Accra, Feb. 16, GNA - Participants at a day's seminar in Accra on the 2004 Budget, have called on the Executive to enforce the Rent Control Law to curb the huge rent allowances demanded by Landlords.

They linked the increasingly emerging slums in the country's capital towns and cities to the large sums of money tenants were forced to pay as rent advances and called for a decisive action to stop the practice.

The Seminar organized by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) evaluated the nature and scope of the 233-page Budget Statement with focus on the veracity of claims and promises contained in the Document.

The participants insisted that the present economic conditions coupled with the diminishing salaries of workers did not augur well for the continued payment of rent advances that usually spanned three to five years and sometimes in foreign currency equivalents. They urged the Rent Control Office to be bold enough to enforce the regulation on the stipulated period of rent landlords could collect and prosecute those who flouted the law.

The Rent Law states that property owners are required to collect six months rent advances.

However, this directive had been thrown to the wind and in its place, colossal sums were extorted from tenants who had no choice but to comply because the state was unable to support them.

Mr Charles Abugri, Executive Director of ISODEC, expressed great disappointment that the 2004 Budget failed to offer any meaningful relief to tenants.

"It does not provide anything especially for the teeming youth who currently outnumber older persons; except to say, the Ministry of Works and Housing is making strenuous efforts to increase low income housing supply ... and force down or eliminate the high rent advances currently demanded by landlords."

Mr Abugri also spoke against the directive for a nationwide inventory of all Low-Cost Government Houses to have their values established, discounted at a reasonable rate and offered for sale to existing tenants.

He said the directive was not the way out to provide adequate housing for the population.

"It would only lead to the acquisition of more property by landlords and only the rich who will get richer."

He said the directive did not offer immediate relief to people against difficult landlords, as it had to be implemented in the future. Mr Abugri called on government to facilitate an effective collection of property rate and discourage the present parochial focus on payroll taxes.

Mr Vitus Azeem, Programme Coordinator of the Centre of Budget Advocacy of ISODEC said the argument that rent control would affect private sector investments was not tenable since the consistent increase of rent rates by Land lords was often beyond the reach of tenants.