Chief Rent Officer in charge of Rent Control Department, Mr. Twum Ampofo has stated that the Rent Act 220 (1963) and the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1964 forbid landlords from preparing tenancy agreements.
According to him, the landlords most often prepare the tenancy agreements to favour themselves when the Rent Control Department allowed them to do so; hence, the institution which is serving as the referee between the two parties has prepared standard tenancy agreement to be used by both.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday May 22, 2019 as part of its activities to revive the potency of the state institution in addressing rent issues in the country, Mr. Twum Ampofo said that even though the Rent Act is outmoded, it is still used as the law to govern rent issues in the country as plans are underway to repeal the law.
He however was of the view that Ghanaians have lost trust in the Rent Control Department due to their inability to understand the application of the rent law during trials at rent court; thus, they sometimes assume to be right in their actions before the trial starts.
“Whether people trust rent control or not largely depends on the rent court as the public may have ruled in favour of the tenant, but the application of the Act during court session at the Rent Control may work against the tenant; hence, people tend not to trust the institution due to their frustration over the outcome of the ruling,” he stated.
“For instance, someone decides to rent his place to a tenant and the tenant noticing some problems in the room then accepted to fix the challenges; the law states emphatically that before the tenant fixes the problems in the room, parties have to sit down and the landlord has to give you the approval in written (section 21 of the Rent Act). But if the tenant comes to complain that he has used his money to fix a problem in the room without any written document to back it, we cannot have the power to enforce that expenditure on behalf of the tenant because that is not what the law says,” he quoted.
He reiterated that rent matters are delicate which must be taken serious as they can even travel as far as Parliament; consequently, “if you don’t take care you be in trouble and that is why we have the Rent Act which every Ghanaian must be aware of and ensure its compliance in every tenancy agreement”.
He insisted that the rent law, section 32 (b) explicitly states that “if you worked on the room without any written document to support it and you lived in the house for more than 6 years and now you decide to use the money spent on fixing the room to settle your rent payment, the law will just squash it. We have limitation law and it will squash it outright”.
He therefore cautioned Ghanaians to always demand for documented tenancy agreement after making payment for an apartment from landlords as through the tenancy agreement has the dos and don’ts spelt out for both the landlords and the tenants.
“In fact, we have standard tenancy agreement at Rent Control . . . the landlord can use the standard tenancy agreement from the Rent Control but what we have notice is that when we ask the landlords to prepare the tenancy agreement for their tenants, they often make those which will favour them mostly and so we have agreed that tenancy agreement should come for Rent Control,” he stated.
He charged Ghanaians to ensure that their tenancy agreements are prepared by the authorized state institution which does not favour both the landlord and the tenant; stressing that “all the parties need do is to adhere to the rules spelt out in the agreement”.
“ . . so if we want fairness in tenancy agreements in the country, it should not be the landlords who must prepare them,” he cautioned.
Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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@SENSIBLE, this is the reason why we are suffering because we have refused to subject to authority. Who cares if you don't want to rent your rooms? after all, you also need the money.
where have you been for all these years? you were been paid for by tax payers money but you failed to work. Ghanaians, you are very lazy. You don't want to work but you will chop.
No wonder we are still using gold coast rent law! Parliament's core business is the approval of loans. approval of wicked taxes against the poor Ghanaian and most importantly the approval of tax exemptions for foreigners and approval of sale of important national assets like ECG. Ren!! They're not interested in the welfare of the people.
HOW COULD I BUILD MY HOUSE AND YOU WILL DETERMINE HOW TO GOVERN IT? LOOK, TWO YEARS ADVANCE IS THE BEST THAN MONTHLY.IF YOU DARE, PEOPLE WILL BE INJECTED EVERY MONTH OR TWO AND IT A BIG PROBLEM PACKING EVERY MONTH. PLEASE THINK WELL BEFORE YOU SPEAK.
THE TWO YEARS SECURITY DEPOSIT FOR RENT IS JUST NOT RIGHT IN THIS CURRENT SITUATION. IT IS HIGH TIME WE DO AWAY WITH THAT. RENT MUST BE PAID MONTHLY AND AT A MONTH'S SECURITY DEPOSIT. TAKING TWO YEARS SECURITY DEPOSIT FROM RENTERS MAKES IT HARD FOR PEOPLE TO RENT BECAUSE IN THE END, THE MONEY INVOLVED IS WAY TOO MUCH TO PAY. AND YES, I HAVE A HOME AND PROPERTIES IN GHANA, BUT I STILL THINK THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO GO. THE LAST TIME I RENTED MY PROPERTY OUT, I DIDN'T TAKE THAT GREEDY SECURITY DEPOSIT, I RENTED IT OUT ON MONTH TO MONTH BASIS. ALL I DID WAS DRAW UP A WRITTEN CONTRACT AND HAD THE PERSON SIGN AND GET A COPY. IF YOU DON'T PAY FOR A MONTH OR TWO WITH NO PROPER JUSTIFICATION, I HAVE THE RIGHT TO THROW YOU OUT!!! SIMPLE.
GO BUILD UR HOUSE AND RENT USE RENT LAW TO REGULATE IT NONSENCE
Well said Kwesi, they should build and rent. As a land lord, I would not agree to any tenant making any fixtures to my property. If its a problem that would make the property inhabitable it is my responsibility to fix it. Any other changes that may suit the tenant to make without my authorized written consent is unacceptable and thus cannot be deemed as payment in lieu of rent. Jokes like that should not be encouraged, there are better issues for the rent control to address and not this.
Has this Mr. Twum Ampofo ever built before. Please allow our ears to go to sleep. I hustle to build you guys are telling me how to rent it?
then the Rent Control Office should build its own houses and rent them out.