Landlords need to inform Rent Control before increasing their rent
Public Relations Officer of the Rent Control Department, Mr. Emmanuel Kporsu, has advised tenants to report their landlords who are increasing their rent without authorization.
According to Mr. Kporsu, landlords cannot increase rent without any authorization from the department.
He explained that the law does not mandate them to do that without express permission from the department.
He indicated that landlords could not use the increase in building materials and other commodities as an excuse to increase their rent.
That he said is unlawful, and if tenants have been asked to pay extra for the same room they occupy, they have to report it.
Speaking on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, he said, “we all know that the system is hard and everyone is experiencing financial hardship, but that should not be grounds for landlords to increase their rent without permission from Rent Control. If you want to increase your rent, you have to inform us. We will come over and access your facility and approve or disapprove.
If you think you have renovated your facility and, for that reason, you want to increase your rent, come to the department and tell us. You cannot get up on your own and will increase rent anyhow. You cannot take advantage of the economic situation and increase rent. Every Ghanaian is going through some level of hardship, and so you don’t use that as an excuse to increase rent,” he added.