Landlords and landladies have been advised to apply for Assessed Rent Certificate (ARC) under the Rent Control Act 220 of 1963.
This is because the Rent Control Department (RCD) would soon commence a special operation by moving from house to house to enforce the law by demanding certificates of assessed rent.
Senior Rent Manager and head of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Office of the Rent Control Department, Ishmael Kojo Blay Essien, said this at a day’s workshop organised by the Department for Landlords, Landladies and tenants on Rent Assessment and Certificate of Assessed Rent.
Mr. Essien said it was against sections 10, 15 and 20 of the Rent Control Act and sections 1, 4 and 5 of Provisional National Defence Council Law (PNDCL) 138 for landlords/landladies to rent their houses without the ARC.
The ARC among others details out the various elements and facilities available within particular premises to be rented out, helps in determining the appropriate recoverable rent that a landlord is supposed to take from the tenant and also certifies a landlord to have the right to give out his premises for rent.
The ARC also indicates the rates a tenant is to pay apart from the recoverable rent such as garbage disposal, sewage treatment, water, electricity and how such rates are shared whether per room or per head.
It also spells out the particular party, whether a landlord or tenant who is liable for various projects like repairs, internal decoration, external decoration and rates payments.
The workshop was aimed at educating participants on regulations governing rent in the country and also to bridge the gap between house owners and tenants in the region.
Mr. Essien said there are a lot of misunderstanding between landlords and tenants in the region, hence both parties need to be educated to ensure that they complied with the rent law for sanity to prevail in the homes.
He said landlords and landladies who did not abide by the provisions in the rent law could be sanctioned at the law courts and entreated them to comply with the Act by registering their houses or renewing their ARCs for their properties to be assessed.
A former Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, who presided, urged the Department to collaborate with the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, as well as other state agencies like the Volta River Authority and Ghana Revenue Authority to ensure that landlords/landladies adhered to some required obligations to the state before their houses are registered
He said as part of the preconditions, it must be certified that a house being given out for rent was good for habitation and entreated landlords/landladies to pay their rent taxes and property rates promptly and regularly to enable government to provide good roads and other social amenities in their communities.
