The government has issued a warning to landlords seeking to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to siphon monies from tenants.
Landlords that take this path, the government warned, will be made to face the rigours of the law.
Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Atta Akyea, disclosed this at a press briefing at the Ministry of Information on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.
He noted that President Akufo-Addo’s lamentation that ‘the government can bring the economy back to life but what it does not know to do is bring the dead back’ should be the guiding principle in the relations between landlords and tenants.
He cautioned that the outbreak of the life-threatening coronavirus in Ghana has not nullified state laws that govern the relationship between landlords and tenants.
The Minister cautioned that per Ghana’s rent law, demanding rent advance exceeding six months could lead to a landlord being jailed to a maximum term of two years, a fine or both.
He stated that inducing a tenant to leave his abode through manipulations to inconvenience the person is also a criminal offence punishable by prison term or a fine.
He noted that members of the public are being admonished to stay at home as much as possible even amid lifting of the lockdown but stressed if the bad behaviour of a land is making such requirement difficult, it would be un-Ghanaian.
“How is it going to work in a COVID-19 environment if landlords with commercial appetites start evicting tenants from their premises,” he quizzed?
“That will be very un-Ghanaian,” he added.
Mr. Atta Akyea warned landlords to be cautions of foreigners seeking their properties for rent.
According to him, it is mandatory to demand a COVID-19-negative test report from such foreigners before letting out rooms, houses and premises to them.
“We all know this pandemic was imported so be careful that in the name of dollars you end up accommodating a foreigner who has no clearance to show he is not infected by the disease to stay in your premises,” he noted.
President Akufo-Addo, he said, is demonstrating utmost generosity in this trying moment of the nation’s history and urged landlords to extend similar consideration to tenants.
“Any landlord who exploits the situation and falls foul of the law will not be spared,” he warned.
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Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
