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.
“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.
“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.
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.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh