The Rent Control Department has disclosed that there is a major shift by the institution to regulate estate agency activities following widespread complaints of exploitation.
Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Hovey Kporsu, has said an existing law decrees that agents without a valid certificate from the Rent Control Department can no longer operate.
Mr. Emmanuel Hovey Kporsu revealed that the Rent Control Department will soon start training agents and ensure that all Agents are properly licensed.
He told Rainbow Radio that there is a plan to train existing Agents to conform to best rules and practices.
According to him, the training should have started long ago but the delay in constituting the Governing Board for the Department has dragged plans.
He assured the public that after the constitution of the Board, the Department would provide training for all agents.
He said the Real Estate Agency Act requires the Department to control all those who operate as agents and brokers.
To qualify as an agent, you will require training and education, an examination and certification.
â€Without certification, you cannot operate as an agent in Ghana. We have to probe you, examine you to ensure you qualify to work as an agent,†he stressed.
The PRO said the Department is setting up the Governing Council, and after that is done, all agents would no longer operate without certification.
He also disclosed that the agency fee is 5% and not 10% paid by the landlord and not the tenant.
â€It is not the responsibility of tenants to pay agency percentage on the amount charged by the landlord as charges for a room rented. It is the responsibility of the landlord to pay for the charges,†he said.
It is common in Ghana for some agents to charge a fee for showing prospective tenants a property.
There is no fixed charge and there is no guarantee the information they have on the property is credible.
Some prospective tenants have complained that they have paid GHS50 as an agency fee only to learn -- after reaching the property with the agent -- that it has already been taken.
Many agents also charge per property they show the prospective tenants. There have been complaints of exploitation as some agents have been accused of deliberately leading prospective tenants on a wild goose's chase -- charging them an agency fee for every unsuitable property they take the prospective tenant.
If a prospective tenant is not using a vehicle, the cost of the transportation to the property is also borne by them.
Some Ghanaians believe fraudsters pose as agents to milk money from non-Ghanaians and unsuspecting people.