The first gentleman of Ghana, President Mahama has urged Ghanaians not to kowtow to every powwow of landlords.
Speaking during a dialogue with organized labor at the Jubilee house in Accra on Tuesday, March 17, the president stated emphatically that it is illegal for landlords to take two years’ advance.
The president noted that sometimes he doesn’t blame the landlords because the tenants, instead of reporting the landlords, would rather pay the money without even thinking twice.
The president however advised tenants to report to the court anytime they find themselves in such situations.
“Housing is a major problem and for households, it is consuming their income. We need to have a national housing dialogue and decide how, between the private sector, government, and labor. We can come together and come up with a social housing policy to make sure that we provide affordable housing for workers to purchase on a mortgage or to be able to rent at a favorable cost”, the president said.
He added that “the reason why the private house owners are taking advantage is because of the deficit in housing. We have the rent court, and we say do not take more than 6 months for rent advance, but the one who is renting and the house owner are both not prepared to go to the rent court”.
“You can go and report landlords who take 2 years’ advance rent to the rent court and we will hold that landlord accountable”, he added.
