President John Dramani Mahama has urged tenants to report landlords who demand more than the legally permitted rent advance, calling for stricter enforcement to protect tenants from exploitation.
The President made the remarks during a dialogue with Organised Labour at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, March 17.
He highlighted the heavy burden rising housing costs place on households, making affordable accommodation increasingly difficult to secure.
“Housing is a major problem, consuming a large part of household incomes. We need a national housing dialogue to bring together the private sector, government, and labour to develop a social housing policy that ensures workers can access affordable housing, either through mortgages or reasonably priced rentals,” he said.
President Mahama noted that some landlords are taking advantage of the country’s housing deficit to impose unlawful rent demands.
“The reason private house owners exploit tenants is the deficit in housing. We have the rent court, which limits advance rent to six months, but both tenants and landlords are often unwilling to take cases there,” he explained.
He encouraged tenants to take action by reporting violators to the rent court, assuring that offenders would be held accountable. “You can report them to the rent court, and we will ensure the landlord is held responsible,” he added.
Under the Rent Act, 1963, Act 220, as amended by People’s National Defence Council (PNDC) Law 5, landlords are prohibited from collecting more than six months of rent in advance where a tenancy exceeds six months. For shorter tenancies, the maximum permitted advance is two months.
Despite the law being in force for decades, it is common practice for landlords to demand two to three years of rent in advance, in clear violation of the Rent Act. Many landlords still request one to two years upfront, making renting unaffordable for many Ghanaians.