The Rent Control Department has called on regulatory bodies, including the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to strengthen enforcement of laws governing their respective sectors to curb abuses in the rental market.
The Acting Rent Commissioner, Mr Frederick Opoku, said weak enforcement was allowing some property owners to take undue advantage of tenants by charging excessive rents and providing students with substandard accommodation.
He expressed concern about the poor and dilapidated structures being converted into hostels in the Sunyani Municipality, saying some of the facilities did not meet the required standards.
Mr Opoku made the call when he led officers of the Rent Control Department to inspect hostel facilities in the municipality yesterday.
The exercise covered facilities serving students of the Sunyani Technical University, the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) and the Catholic University of Ghana at Fiapre.
At Sunyani Magazine, the team found that some private residences had been converted into hostels, with rooms divided into cubicles using plywood.
Some of the facilities also had poor ventilation and inadequate sanitation.
Students were reportedly paying between GH¢2,500 and GH¢3,500 per semester for accommodation.
The inspection covered 12 hostel facilities, none of which was registered.
Speaking to The Ghanaian Times, Mr Opoku said the Rent Act, 1963 (Act 220), as reviewed by PNDC Law 138 in 1996, empowered the Rent Control Department to enforce provisions governing the rental sector.
He said the Department’s immediate priority was to sensitise landlords and tenants and raise awareness before full enforcement began.
He urged students who encountered violations by landlords to report them to the Department for redress.
Mr Opoku also announced plans to deploy about 2,000 task force personnel, popularly known as “yellow-yellow”, across the country to enforce compliance with rent laws.
The exercise, he said, would focus particularly on ensuring compliance with provisions on rent assessment.
He referred to sections 10 to 14 of the Rent Act, which, he explained, prohibited landlords from imposing or increasing rents arbitrarily without first obtaining an assessment from the Rent Control Department.
From DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI
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