Deputy Minister nominee for Works and Housing, Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui, has suggested that a dialogue on Ghana’s rent control and management system could help address the ongoing challenges in the housing sector.
Speaking during her vetting in Parliament on Friday, February 28, she stressed the need for discussions involving key stakeholders to find lasting solutions to rent-related conflicts across the country.
“Together with my Minister, the best way to handle this is to have a review, a dialogue about the whole rent control and rent management system. Because of the various stakeholders involved, the Rent Control Department is one key institution, it is decentralised and found in many districts across the country. But they still always have issues with rent, and it can really bring quite a number of conflicts,” she said.
She acknowledged that while the law limits rent advance payments to six months, enforcement remains a major challenge. Many landlords, she explained, have been collecting two to three years’ rent in advance, and sudden enforcement of the law without discussions could create resistance.
