Rent Act amendment in right direction – Rent officer

Mr Fred Tawiah, Senior Rent Officer of the Rent Control Department in Accra, on Friday said the proposed amendment of the Rent Act was a step in the right direction.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Tawiah said this was because some of the laws were outmoded.

He said some of the functions of the rent officer needed to be reviewed, and given more powers to deal with issues that come to their notice.

Mr Tawiah noted that in the current law there was limited powers given to the rent officer in terms of dealing with landlords who refused to issue rent cards to their tenants.

"We need to be given the (powers) to deal with parties who flout the rent control laws," he said.

Mr Tawiah said because of the absence of these powers they are unable to deal effectively with some of complaints lodged at their offices.

He therefore proposed a law that would propel any landlord, tenant or both to pay a fine for refusing to obey the decision of the Rent Control Department.

Commenting on the numerous complaints and respondents that had congested the rent control offices, he said the Department received 2,722 cases for the first quarter of this year and expected about 10,000 cases by the end of year.

Mr Tawiah said misunderstandings stemmed from the fact that landlords, tenants or both parties tended to breach their terms of contract.

Some also happened as a result of the payment of electricity bills, domestic chores and water bills.

Mr Tawiah, however, admitted there was the need for more rent control offices in the Greater Accra to cater for some of these cases and ease pressure on the existing two offices.

He said their attempt to get the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to offer them offices at every sub-metro had not been fruitful.

Mr Tawiah also advised the public to desist from paying rent advance to landlords before the completion of a building saying the building might not contain the amenities they requested.

He suggested that government made it a priority to provide accommodation for all civil and public servants, saying this would help address some of the accommodation problems.

Source: GNA