The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Samuel Amegayibor, has requested government to regulate the ownership of condominiums by instituting a new law.
Speaking in an interview, he indicated that Ghanaians are beginning to “own properties vertically” and the current laws available only caters for land ownership.
Citing “living in a community” as an example, he opined that the maintenance structure makes it impossible to know who own these properties.
Presently, there are no dedicated laws governing the possession of both residential and non-residential condominiums in Ghana.
“So, if you buy an apartment right now, even the lawyer will struggle to draft the legal documents to transfer ownership to you because we don’t have clear-cut laws that deal with it.
“So, the law is supposed to regulate the new normal that we find ourselves in. Lands Commission has some laws that deal with how to own lands but specifically for condominiums, we don’t have it”.
Housing Ministry proposed bills for housing sector
The Ministry of Works and Housing in 2017 disclosed that it had commenced processes to get the housing sector regulated. Parliament then, was prepared to pass four legislations to regulate activities within Ghana’s housing sector.
This included the passage of two new Bills which were the Real Estate Agency Bill and the Condominium Bill.
Despite the efforts made to getting a condominium law passed, the bill is yet to receive Cabinet’s approval.
According to the 2010 Population and Housing census, compound houses make up 57% of Ghana’s 3.4 million housing stock. Regrettably, these houses come with many issues, including the ownership of the buildings.
Following this, several stakeholders have pushed for the passage of the condominium bill to regulate home ownership.
State Housing Corporation’s Development of 1,000 homes
Meanwhile, the State Housing corporation has suggested plans to establish about 1,000 homes in the country this year. According to the Corporation, this is to address the housing deficit in the country.
Commenting on this, the Managing Director of the State Housing Corporation, Kwabena Ampofo Appiah, revealed that work has commenced on the building projects in some regions.
“In and around the country, we have other projects ongoing. The aim is for us to do total housing development across the country, so we are not just doing the Greater Accra Region. We are in Bolgatanga, Tamale and in the Western North. I am going to the Western North Region to go inspect our current housing estate that is happening there.”
Additionally, he opined that there is a major estate ongoing in Kumasi which is “about seventy percent complete”.
“We are looking at starting another one by June, and it is also in the Kumasi metropolis. Off the top of my head, I can’t give you the number, but then the goal is to build as many as we can. This year we are targeting at least a thousand homes to Ghanaians nationwide.”
President Akufo-Addo’s administration as part of efforts towards addressing the country’s housing deficit proposed some measures in their 2020 manifesto.
It proposed the establishment of two new bodies, the Ghana Housing Authority and the National Housing and Mortgage Finance Company.
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