A file photo
They have something called ‘walking fee’. It is a consoling amount (not a fixed rate though) paid to them for going about searching a place for potential tenants. They claim they’re rather doing people who need rooms a favour, and thus require to be appreciated.
Some agents who don’t disclose the fee above have it embedded in what they call ‘viewing fee’. It ranges from GH₵50-GH₵150 depending on the agent in question. A potential tenant is required to pay this amount whenever he wants to have the place viewed to ascertain he would take it or not.
For agents, the viewing fee is compulsory; you either pay or go (they care less). They’d tell you that they’ve spent so much in locating the place, hence the need for the money.
The silly ones among them would just be walking with a potential tenant to view as many rooms just to make a point why he deserves the viewing fee, knowing well that wherever he’s taking the potential tenant has been rented out, or the tenant will not like it.
The above agents call themselves ‘the wise’. The reason is that they could make like GH₵300.00 in a day for viewing fee, and over GH₵2,000.00 in a month, if they intensify their room advertisement and could get many people who’d want to view the rooms. Whether the room is taken or not they’d take their viewing fee.
Because they know they have an ill motive, when advertising the rooms on social media handles, they crop the exact location so that potential tenants won’t be able to trace the place, and would want to deal with the landlord directly.
It seems all agents are only interested in taking their fixed 10% rate. In order to have a huge amount, even when a landlord tells them he wants one year advance, they’d convince him to accept two years. For example: if the room is going for GH₵800.00 monthly, one year advance is GH₵9,600.00, meaning they’d only get GH₵960.00 as their 10%. The reason they do whatever it takes to convince the landlord to accept two years advance, a total amount of GH₵19,200.00, and they pocket a whooping GH₵1,920.00 just for knowing a vacant place.
The emotionally hardened ones among them do negotiate the price of the room with the landlords. Perhaps, the landlord wants to rent it out for GH₵700.00, but they’d put up a good case why the room has to be rented out for GH₵1,000.00.
Most room agents actually don’t have rooms. Since anybody at all could become an agent in Accra by helping in sharing rooms their so called agent friends have, and when a potential tenant is found, they get a cut.
Most annoying is that they don’t pay tax. They just take the 10% and run scot-free. Government would later put the burden on salary workers.
Note below They are part of the reasons rooms are costly in Accra, and they’re are under no regulation. I wonder who accredited them as agents.
