Koforidua Hostels Shut Down by Rent Control, GTA Over Filth, Illegal Operations

Man in a white T‑shirt posts a yellow 'Notice of Closure' sign on a brown wall beside a gated area.

By Yaw Opoku Amoako August 6, 2026

Two private hostels serving students of Koforidua Technical University have been padlocked after a joint crackdown by the Rent Control Commission and the Ghana Tourism Authority exposed shocking sanitary conditions and unlicensed operations.

Serwaa Heights and Adehye3 Hostel were both shut down after KTU students raised the alarm, pushing authorities to move in on hostels operating around the university without proper oversight.

The Eastern Regional Office of the GTA, led by Regional Director Jones Haruna Nelson, teamed up with Acting Rent Control Commissioner Frederick Opoku for an unannounced sweep of the area’s hostel facilities.

Before the inspection kicked off, the team checked in with the Dean of Students and briefed the Vice-Chancellor on what they were there to do.

First on the list was Serwaa Heights, tucked about 300 metres from the university’s small gate. What inspectors found wasn’t pretty — a hostel running completely off the books, with no GTA registration to its name, and sanitary conditions bad enough to warrant immediate action.

Nelson didn’t mince words afterward, telling journalists, “We came and realised that the place is not fit for purpose. We didn’t know there were hostels here because they are doing illegal business.

The place is unkempt, the air coming in is bad, so we have served them a notice of closure.”

The team’s next stop, Adehye3 Hostel behind the university’s main campus, wasn’t any better — inspectors found piles of refuse dumped right at the entrance.

Both facilities were slapped with closure notices on the spot, with authorities citing filthy conditions and a failure to meet basic operational standards for student housing.

Nelson said the move was about putting students first, making sure hostel operators can’t cut corners at their expense. Opoku, for his part, gave affected students a direct assurance: any money already paid to the two hostels would be refunded.

He also signaled this isn’t a one-off exercise — the Commission plans to keep sweeping the country for unlicensed, unsanitary hostels preying on students, working hand in hand with the GTA to make sure private accommodation nationwide is safe, clean and above board.