Assessing house-owners’ level of compliance with the national building regulations and bylaws a case study of selected districts in the Upper East region

Abstract

The development of housing units is regulated and monitored to ensure quality standards, safety of occupants and the efficient function of all buildings elements in order to prevent collapse, loss of lives and property. Accordingly, the Government of Ghana through Ministry of Water Resources Works & Housing and Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development promulgated Legislative Instrument LI 1630regulatingphysical development. The aim of the study was to examine house-owners’ compliance with the national building regulations and bylaws in selected districts in the upper east region.Using systematic random sampling technique, survey questionnaires were administered to a sample of one hundred and eight(108) house-owners’ and a response rate of 60% was achieved. The findings revealed that respondents’ level of compliance with the national building regulation and bylaws is generally low. The study also revealed that respondents do not strictlyadhere to the building regulations and bylaws.The findings of the study revealed the key factors influencing house- owners/ developers propensity to comply with building regulations and byelaws in the upper east region to include;channels to obtain building permit are too bureaucratic coupled with over delayance, ignorance to L I 1630,luke warm attitude of personnel responsible for processing building documents at the Assemblies and bribery.The findings also revealed that the key barriers to house-owners’ compliances with building regulations and bylaws include; the permit process is bedeviled with bureaucracies thus hindering the efficiency and the effectiveness ofthe permit acquisition process and lack of transparency at the Assemblies regarding permit issuance.Based on these findings the study has made suggestions which if adopted would go a long way to enhance house-owners’ compliance with building Regulations and bylaws in the study setting.