private schools of Addis Abeba two years ago. His salary is 8,000 Br, living in a one-room house near the CMC area, a walking distance from his workplace.

The teacher paid a monthly rent of 4,000 Br, with a threefold review of rent since he signed the agreement reaching 6,000 Br.

At the start of March, the homeowner has given him an eviction notice, reasoning that the house is up for sale. Yididya contemplates it is because he wants to rent the house to another person at a higher price.

He tried to look for a new house in the area that could accommodate him at a reasonable price. However, he could not find anything less than 9,000 Br.

"I don't know what to do," he said.

He fears that the environment would become inhabitable if he went to the Authorities and complained about his landlord.

"Putting a ban without a regulatory mechanism is a joke," Yididya told Fortune.

During the pandemic, the City Administration Cabinet decided to forbid increasing rental fees to alleviate the financial strain of the lockdown.

The embargo keeps getting extensions until now, citing several reasons, including controlling the market inflation and curbing the economic hurdles. It is further prolonged to the end of May at the Cabinet's latest meeting three weeks ago.

"It'll be lifted when the Cabinet believes the market has stabilised," said Bereket Takele, press secretary at the Mayor's Office.

The rising price of house rent in Addis Abeba has become unbearable for most residents taking a big portion of their income. The population estimate of the capital for the year 2022 was at 3.8 million people, a per capita of 263.15 Br projected to be 5.1 million by 2037.

Mayor Adanech Abiebie disclosed the City Administration plans to address the crisis by constructing 100,000 housing units for middle-class and public employees through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme with 68 potential investors. She said the construction will begin in the next two months during the signing ceremony a couple of weeks ago.

As the main revenue source for the City Administration, Addis Abeba Revenue Bureau annually collects rental income taxes from owners through 116 woreda offices and 16 district branches, based on the agreement between the tenants and owners.

According to Wondmagegn Kassaye, tax assessment head at the Bureau, most owners withheld the actual rental fee leading officials to make their own market assessment to determine the tax.

The Bureau plans to collect rental income taxes from 182,971 taxpayers in the current fiscal year.

Its revenue has increased through the years, earning 3.17 billion Br last year, 2.576 billion Br the year before and 2.105 billion Br in 2020.

"The figure shows the ban didn't affect our performance," said Wondmagegn. He believes the amount has risen as the awareness level of taxpayers increased over the years.

Brokers disagree, attributing the increased return to the unrealistic tax rate imposed by the Bureau.

Admassu Abebe, a broker around the Gofa Mebrat Hayl area for six years, argues that increasing the tax rate on owners while banning them from adjusting to rental fees has its mark on the market price going up.

He explains landlords would claim to sell or renovate their house to evict tenants, raising the price on the next renter. He notes that an 18sqm studio condominium house at Gofa has shown over a 4,000 Br increase from where it was before the pandemic.

The broker claims to accumulate up to 200,000 Br from house sales before the pandemic. He moonshines as an electrician because it has become difficult to cover his usual expenses. For him, the on-and-off suspension of property transaction services has exacerbated the challenge.

He reasons the usually active market has quieted down even though there is housing demand, with tenants preferring to increase payments and dealing under the table with their landlords.