The Rent Control Commission has taken its nationwide inspection of student hostel fees to Kumasi, moving against operators around the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) after similar exercises at the University of Ghana (UG) and the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
Acting Rent Commissioner Frederick Opoku described fees being charged by some KNUST-area hostel operators as “outrageous and ridiculous,” warning that the Commission would take legal action against operators found to have breached the law. Students at some hostels inspected are paying GH¢20,000 for single room occupancy, GH¢14,000 each for double occupancy and GH¢9,000 each for quadruple occupancy.
Inspectors also found that several hostels visited had no operational certificates or permits authorising them to function as student accommodation facilities.
The nationwide exercise was triggered by a formal petition from the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) on April 23, 2026, calling for urgent intervention over hostel rent practices. The Rent Control Department responded on April 27, warning that hostel operators who flout tenancy regulations face sanctions including possible prosecution.
At the University of Ghana, inspectors found single rooms in private hostels costing as much as GH¢38,070 per academic year, while a two-in-a-room without air conditioning runs GH¢17,971 per person.
At the SSNIT-managed Pentagon Hostel, also known as Pent Hall, single rooms were found to exceed GH¢40,000 for the 2025/2026 academic year, with some room categories rising by nearly 90 percent. Opoku publicly called out the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) over those prices, saying the pension fund manager should know better than to exploit students and their parents.
The legal basis for the Department’s authority over private hostels rests on the Rent Act 1963, Act 220, which applies to all premises let for human habitation not expressly exempted. A hostel room satisfies that definition as it is part of a building let separately for use as a dwelling. The more contested question is whether the Act extends to university-managed hostels, given that the Public Universities Act 2020 grants administrative autonomy to public universities without expressly removing them from the Rent Act’s scope.
Opoku indicated that operators could be compelled to reverse excessive increases after assessment, and confirmed a stakeholder engagement meeting with hostel operators was scheduled for the coming week.
“We are asking them that if they have intentions to increase fees, they should hold on,” Opoku said.
