The Acting Rent Control Commissioner, Frederick Opoku, has criticised some student hostel operators for what he describes as excessive charges and practices that treat hostels more like hotels than rental accommodation.
Speaking on JoyNews on August 19, 2026, Opoku said that students who pay rent for an academic year are sometimes forced to vacate their rooms once the academic period ends, even though the period covered by their payment may not have lasted 12 months.
He argued that students who have paid for a year should be able to keep their belongings in their rooms and return when the next academic year begins.
“We know that we typically have two semesters, that is, four months, which is eight months. They say ‘academic year’; in our local parlance, a year is a year, as a tenant. It’s 12 months,” he said.
Opoku said some hostel operators ask students to leave at the end of the academic year because they want to use the rooms for other programmes and activities.
“Now, they are running the place like a hotel. They are running it like a hotel. When the time comes, they will just get them out, saying that they will have sandwich programs and so on and so forth and get them out. For me and for us, this is where the matter lies,” he stated.
He also questioned the level of rent being charged for shared hostel rooms, saying the amounts can generate substantial revenue for operators.
According to Opoku, a room occupied by four students, with each paying between GH¢5,000 and GH¢6,500, could earn an operator between GH¢20,000 and GH¢30,000 from a single room.
“The point is that typically in a year, they spend eight months not 12 months in the hostel. So, you see if each is paying GH¢5,000 to GH¢6,500, for 4 people in a room, they are taking between GH¢20,000, GH¢24,000 to some GH¢30,000,” he said.
He argued that such charges are particularly high when compared with the cost of renting single rooms in some of Accra’s prime residential areas.
“Even in East Legon, the best place here in Accra, you will not even get that single room [charging] GH¢30,000,” he added.
Opoku’s comments have brought renewed attention to the cost and conditions of student accommodation, particularly the expectations placed on students who pay for hostel spaces on an academic-year basis.
