Govt to peg rent advance at one year

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August 17, 2018 9:38 AM

Cabinet has proposed a revised rent law which would peg rent advance at one year for tenants.

But the lack of enforcement has seen some landlords demand more than 12 months as a rent down payment, exceeding the six-month ceiling.

Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea, has disclosed that government is currently in deliberations to peg rent advance at one year.

When amended, the law will give the Rent Control the authority to set a ceiling on the rents chargeable by landlords.

“We are the pro-poor, people do not have the money, their income levels would not permit huge sums of money in terms of rent advance so it should stay at six months, but somebody will say do you want real estate developers to be rewarded?” the Minister stated on Accra-based Class FM.“Do you want to encourage them that they will also have some money by way of return on investments? So are we going to strike a middle ground?“Six months is what the existing law is saying, but with the new law there is a proposition of one year, would it not be also an arrangement for real estate developers to be encouraged to roll out more houses?”

According to him, the new law is a proposition from cabinet for now, and will need to be approved by Parliament.

“So this is what we are looking at, but the ultimate responsibility as to what will be good for the people of Ghana will not rest with cabinet, we need to come to parliament for them to take a decision as to what will be good for our brothers and sisters who do not own houses.

READ ALSO: Does Ghana Home Loans make owning house in Ghana easier“It’s a process we are going through, now we are at the sub committee of cabinet and when its finished it will go to the full cabinet for assessment analysis before it will be brought to parliament after the workings of the Attorney General to bring the bill and then we start passing the bill into law,” Mr. Akyea added.

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