App launched to expose landlords flouting rent law

Prospective tenants in Ghana facing illegal rent demands, despite a government directive limiting advance rent payments to six months, now have a new tool to fight back. A Ghanaian property technology company, Ownkey, has launched the FirstKey App, designed to expose landlords and agents who violate rent laws.

The FirstKey App functions by ensuring that only compliant property listings are published on its platform. It also aims to bolster the Rent Control Department's efforts to enforce the six-month rent advance directive. Ilyas Ibrahim, CEO of Ownkey, stated that the app's effectiveness hinges on information provided by tenants and accommodation seekers.

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The success of the application would depend largely on information from tenants and accommodation seekers.

While acknowledging that identifying all non-compliant landlords and agents will take time, Ibrahim expressed confidence in the app's potential to improve compliance through collaboration with tenants and property agents. Ownkey plans to partner with the Rent Control Department to encourage more landlords to register on the platform and strengthen legal enforcement.

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FirstKey App covers every rental listed below GH¢2,500 a month, the segment most exposed to exploitation, regardless of how a property was presented. All of this is to protect tenants and ensure they are not exploited.

Ibrahim highlighted that the initiative seeks to foster transparency in the rental market and shield tenants from unlawful rent demands. The FirstKey App specifically targets rental listings below GH¢2,500 per month, a segment most vulnerable to exploitation, regardless of how the property is presented. This measure is intended to protect tenants from being exploited.

He recalled President John Dramani Mahama's call on March 17, 2026, for tenants to report landlords demanding more than the legally permitted six months' rent in advance. The President also urged greater cooperation between the government, labor, and the private sector to address Ghana's housing challenges. Ibrahim views the FirstKey App as a private sector contribution towards this objective, built upon the standards of the Rent Act of 1963 (Act 220). Despite the law limiting advance rent payments for over six decades, weak enforcement and a reluctance to use the Rent Court have normalized demands for one to two years' advance rent, exacerbated by Ghana's housing deficit of approximately 1.8 million units. The app verifies each listing against the six-month advance rent limit before publication, simplifying the process for tenants who would otherwise have to negotiate down unlawful charges. Additionally, renters can use the OwnEstimate feature to assess the reasonableness of rental prices in specific locations within 60 seconds.

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Closing Ghana’s housing deficit is going to take exactly the kind of government, labour and private-sector cooperation he described, and we think a company that has spent three years building ve