Private hostel owners operating around the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have challenged the legal basis of the Rent Control Department’s ongoing efforts to regulate fees charged by student accommodation facilities.

The hostel owners argue that the Rent Act, 1963 (Act 220), and the Rent Control Law, 1989 (PNDCL 138), were not designed to regulate purpose-built student hostels, which they say operate under a separate licensing framework.

The dispute follows an intensified enforcement campaign by the Rent Control Department, led by Acting Rent Commissioner Frederick Opoku, targeting private hostels around public universities over concerns about rising accommodation costs.

The campaign follows complaints raised by students at the National Youth Conference about what they described as exorbitant hostel charges, with some students reporting annual fees ranging from GH₵5,000 to GH₵10,000.

Hostel operators, however, say they acknowledge the accommodation difficulties facing students but believe the Rent Control Department’s approach risks discouraging private investment in student housing and reducing the already limited accommodation available.

President of the KNUST Hostel Owners Association of Ghana, Bishop Dr Akwasi Owusu-Bi, said the Rent Control Department did not have jurisdiction over the type of accommodation operated by the association.

“In fact, in the first place, we do not operate under the Rent Commissioner. The Rent Commissioner does not control prices above a certain threshold. They were meant for single-room and chamber and hall apartments; they were not meant for such arrangements,” he said.

He said student hostels were instead governed by licensing requirements applicable to the sector.

“We don’t operate under tenancy law; we operate under licensing law, and this is agreed upon by the GTA,” he said.

Mr Owusu-Bi warned that hostel operators could decide to withdraw their properties from the student accommodation market if they considered the regulatory environment untenable.

“If we decide to close our hostels, how are the universities going to operate? We can do that because it is our private property,” he said.

He said any attempt to regulate hostel fees should take into account the investment made by private operators and the role they play in providing accommodation for students.

Counsel for the KNUST Hostel Owners Association, Michael Gyang Owusu, also accused the Rent Control Department of acting beyond its jurisdiction and called for dialogue between the authorities and hostel operators.

He argued that the existing rent-control framework was developed decades before the emergence of the modern purpose-built student accommodation model.

“What is missing in all this is the dialogue,” he said.

He added that the legislation could not have contemplated the current structure of student hostels when it was enacted.

“Also, it is clear that in the 1960s when the Rent Act was being passed and all the subsequent LIs and EIs, there was not in contemplation student hostels as they now exist,” he said.

The hostel owners are therefore calling for the Rent Control Department to clarify the specific legal provisions under which it intends to regulate student hostel charges before taking further enforcement action.

The dispute comes amid broader concerns over the affordability and availability of student accommodation around public universities, where private hostels have become an important source of housing for students.

The operators maintain that any regulatory intervention should balance the need to protect students from excessive charges with the need to preserve private investment in student accommodation.