Accra’s rent index of 12.0 also placed it 230 in the world.

According to the data and research powerhouse, high rents can strain household finances, leaving families with little discretionary income to spend on needs such as food, education, healthcare, and transportation.

It stated that a high rent cost raises the question of how important said urban centers are, considering that a lot of jobs these days can be done remotely.

Lagos is the most expensive city in Africa with a rent index of 24.3. It is ranked 122 in the world.

In 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th places are Cape Town (18.0), Addis Ababa (17.8) and Dar es Salaam (14.4) respectively.

Numbeo said while the importance of urban centers such as proximity to better infrastructure and economic opportunities, cannot be disputed, the cost of living against revenue can always be weighed.

Meanwhile, Alexandria in Egypt; Cairo, capital city of Egypt; Tripoli in Libya; Algiers in Algeria and Tunis, Tunisia are the cities with the lowest cost of rent.

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Nana Sarpong made this pronouncement at the annual community sitting in his palace on behalf of students at the Presbyterian Training College.

To him, students at the college are assets to the town and they cannot afford to lose them over exorbitant rent fees.

“Second-year students per the school’s system vacate from the campus to rent rooms in the town to make way in the hostel for first years, hence, charging exorbitant fees will be a burden for most of them.

“As we all know, the people of Asante Akyem Agogo have worked so hard to see the school grow up to the level it is and can’t afford to lose the school to a different locality due to the high cost of the rent,” he stated.

The chief also urged the Municipal heard pastor of the  Presbyterian Church, Rev Charles Baah Ankrah, who doubles as the Chairman for the local council of churches to join the call and extend it to all the local churches.

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The linguist, Nana Boakye Yiadom, who spoke on behalf of the chief, lamented that some landlords behave like dictators and lock up their gates preventing students who stay late on campus from getting access to the house.

He hinted that this shouldn’t be done because it is a security risk to the students, especially the female students who become prone to rape or attacks in the dark.

He, therefore, called on all landlords and landladies to reconsider the cost of rent with immediate effect.

According to her, this was during her early days as a teacher at the St Peters Anglican School in Koforidua.

The Menwu hitmaker said the situation changed her sleeping routine as she could no longer deal with the embarrassment.

“The man was always chasing me and because I didn’t have the money, I left the house as early as 4:00 am and returned very late when there was nobody in sight,” she recounted on  Adom TV’s M’ashyase3 show with Afia Amakwa Tamakloe.

To her, it was one of the lowest moments in her life as she doubted the power of God in her life.

“I had to deal with a lot of struggles at that point and I remember the day a blender seller came to the classroom to embarrass me over debt I owed and I had to run to the back of the building to weep bitterly.

“I didn’t want to suffer the hardships I saw my elder siblings go through as a third born and I began to question God,” she narrated.

Amidst her depression, she noted she heard a small still voice tell her not to give up because the challenges were training her for much bigger glory to come.

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However, her emotions got a better part of her, causing her to yell she was tired of life but God indeed had a plan for her.

“I woke up at my usual 4:00 am in my quest to dodge the landlord amid prayer that morning. So while on my way, I came across this man who identified himself as a pastor and blessed me with a bundle of GHC 20 notes,” she said almost in tears.

To her, that was a complete turning point for her as a lot of doors opened following that encounter.

She wanted to know everything that went on in my life so she would ask questions and I will answer. No question was out of bounds.

Every question counted and every question got answered. She asked about my family and I told her how many we were and even went ahead to tell her what every one of us was doing.

A month later, after going out on a date on several occasions, I proposed and she said yes. She said she had no reason to say no when she had loved me since the day we started talking.

Two weeks later, she called telling me that she was sending her phone for repairs. She said: “If you call and you don’t reach me, then it means my phone is still at the repairs.” I called her in the evening, her phone was off. I called the next day and the phone was still off. Three days later she called me with another line. She said, “You’ve been calling me right? Sorry about that but my phone is still with the repairer.”

I met her after work so I could take her to the repairer for the phone. When we went there, the guy said: “It’s from the board. You know iPhones. We can’t repair that unless you get yourself a new phone.” The next day, I got her a new iPhone. Not being able to talk to her made me unhappy and the look on her face when the repairer said her phone couldn’t be repaired made me sad.

We continued chatting and talking for hours on end.  Our relationship was barely two months old when she asked me to come over to her place one weekend. I went there in the morning. She cooked and we ate. We watched movies and talked about anything that crossed our minds. Getting to the evening, we heard a knock on her door. She went out to receive the person. I heard them talking out there. The other person’s voice was louder. She was trying to calm the other person down.

I stood up and looked through the window. It was an elderly man she was talking to. He kept saying: “If you can’t afford to live here, it’s not by force. I can give you somedays to prepare yourself and leave.” When she came back, I asked her: “What is the problem?” She said: “Nothing. Just don’t worry.” I said: “You can’t tell me it’s nothing. You were talking to a man who was louder and almost angry. There should be a problem.”

She breathed out heavily. She said: “That was my landlord but don’t mind him.” I asked, “What does he want?” She said: “Don’t worry, I will handle him.” I said: “We are together. It’s easier when the two of us come together to solve whatever the issue is.” She said: “It’s about rent. Last year I paid GHC250 a month. Just a year after, he had increased the rent, asking for GHC320 a month. As if that is not enough, he’s no longer collecting a year’s advance. He’s asking for two years advance. Where do I get that money from? Does he think I work in a refinery?”

I asked: “So what are your options? Would you look for another place?” She said, “Looking for another place within this short period of time is going to be very hard for me. Plus, this place is the closest I can get to work.” I asked: “then talk to him to give you some time. We’ll raise the money and pay him. He shouldn’t terrorize you like that. You haven’t stolen from him.”

