The Togolese Association of Real Estate Agents (ATAI) organized, on July 5, 2022, in its premises in Lomé, a meeting to raise awareness among its members of the provisions of Decree No. 2022-001 / PR regulating the deposit, the guarantee of rent and residential lease. On occasion, it gave everyone the model residential lease contract drawn up by the Ministry of Town Planning, Housing and Land Reform, in order to harmonize the amount of the deposit and rental guarantee throughout the national territory.
In Togo, the supply of decent housing is insufficient and housing owners take advantage of this to speculate and outbid rent prices. Indeed, the latter require, not only exorbitant rents, but also the payment of a deposit and an advance rent corresponding to one (1), even three (3) years of rent.
Aware of this reality, the government has issued Decree No. 2022-001/PR, allowing the adoption of balanced measures that both protect the tenant and reassure investors, also called lessors. It will help to clean up this area with the capping of both the deposit and the three (03) month guarantee.
According to the Director of Legal Affairs and Litigation at the Ministry of Urban Planning, Housing and Land Reform, Mr. Akakpo Iroko, on the substance, the text innovates on a certain number of aspects, in particular in the formalization even the relationship between lessor and lessee. Thus, from now on the lease contract must be a written contract. To this end, a standard model contract is provided for by the decree and is available from each town hall. In his opinion, the decree specifies that residential leases are henceforth in writing. “Our fellow citizens must understand this. There are no more verbal leases, now all residential leases must be in writing “, he made it clear.
In addition, Mr. Iroko explained that this cap aims to limit the current speculation practiced in the country, and in particular in Greater Lomé, while taking into account the need to preserve the investments made by those who contribute to improving the accommodation available. In a first phase, this measure applies in Greater Lomé and will be extended, after evaluation, to other localities, if deemed relevant.
The president of ATAI, Mr. Wiyaou Tchindé, thanked the authorities for their vision for a peaceful and peaceful Togo, where living together must constitute the very foundation of development. This living together, he says, is often undermined by the frictions that sometimes arise between lessors and lessees in the context of the contractual relations that bind them. Mr. Tchindé calls on all his colleagues to be attentive, to interact and above all to be ambassadors for the popularization of these measures with building owners.
Komla GOKATSE