Mr. Emmanuel Hovey Kporsu, Public Relations Officer for Rent Control Department, has cautioned landlords fond of increasing rents at their own desire without recourse to the law adding that rent charges or determination is the sole duty of the Rent Officer or Magistrate after an assessment has been made or conducted.
He made this call in an exclusive interview with Real Estate Times Africa adding that it is only a rent officer who can assess a building and issue an assessment certificate where it will be indicated how much could be charged as rent due for the premises for a period of two years.
“Within the period of two years if any renovation or improvement is done on the building, you call on the Rent Officer to come and conduct a reassessment to determine if there is the need for an increase in rent charges then a determination would be made in respect to that effect.”
Reports on rent issues have increased over the past few years extremely which calls for an urgent plan of action to mitigate it.
Mr. Kporsu explained that assessment is where the rent officer comes to the site of the property and checks some basic things such as the property rate you pay, the value of the land on which the building is situated, the size of the room and the materials used in building the premises.
He further said, Section 19, Rent Act 1963 (Act 220), states that “(1) A landlord of premises shall not collect from the tenant of the premises an increase of rent attributable to an increase of rates in respect of those premises unless the landlord has notified the tenant previously in writing in the prescribed form the amount of the old rates, the amount of the new rates, and where a part of the premises is let, the amount of the rates attributable to that part, the amount of the increase in rent and the date from which the new rates take effect”.
This provision he says forbids any landlord from increasing rent price without seeking the permission and approval from the Rent Control Office.
Mr. Kporsu added that, subsection (3) of section (19) notes that “A landlord of, or other person interested in, any premises, shall not collect the increase in rent attributable to an increase in rates in respect of a period before the increased rates were assessed”.
For instance, if there is an increase in prices of goods and services such as cement, iron rods or the road in front of your premises is tiled, the landlord has no right to increase the price of rent because of those developments without consulting with the Rent Control Department for assessment to ascertain if that warrant an increment in the rent price of the house he says.
Finally, Mr. Kporsu gave some factors that are considered in determining the price of rent in Ghana. These includes;
•The land and the price of the land on which the premises have been built upon. He said for instance, the price of a land in East Legon cannot be compared to a land at Kokomlemle, the same structure type can be on both lands but it will differ in pricing.
•The quality of the materials used for the building is used to the determine rent price in Ghana
•The amount of property rate you pay at the end of every year is a determining factor when it comes to rent pricing.
Source:Reuben Affum-Ankamah(Real Estate Times Africa)