I went with her to see the landlord. He gave us only one month to settle or else he would be forced to issue an ejection notice. I asked her: “How much have you raised so far? She said: “I can pay for a year. Even that one, I have to go through a lot of discomforts to be able to pay.” I told her: “No problem. I will send you the rest at the end of the month. We’ll pay so he leaves you in peace.”

Immediately I received my salary at the end of the month, I sent it to her to pay her rent. She did pay. Peace was finally restored. When you live with a happy woman, that same happiness robs on you and you automatically become happy.

But our kind of happiness didn’t last as long as I wanted it to last. Just one week after helping her to pay the rent, she started behaving coldly towards me.

She won’t call me and when I call her, it would take a very long time before she picks. When she picks the phone, she won’t say hello.

I have to say hello three times before she responds. I asked: “Is anything the matter?” She said: “Nothing is the matter. I’m just not myself. Just give me some time, I will be okay.”

She didn’t say how long so I kept calling her. One day she shouted at me on the phone, “What part of ‘give me some time’ don’t you understand?” I need some space. Just leave me alone.”

She cut the line and didn’t pick my subsequent calls. We all have bad days. I took it as she was having a bad day. Three days later, I called. She didn’t pick. She sent a message, “I’m busy right now. I will call you later.”

“That call never came. She will be online but wouldn’t respond to my messages. I will call her line and she won’t pick. “Ahhh, what’s going on? What’s happening to this girl?”

Two weeks ago, I saw her online on WhatsApp. I sent her a text and she left me on blue tick. I called her on video and she didn’t pick. I continued calling her until she picked.

I asked her: “What have I done to you that you’re treating me this way?” She said, “Nothing. But I told you to give me some space?” I asked, “until when?”

Before she could answer, I saw a guy walk past behind her to where the fridge was. I asked her, “Who’s that?” She looked back and said, “That’s my boyfriend.”

“What do you mean he’s your boyfriend? Since when? What then becomes of me? What am I to you?” She said: “I thought it will work out between us but it looks like we are not meant to be together.”

I hang up the phone and rushed to her place. I knocked and knocked and knocked but no one answered. Someone told me: “She stepped out not too long ago.”

I sat in front of her door all night but she didn’t come. The landlord saw me sitting at the door and asked: “You’re looking for your sister? I think her boyfriend came around so they left.” Eish, so it’s true?” I sent her a text, “I’m in front of your house.

“I understand we can’t continue, that’s fine but I’m coming for my rent and the phone I bought for you. You can leave it with the landlord, I will come for it tomorrow.” She responded, “What phone and what rent? How about the sex, would you pay for it?”

I was so infuriated I didn’t know what to kick and kill. Three consecutive evenings I was at her door. I didn’t see her. One night I went there and she was there watching TV. I told her, “I want my money and the phone back.”

She tried to resist but, in the end, I got the phone back. I told her: “Until you pay everything you owe me, I will never allow you to rest.”

We lasted for only four months. I won’t allow her to make me her ‘mugu’. I’ll collect every dime and if she doesn’t take care, I’ll stalk her until I see her boyfriend and destroy that relationship too. I hate nonsense.

Am I being unreasonable? She did me bad and I don’t think it’s wrong for me to pay her back the same way or?

The announcement was made during a recent press conference where the association’s Secretary-General Ben Liyai revealed that they had already spoken to its members over the issue.

He argued that businesses had stopped and the economy was depreciating because of the Coronavirus outbreak. 

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According to the association, tenants should not expect any form of harrassments from their landlords because of rent payment as they have spoken to landlords across the country to offer their tenants rent waivers for the months of April, May, and June.

‘‘LATAK directs all tenants not to pay rent until when President Uhuru Kenyatta orders businesses to resume normal operations,” said Liyai. 

“All the landlords must forthwith stop evictions, harassment and disconnection of electricity and water to tenants,’’ he added. 

The association also asked landlords having challenges in complying with the directives to seek advice from it by texting the word Tenant or Landlord to 20777 so it can pick up the matter. 

Landlords in the West are offering free rent in return for sex, an investigation from BBC Inside Out West has found.

The Ministry of Justice says this is illegal and even placing an advert is breaking the law and could result in a seven-year jail term.

But the BBC found examples of adverts online and met some of those who had placed them.

This is according to a report by the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre.

The annual 2017 report of the ADR, Ashaiman Centre, said: “in some cases, landlords exchange rent with sex for a period”.

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The report compiled by the three mediators at the centre revealed that in some cases, caretakers took advantage of female prospective tenants and demand for sex even though they were not the owners of the houses.

They stated for instance that in one of such cases, a caretaker entrusted with a house due to the absence of the landlord rented a room in the apartment to a lady for two years.

It added that the caretaker who started an affair with the female tenant verbally extended her rent for another one year term after the expiration of the initial payment.

He again extended the rent period to an additional one year during which period he continued his affair with her even though she was pregnant for another man.

According to the ADR, the caretaker ordered the lady to vacate the room after she broke up with him but she refused because they had a two-year verbal tenancy agreement.

The ADR mediators indicated that they managed to convince the caretaker to compensate the lady after he revealed that he was not the owner of the apartment and that he was ejecting her because the landlord wanted his property.

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The report also mentioned a case in which a landlord caught his wife having sexual intercourse with a tenant leading to his ejection.

The ADR Centre which serves Ashaiman and its environs recorded a total of 825 rent cases in 2017 which showed a reduction of four cases from the 829 handled in 2016.

Most of the cases bothered on financial constraint, high increment on rent, failure to pay rent on time primarily as a result of the loss of the job.

Others were keeping pets and entertaining visitors contrary to their tenancy agreements.