Lack of logistics hampering work of Central Regional Rent Office

The lack of basic logistics such as computers, recorders and stationery is adversely affecting the Central Regional office of the Rent Control Department in executing its mandate.

Mr Alex Ebo Doughan, the Principal Regional Rent Officer, said with limited basic logistics it had become difficult to ensure that tenants were not fleeced by landlords and their agents with abnormal rent increases.

A visit by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to the office in Cape Coast revealed that it also lacked typewriters and file cabinet coupled with inadequate furniture, resulting in confidential documents being kept in wooden cupboards.

Mr Doughan, in an interview, told the GNA that the lack of recorders had slowed down work and cases often had to be adjourned.

“We have to sacrifice and work for the nation so in whichever condition, we will work,” he stated.

He said the condition there did not befit a regional office and called on government and benevolent organisations to go to their aid.

Despite the challenges, the office was able to resolve 392 out of the 449 rent cases recorded in 2018, Mr Doughan said.

He said Ghana had a huge rent deficit and, as such, many of its citizens had to depend on accommodation owned by private individuals, a situation which often caused friction between house-owners and their tenants.

The Rent Control Office, he stated, was very relevant and should be adequately resourced to deliver on its mandate to ensure peace and harmony in many Ghanaian homes.

Although the law required tenants to pay advanced rent of up to six months, most landlords demanded two years or even more rent advance before tenants could occupy their rooms.