Landlords and landladies who charge more than the stipulated rent allowance required by law will be sanctioned.
This, President John Dramani Mahama says is part of the government’s efforts to curb exploitation in the housing sector.
He has therefore called on tenants to report any property owner who flouts the law and charges a two-year advance.
The President made the call during a dialogue with Organised Labour at the Jubilee House in Accra on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, stressing that the rising housing costs continue to place a heavy burden on households, making access to affordable accommodation increasingly difficult.
“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 labour, 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 favourable cost,” he stated.
According to the President, the exploitation of people in the housing sector is as a result of deficit at the sector, a challenge he pledged to address, while noting that some landlords are exploiting the situation to impose unlawful charges on tenants.
“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 six months of rent advance, but the one who is renting and the house owner are both not prepared to go to the rent court,” he added.
President Mahama further encouraged tenants to take decisive action by reporting such cases to the appropriate authorities, which is the rent court assuring that offenders would be held accountable.
“You can go and report him to the rent court, and we will hold that landlord accountable,” he emphasised.
