between Landlords and Tenants?

A GNA feature by Hannah Annor

Accra, April 26, GNA - Questions have been raised from the general public as to whether the review of Rent Act, 1963, ACT 220 by the Law Reform Commission would ensure harmony between landlords and tenants. Statistics from the Rent Control Department indicate that about 10,000 rent cases are reported annually. The Department is always congested with aggrieved complaints and respondents over one accommodation problem or the other.

If one visits the Department one would come across angry Landlords, who just could not fathom why a tenant should control their bona fide property and Tenants, who just do not understand why a Landlord could give him or her so much trouble.

Rent Officers always have tough time arbitrating in rent cases and it is to streamline the process that the Law Reform Commission has resolved to review the Rent Act to meet exigencies of current issues confronting the real estate industry.

The Act enacted in 1960, a period when the economy was not that liberalised has majority of its provisions aimed at protecting the Tenant.

Subsequent ancillary legislative interventions such as the Rent Control Law, (1986), PNDCL 138, as amended by Law 163 all tilted in favour of the Tenant.

However, the current liberalised economic system required that any review of the current Rent Act would not seem overprotective of one side to the detriment of the other.

In addition, as demands for accommodation far exceeded supply, especially in the big cities, there is the need for effective regulation in order not to leave the Tenant at the mercy of market forces. The review is, therefore, mainly aimed at updating some of the provisions of the Rent Act to reflect current situation such that, rent for properties were not artificially over suppressed to discourage others from investing in the industry, and to also to enable Landlords to rehabilitate and maintain their existing properties. Among the various provisions to be reviewed include the position of the Rent Commissioner and other Rent Officers; the Rent Magistrate; the Recovery of Possession and Ejection as well as the Assessment of Recoverable Rent.

Also, the review would ensure that provisions are made to ensure that proper sanitary facilities are provided for occupants and to prevent the situation where some Landlords covert these facilities to stores and rooms for rentals.

This situation is very common in new residential areas and it is a contributory factor to the overwhelming environmental problems facing the country.

At a symposium organised by the Law Reform Commission in Accra to solicit for input from the general public, the issue of payment of rent advance, the engagement of estate agents as well as the issuance of rent cards stood high on the agenda.

In an open forum led by Mr Ben Annan, a Legal Practitioner and Member of the LRC, participants agreed that the role of a Rent Commissioner at the Rent Control Department as stipulated in Section (2) of the Act was not that relevant.

One participant proposed that the position, which had even been vacant over the years, should be replaced with a regulatory Board of a multi-sectoral membership to study the housing industry holistically. An arbitrary committee was to be set up within the Board to use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to resolve disputes between Landlords and their Tenants to offload some of the burden of the Rent Magistrate.

Some of the participants called for intensive in-service training for Rent Officers, and urged the Ministry of Water Resource, Works and Housing to ensure the recruitment of qualified staff to ensure proper interpretation, administration and enforcement of the Act.

The Landlords strongly advocated the extension of the rent payment from six months to at least a year to meet economic demands.

In addition, the issue of lease of estates for commercial purposes, which did not have any backing under the Rent Act, was to be strongly considered since most Landlords demanded high rent advances for commercial purposes.

The participants also identified the operations of some estate agents as another contributory factor to the high cost of accommodation in the cities.

The operations of these agents, who normally charge double commission from both the Tenants and Landlords, have raised questions as to whether they should be regulated and provided with a licence under the new Act.

In relation to recovery of possession and ejection, most Tenants expressed their dissatisfaction with the provisions which required that a Tenant could be ejected if he did not pay or tender his rent within one month after the date on which it became lawfully due. The provision on the Statutory Tenancy, Section (17), guarantees that a Tenant after the determination by any means of his tenancy, cannot by reason of the provision of this Act be deprived of such provision by the Landlord.

All Landlords are also expected to adhere to the use of rent cards to help to prevent disputes over rent payments Increases in rent payments, which remained one of the major causes of conflict between Tenants and Landlords, would also be considered to meet current economic demands.

The Section 19 of the Rent Act states that no Landlord shall collect any increase of rent attributed to an increase of rates in respect to such premises, without prior notice to the Tenant through writing in the prescribed form of the amount of the old rate. Sub-section (2) states that when a part of any premises has been let out and there has been an increase in the rates in respect to the whole premises, no Landlord shall fix the amount of the rates attributed to such part; or collect an increase in respect of such part, unless such amount and increase have been approved by the appropriate Rent Officer.

In an interview with a Senior Rent Officer of the Rent Control Department in Accra, Mr Fred Tawiah, told the GNA that the amendment of the Rent Act was a step in the right direction. He said some of the functions of the Rent Officer needed to be reviewed, and given more powers to deal with issues that come to their notice.

Mr Tawiah noted that in the current Law the powers of the Rent Officers were limited in terms of dealing with Landlords, who refused to issue rent cards to their Tenants. "We need to be given the powers to deal with parties, who flout the Rent Control Laws," he said. Mr Tawiah said due to the absence of these powers, Rent Officers were unable to deal effectively with some of complaints lodged at their offices.

He, therefore, proposed a provision in the Law that would compel any Landlord, Tenant or both to pay a fine for refusing to obey the decision of the Rent Control Department.

Commenting on the numerous complaints that had congested the rent control offices, he said the Department had since the beginning of year received 2,722 complaints as at mid-April 2007.

Mr Tawiah said misunderstandings stemmed from Landlords, Tenants or both parties and normally involved the breach of their terms of contract and the payment of electricity and water bills and performance of domestic chores.

He stressed the need for more Rent Control Offices in the Greater Accra to cater for some of these cases and ease pressure on the existing two offices, adding that attempts to get the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to offer them more offices at every Sub-Metro had proved futile.

The Senior Rent Officer also advised the public to desist from paying rent advance to Landlords before the completion of a building saying the building might not contain the amenities they requested. He suggested that the Government should make it a priority to provide accommodation for all Civil and Public Servants to help to address some of the accommodation problems.