Landlords who charge rent advance in excess of six months risk imprisonment – Rent Control

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Rent Control Board of Ghana, Emmanuel Kporsu has advised landlords against taking rent advance of more than six (6) months from tenants.

According to him, Section 25;5 of the rent act makes it illegal for any landlord to do so and has punitive sanctions assigned to anyone who disregards the act.

He shared, “Looking at the rent control law, we have two categories of tenancy namely, the short and long tenancy. With the former, you pay your rent monthly and the landlord can only charge you a maximum of two months’ rent advance. But for the long term tenancy, one can have a two-year agreement with the landlord but he or she is only required to take a maximum rent advance of six months”.

Speaking in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy98.9FM, Emmanuel Kporsu said, “Any landlord who disregards the act and is brought before a magistrate can face a jail term of 2 years or maybe fined an amount of GH₵10,000 or based on the discretion of the magistrate, one can suffer both”.

He shared that his outfit for the past two years has been undertaking an educational campaign on the rent act as part of their mandate to resolve disagreements between landlords and tenants.

On his authority, some landlords are already facing prosecution for breaching the rent act “and the statistics will soon be shared with the public”.

The Rent Control PRO applauded the efforts of the government in trying to reduce the housing deficit in the country.