The 2016 presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, is dismayed that despite his pleas to President Akufo-Addo to intervene and stop the killer rents being paid by tenants in the country, the situation still persists.
Last year, the lawyer and sniper cum scuba diver, pleaded with the president to review the Rent Act and the Rent Control Law in favour of tenants and other people who are still being compelled to pay rent advances for two years and more to secure accommodation or business premises.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Mr Greenstreet lamented the rent trauma people are suffering, noting that it was not even mentioned by President Akufo-Addo in his 6th March Independence Day address nor during the State of the Nation Address earlier this year nor anywhere else.
He stated, “If we are celebrating freedom then affordable access to a roof over your head is part of it…we need more policies that immediately and directly affect people’s lives positively…a city or country can never become the cleanest without housing or toilets…”
In Mr Greenstreet’s opinion, “apart from an initial deposit, rent should be monthly and this should be enforced by an empowered rent control…no individual or family can survive and no business can succeed having to pay two years upfront. It’s a killer…”
He bemoaned the fact that “…MP’s themselves collect four years’ rent allowance in advance from parliament so they don’t care about the suffering Ghanaian since they are benefiting from being in breach of the law…”
Industry watchers had previously called for government’s intervention to control landlords/landladies by recommending an amendment to the Ghana Rent Act 220.
Of the many suggestions for transformation was a monthly rent payment to replace the current six months stipulated under the law for residential, which in itself, is widely breached and abused.
With landlords/landladies at the supply end, tenants at the demand end – and demand exceeding supply – house owners have become extremely powerful and dictate the terms of the rental agreement.
Ghana is said to be having a housing deficit of 1.2 million. Additionally, for the first time, those living in urban areas exceed those in rural areas; and the situation in the housing sector has become a major cause for concern.
In the informal rental sector, tales are often told of landlords/landladies who, after spending the huge 1, 2 or 3 years rent advance paid by tenants, go to the extent of inflating shared utility bills in times when they are in financial difficulty – to continue making money from tenants, even outside the tenancy agreement.
Lawyer Greenstreet was of the view that a national housing policy has to ensure that there is affordable housing in every district; and this should even be linked to training of artisans among the youth.
“…the role of the State Housing Company should be strengthened to provide affordable housing across the country, as well as the introduction of tax incentives for high occupancy affordable housing for workers within a comprehensive spatial development policy…” he proposed.
Source: Daily Guide
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
NPP would be smart to listen to this. This is a vote winning formula. Do this if you want more votes in the cities and towns.
What's better than rent controls? A tax on vacant lots and unoccupied housing. While rent controls make it less attractive to supply housing, a vacancy tax makes it less attractive NOT to supply housing! If NEW buildings are exempted from rent control in an effort to encourage construction, the stock of rent-controlled housing becomes an ever-shrinking fraction of the housing supply — unless the exemption is only for a limited time, in which case there is less incentive to build! A vacancy tax avoids such conflicts; it unequivocally tends to increase the effective supply of housing and therefore reduce rents. Similarly, a vacancy tax on commercial property would reduce rents for job-creating enterprises. With a sufficiently heavy vacancy tax, evictions due to foreclosures would be consigned to the past, because the foreclosing bankers, in order to avoid the tax, would want to retain the current tenants or former owner-occupants as continuing tenants. Of course the existing stock of empty foreclosed homes would be immediately made available for rent, as it should have been all along — not just drip-fed to buyers over a period of years. Under a vacancy tax, squatters would not count as occupants, because they don't officially exist. So the squatters (and the nuisances they cause) would be displaced by lawful tenants. The owners would get rent, the tenants would get accommodation, and the neighbors would get peace. A vacancy tax would be GOOD FOR REALTORS — who would get more rental-management fees for properties coming onto the rental market, plus commissions from any owners who decided to sell vacant properties. And the political trump card... Avoidance of the vacancy tax would initiate economic activity, which would expand the bases of other taxes, allowing their rates to be reduced, so that the rest of us get a tax cut!
The politicain are the cause , all the lands at ridge and Roman ridge have been sold to themselves,if I become a president I will increase property rate in that area.Those lands could have been used to build flats for public servants at the ministries.The government land opposite 37 that was sold for a mall could have been used to build flats for doctors,nurses,technician and labourers with strict protocol to sanitation and maintenance to which one has to sign onto.. Also the government under NPP should start buying land for future development for housing public workers in all regional capital s and district capital.Tje land can be used as housing post for police,teachers, doctors,civil and public servants.Once this is done it will reduce pressure on private properties and this will beat down the rent.
Dr Sam amo, are you out of your mind. So because you've built a house you want to swindle tenants.
wait until you become a landlord and that's when you will see the cost involved in building a flat in Ghana.the whole problem lies in the cost of cement and building materials. God save ghana
Rent prices are being determined by demand and supply.... There is very little the govt can do about the rent.... What govt can do is to build more houses.....
The reason I think the politicians will not do this is because most of them are landlords themselves and have been taking 2 years as well. How can they regulate to stop it? The only way is for the ghanaian people to rise up and hit the street to demand the review. But unfortunately the typical apathetic ghanaian will not do that. So we will stay here for a while hmmm
Thanks sir, you couldn't have said it better! God bless you
YOU ARE RIGHT MY BOSS
Thanks Mr Greenstreet. You are the only politician who makes sense in Ghana. All others are fuuulls who are only interested in what they would get but not what they who do for others. Because of huge rents a lot of Ghanaians are homeless, sleeping in the streets. Young women are being taken advantage of because of this high rents, but most of our leaders are interested in use.less ventures. Basic things that they need to do they are not doing.