The Council of Indigenous Business Associations (CIBA), has petitioned government to expedite the passage of the new Rent Bill before the current Parliament is dissolved.
Recounting the benefits of the fluid passage of the bill, a press statement issued by the Association revealed that, it will reduce the burden of exorbitant rent advance on the working class especially businesses in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
“The proposed bill would allow for more enforcement and to deal with the whole issue of rent advance payment and its associated problems; that is killing a lot of our members.
“We envisage a new rent regime that is very friendly to the circumstances of MSMEs across the country being strictly enforced by the relevant state institutions in eliminating all the illegalities currently being perpetrated in the housing sector against tenants and releasing significant pressure on the working capital of MSMEs in the country to thrive”.
It further stated that, the rent advance payment which features in the Rent Act of Ghana (Act 220), has been one of the biggest challenges SMSEs face in the country.
Hopeful of the new bill resolving the issues, CIBA insisted companies are forced to pay excessive amounts to secure buildings ahead of time while these monies could be injected into other things that can boost their businesses.
“Imagine a business starter having to mobilize funds to hire a property for years be it shop or residential accommodation. That will mean more than half the amount will go into the rent”.
The group further noted that the Rent Control Department is operating under an old law when so much has changed since the law was passed in 1963.
“The department should be resourced to be able to bite. It must be well positioned so they can adjudicate and take their own decisions and not always refer cases to court or else passing the law will be one of those fine ones and not bite”.
In July this year, Vice President Dr. Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised to put in place a 100 million cedis National Rental Assistance Scheme that would offer housing rent support to persons with rent needs.
Dr. Bawumia made this known during the party’s manifesto launch and intimated that, the scheme would pay the rents directly to landlords and deducted at source from beneficiaries salaries.
He said beneficiaries would need to obtain a formal employment, a regular salary and a guarantor to access the facility, saying it was important to address the rent challenges and relieve a lot of people of the burden.
Government, he proposed would work with the private sector to pool resources into the scheme in order to get this going and relieve many of the rent advance burden.
“It is clear that there are a lot of youth who have problems just trying to rent accommodation after school because of large demands for rent allowance sometimes up to two years allowance. But someone who has finished school and just starting a job doesn’t have much saved to pay all these huge demands for rent allowance”.
