Rent Control Dept faces ejection over rent arrears

The Rent Control Department (RCD), the state agency responsible for enforcing the rules relating to housing and rent as well as settling disputes that arise from such, currently finds itself in an unpleasant situation as it risks ejection following the accumulation of rent arrears for several months.

This was revealed in an interview with the National Officer of the RCD, Mr. A.S Dombo, where it came to light that this was only one of the numerous constraints militating against the smooth functioning of the department. The US News also discovered that the Rent Control Department in the country has just one vehicle which is at the head office, thus leaving all other offices with no means of transport.

Incidentally, before the interview could begin, the landlord for the national office stormed the place in the presence of this reporter to ascertain whether he could have the six months rent arrears owed him. The paradoxical situation has raised a lot of eyebrows as to how the Rent Control Department could be housed in rented premises, moreover defaulting rent. Explaining afterwards, Mr. Dombo said the landlord’s visit is as frequent as the workers, but each time, he has had to leave disappointed.

He further poured out that the delay in the release of subventions by government was seriously crippling their work thus embarrassing the workers and management of the head office and all other offices across the country. He said since November last year, no subventions have been paid to the Rent Control Department warranting staff of some offices of the department to contribute money for the daily maintenance of the office.

Mr. Dombo is therefore appealing to government to release subventions due the department to relieve workers of what he describes as frustration and the appalling conditions under which they work.

He said though the Ministry of Finance has notified the department of their subventions, the first quarter subvention is even yet to be made available to the department. He said after several attempts by the department since March this year to receive the money for the first quarter, accessibility has come to nought as the Accountant General’s Department argues that the money is not available yet.

A visit to the Accra office of the Department confirmed a worse picture. It revealed hunger for both human and material resources including basic logistics like furniture and computers. Narrating the plight of the Accra office, the Principal Rent Officer of the Department, Fred Tawiah recounted how electricity bills have become a headache of the already burdened employees at his outfit.

“We have a big problem here, since our meter was changed to a prepaid one, we have had to contribute money in order to buy credits because there is no fund available for that by the authorities”, he said.

He explained that the intervention of the workers have become inevitable because that responsibility has been shunned by the government since the installation of the prepaid meter by the Electricity Company of Ghana in November, 2010. As at the end of 2011, GH 60,600 worth of credits had been purchased by the employees. The department also purchases GH 300 worth of credits weekly due to the increases in electricity tariffs over the years, the government must come to our aid, he added.

He said though under resourced, the office is always inundated with an average of 50 people who report to the department daily with all kinds of housing related issues, for which reason some of the complaints last longer than they should. He recommended that more personnel be employed to facilitate the speed of work at the department.

On statistics for the first quarter of 2012, the department received 2,363 complaints out of which 1363 have been addressed amicably and 950 referred to the courts. For the same period in 2011, out of the total of 9,042 complaints submitted to the office, 5,042 were settled and 690 transferred to the courts for redress. This shows that comparatively, there was a drastic decline in the number of complaints recorded and those addressed with an increase in the cases forwarded to the courts for redress for the first quarter of 2012.