The Rent Control Department will soon be digitalised to help reduce congestion and speed up processes in the arbitration of rent-related issues in Ghana.
Mr Douglas McKenzie, the Ashanti Regional Director of Rent Control, who made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the government would soon launch a digitalisation implementation policy for the Department.
He said digitalised operations at the Department would allow landlords and tenants to file their complaints through the internet and other wire-oriented services with ease and speed up the processes in settling issues on rent in the country.
Mr McKenzie explained that rent issues had become one of the most pressing issues, which needed urgent attention and redefinition in the country.
He said lack of adequate funding and human resource were impeding the mandate of the Department, which was to embark on public sensitisation programmes and education on rent related issues for the public and key stakeholders, to understand and play their roles accordingly.
He said the Kumasi Metropolitan Office of the Department alone recorded 2,618 rent-related cases in 2023.
This huge number of cases, according to Mr McKenzie, put much stress on the limited staff at the Department.
Among some of the cases reported were inducement, refund, remodel, personal use, absconding, among others.
The Department of Rent Control, which is under the Ministry of Works and Housing, is a government agency mandated to deal with issues related to rent in the country.
It works closely with landlords and tenants to promote optimum peaceful co-existence through education, reconciliation, while also providing rent-related advice services under the Rent Act 220.
Source: GNA
