Regina Benneh/Josephine Oppong/ Sarah Ankamah-Yeboah, GNA
Sunyani, Sept. 27, GNA
– 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.
Mr Ishmael Kojo Blay
Essien, Senior Rent Manager and head of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Office of the
Rent Control Department, 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.
Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko,
a former Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, 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.
GNA