The Ghana Union of Traders Association, (GUTA), on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction about the illegal fee charged by some property owners before renting their premises out.
The fee, termed "Goodwill" which is charged separately from the normal legal rent and ranges from 45, 000 to 70, 000 dollars for a period of 10 and 15 years depending on the location of the business premises and its size.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, Mr Alpha Shaban, Deputy Secretary-General of GUTA, said the Union should have reacted long ago but decided to thoroughly research into the legalities involved and its implications before embarking on the call for a halt to the illegal practice.
He said an Act of Parliament, Rent Act 1963 Act 220, had stated and proven that it was totally illegal and fraudulent in all intent and purposes for any landlord to take Goodwill from tenants.
"This is the likely reason why some landlords deliberately refuse to issue receipts covering such payments, as well as stating the fee in their tenancy agreements", he said.
Mr Shaban explained that it was also stated in the section 5 of the 1963 Rent Act that "Any person who as a condition of grant, renewal or continuance of a tenancy, demands in a case of a monthly or shorter tenancy, the payment in advance of more than a month's rent or in the case of a tenancy exceeding six months shall be guilty of an offence and shall upon conviction by appropriate rent magistrate be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 pounds."
He appealed to the government, Ministry of Works and Housing, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, the Rent Control Department and all other government agencies which had vested interest in the case to stand up to the challenge to save the investment of the business community and also protect ordinary Ghanaians from the hands of landlords.
Mr Shaban therefore cautioned landlords involved in the practice to stop. "GUTA will be ready to defend their members and the larger business community in a court of law to prove our case".
Mr G.K. Ofori, President, GUTA said the "Goodwill" fee was informal and it was illegal to pay such huge amounts to landlords and called for a review of the Rent Act since the law was no more working in the country.