The Select Committee on Regional Government, IEC, Ombudsman, and the Joint Committee on Human Rights and Constitutional Matters of the National Assembly presented their findings about the Rent Amendment 2023 Bill to other members of the National Assembly for consideration and possible adoption.

The report was presented to other legislators by Honourable Sulayman Jammeh, who was the Regional Government Committee Chair in addition to being the Co-Chairperson of the committee. He underlined that the goal of the law is to update the present Rent Act (2014), with a particular emphasis on successfully addressing rental concerns, as stated in the goals and justification of the bill. During the third regular session of the 2023 legislative year, Honourable Madi MK Ceesay, the member of the National Assembly for Serekunda West, first submitted the Rent Amendment Bill 2023. The measure was scrutinised when it was introduced, and members decided to refer it to the appropriate committee for a detailed investigation.
“The Committee thoroughly loves substantial methods during the review of this Bill, including reviewing documents and position papers presented by the invited stakeholders and consulting with stakeholders to get their valuable opinions.” He informed his colleagues, “There will be public hearings held across the nation and a validated meeting where Honourable Members and Support Staff of the Committee reviewed various submissions and further scrutinised the clauses prepared and validated the report.”
In addition, he expressed the committee’s viewpoint of the bill’s goals and recommended that they be included in the final version of the bill when it is being considered.

The committee also suggested leaving other parts of the measure unaltered, such as provisions 13 and 18. They did, however, suggest amending section 19 to limit rent increases to no more than five percent every three years, or as the Minister may otherwise direct and as announced in the Gazette.

provision 19 Amendment: The committee suggests that this provision remain in the bill with the following changes, and it should now be read as According to him, a landlord cannot raise the rent for rental properties more than 5% every three years or at any other rate that the minister may specify by notice published in the Gazette, depending on the facility’s condition and less than 36 months apart.

Members of the committee travelled over the country to collect input from areas such as Brikama, Bwiam, Serekunda Market, Banjul, Soma, Jarra Japineh, Farafenni Market, Basse, and Janjanbureh for public hearings on the Rent Amendment Bill 2023.

The committee’s recommendations, which were based on the responses it received, included outlawing the use of foreign currency to pay rent, re-establishing rent tribunals in councils or designating stationed magistrates, forbidding the use of agents to mediate rent disputes, basing rent amounts on the standards of the premises, and prohibiting the construction of warehouses within residential areas.

The National Assembly members supported the bill and complimented the committee on their diligent work. The members of the National Assembly then approved the report.