Understanding the norms and difficulties with advance rent payments in Ghana

The prevailing norm in Ghana’s rental housing market involves a mandatory and recurrent advance rent payment of two years or more by renters to their landlords. This paper employs sociological institutionalism, coupled with mixed-methods research design, to investigate the challenges renters face in adhering to the norm and its associated implications. Based on a survey of 362 renters across Ghana and an in-depth literature review, our findings demonstrate that extended advance rent periods, employment-related reasons, and limited savings are the primary factors contributing to the challenges renters face regarding the norm. Adhering to this norm often transforms renters into perpetual borrowers, limits personal development, and alters savings behaviour. The norm’s deep entrenchment can be attributed to Ghana’s political economy, market operations, and institutional deficiencies, perpetuating its prevalence. This research has implications for proposed interventions in the rental housing sector and advances our theoretical understanding of the emergence of distinct norms.