B&FT Editorial: Rent Control Law in the offing brings relief

A new rent control law is before the Works and Housing Committee of Parliament and is set to replace the current Law, Act 1963, which has really run its course and can be described as archaic.

It brings in its wake a lot of excitement for tenants who have been exploited for lack of a workable law. One of the major changes that is likely to reflect in the new law is that tenants will be required to pay only 12-months advance in rent.

The current situation wherein landlords demand an upfront two-to-three advance payment ,which in itself exploitative, will no longer hold; and that should bring a lot of relief to present and would-be tenants. The new rent Law, we are told, will in some instances empower the Rent Control Department to set rent charges; and that should favour low-income groups and the vulnerable in our society.

This new brings a lot of optimism because currently, as it stands, the Rent Control Department is rather dormant and tenants and landlords are experiencing turmoil battling each other. Tenants are at the whim and caprice of landlords, who tend to treat them with the utmost disdain and callousness.

This situation will hopefully change for the better when the new Law is in place, and from all indications it will be assented before the year is over and the country prepares for Presidential and Parliamentary elections in December.