Ghana’s long-standing rent challenges, marked by hefty advance payments and rising prices, continue to weigh heavily on tenants.
With a review of the Rent Act currently underway, the National Tenant Union of Ghana has renewed calls for the Rent Control Department to intensify efforts to shield tenants from exploitation by landlords and agents.
Tenant complaints about exorbitant rent demands and what they describe as inadequate protection from the Rent Control Department are not new. The Union insists the Department must fully enforce its mandate.
“Rent control always talks about settling disputes, but I believe the law makes room for them to do what is right to prevent the occurrence rather than to look at a cure. I’m thinking that if they open a vacancy book, the issue of agents and landlords taking advantage of tenants will be a thing of the past,” said Frederick Opoku, General Secretary of the National Tenants’ Union of Ghana.
A different perspective came from real estate developer and landlord, Emmanuel Attu, who said many of his tenants rent within the three to six months limit permitted under the law, though some prefer to pay for a year or more.
“I happen to have a tenant who is renting for every six months, with a possible renewal for another six months and another who is renting for a year with a renewal clause for a year. That is what I mostly do,” he explained.
The Rent Control Department has acknowledged gaps in the current law, noting that while landlords are barred from demanding more than six months’ advance, nothing prevents them from collecting it if offered.
“There is nothing in the clause that says that the tenant does not [have the] right to pay more than six months’ rent advance. There is nothing under that clause that requires that the landlord has no right to receive more than six months’ rent advance, so we realise that there is a gap, which we call a lacuna in the act.
“If the landlord is forbidden from demanding and nothing forbids him from collecting, then people will bypass and commit that offence. In the review that we are doing, we want to amend the act, we want to cap it to a certain level that if you receive or demand it, you commit an offence,” explained Emmanuel Kporsu, PRO of the Rent Control Department.
The Department also lamented severe logistical constraints, revealing that its 58 offices nationwide have only two operational vehicles, making inspections and investigations difficult.
“We have a logistical problem, I must say that the entire department of fifty-eight offices across the country has only two moving vehicles, and we are expected under section 5 to conduct inspections, assessments, and investigations. You do not expect an officer to take a tro tro or taxi to do an inspection or even beg a client to transport him or her to the site. Can some of these things encourage us to do more than we are doing?” Mr. Kporsu asked.
Meanwhile, the Tenant Union is calling on government to elevate the Rent Control Department into an authority and take urgent steps to address the housing deficit.
“Housing is a basic need, it is a necessity and upon all the food things President Mahama is doing, it is important that he acts and ensures that the rent law is reviewed, and now the rent control becomes a rent authority to get more resources and more power to act and protect the tenant,” Mr. Opoku stressed.
