Rent Control to scrutinise campus hostel fees

The Rent Control Department in Ghana has announced plans to subject student hostel fees on various university campuses across Ghana to professional valuation as part of measures to check reported arbitrary rent charges.

Speaking in a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra-based Joy FM on Tuesday [May 12, 2026], the Acting Rent Commissioner, Frederick Opoku, said the Ghana Institution of Surveyors has been engaged to carry out assessments of hostel facilities to determine appropriate fees under the Rent Act of 1963.

Mr Opoku said the move was intended to bring order to a system where hostel operators and landlords have over the years determined charges without independent assessment.

"I have spoken to the Ghana Institution of Surveyors," he said.

"They are going to evaluate, look at what you are putting in, how long it must take you, and how much you must charge. This is not the normal rhetoric that we stand in studios and talk and promise and go," he added.

Assessment

Mr Opoku explained that under the Rent Act, all properties were required to undergo valuation, regardless of the amount invested in them.

According to him, no landlord or hostel operator could exempt themselves from the assessment process on the basis of high construction costs or the scale of their investment.

The legal basis for his position rests on Section 10(1) of the Rent Act, 1963 (Act 220), which states that "a landlord or tenant of premises or any other person interested in the premises may apply to a rent officer in accordance with the regulations to assess the amount of the recoverable rent of those premises, whether or not the premises are occupied."

The provision applies to all premises covered by the Act and draws no distinction based on the size or value of the investment behind them.

"You have bought a property. It has to be assessed through a valuer," he said.

"No matter if it cost you billions of dollars, it has to be assessed. The question is, does the assessment go on? It doesn't. That's why I'm talking about the lawlessness," he added.

Concerns

The intervention follows concerns raised by some students and parents over rising hostel fees at some tertiary institutions.

Many have questioned how some operators arrive at the charges imposed on students each academic year.

Mr Opoku said hostel operators had long been allowed to determine prices without any external checks.

"You are taking 20,000. How did you arrive at that?" he asked.

"You sit down, do your own calculations, and peg anything because you are an investor. That is the lawlessness," he added.

High costs

Mr Opoku acknowledged the rising cost of property development, including land acquisition, imported building materials and high bank lending rates.

He said those factors could be taken into account during valuation, but insisted that the process must be carried out by qualified professionals in line with the law.

Section 14 of the Act supports this position. It directs that in assessing recoverable rent, a rent officer or rent magistrate shall take into account, among other matters, the value of the land on which the premises are situated, the estimated cost of repairs or maintenance, the amount of annual rates in respect of the premises, and the current rate of interest charged by the Ghana Commercial Bank on overdrafts.

Investment costs are therefore not ignored under the law; they are factored into a structured, professional process rather than left to the discretion of the property owner.

"It can be more than what you are thinking," he said.

"But why don't you allow yourself to be assessed? The law says you should assess. We will assess you," he added.

He also explained that the Rent Act spelt out who should bear the cost of assessments.

According to him, where the premises involved were established with public funds, the cost of assessment would be borne from public funds. In other cases, the applicant, whether landlord or tenant, would pay for the process.

That position is drawn directly from Section 13 of the Act, under which the Minister may by executive instrument assess the amount of recoverable rent in respect of premises of a similar type in similar localities, and in particular in respect of premises established out of public funds. For privately funded premises, the cost of initiating an assessment falls on the party making the application under Section 10.

Mr Opoku said the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, made up of valuation and estate surveyors, quantity surveyors and land surveyors, was well placed to support the exercise.

"We are going to assess," he said.

"And nobody can say that because they have invested, there should be no assessment. It is a country of laws, and we cannot continue to perpetuate illegality," he added.