Hell of rent irons hits both expats, citizens KD 350 FOR LIVINGROOM-BEDROOM...KD1,000 FOR MODERATE HOUSE KUWAIT CITY, Oct 17: While the government is contemplating lifting the subsidies on fuel and electricity, warning bells are already ringing of possible inflation of prices for most consumer services and commodities, and increased likelihood of unjustified hike in house rents throughout Kuwait. Until now, the rents have increased by 60 percent and they are expected to increase further even though this phenomenon has no link with the housing crisis in Kuwait. This hike in rents has affected all types of accommodations — apartments, houses, flats, chalets and even villas. Considering that the rate of rent hike is determined by geographical and social aspects, both citizens and expatriates unanimously affirmed that they are not earning enough to deal with the increasing rents. They questioned the irrationality in charging KD 350 rent for a small apartment with one bedroom and a living room and KD 1,000 for a house in a residential area. The landlords explained that the increase in rents is due to the high cost of building materials, land and their financial installments to the contractors, insisting that the rate of increase in rents is logical and in proportion to the inflation rate in most aspects. On the contrary, the tenants stressed the lack of proper justification for increasing the rents without any increase in their salaries, revealing that they spend more than half of their salaries to pay the monthly rents. They lamented, “Paying the monthly rents has become a nightmare for the breadwinners, irrespective of whether they are Kuwaiti citizens or expatriates. If this problem of increasing rents continues, expatriates may have to go back to their motherland with their families, and citizens may have to start living in tents”. The tenants expressed their shock about landlords charging almost KD 500 for apartments with two or three bedrooms and a living room in Hawally, Jabriya, Salmiya and Salwa. They urged the concerned authorities to intervene in this matter and put an end to this phenomenon before expatriates are forced to take the decision of either leaving the country with their families or sending only their families to their country, which however will transform Kuwait into a country of bachelors Population Real estate experts explained that the requirement for apartments and houses is based on the country’s development process and the rate of population growth. As per recent statistics, there are about 405 buildings, 3,407 villas, 5 palaces, 435 houses, 899 chalets and 2,206 traditional houses that are vacant and can meet the current demand. However, after huge development projects are launched, the real estate market will require large number of apartments for thousands of laborers and their families. The real estate experts affirmed the crucial need to reorganize the investment accommodation sector such as increasing the number of floors in each residential apartment building to contain more apartments. The fact that available land for investment accommodations is limited has contributed to the rapid hike in rents. They revealed that 8 percent of the country’s area is utilized in construction, adding, “If 5 percent of the country’s area is released for housing projects, the prices of real estate and rents will definitely go down”. They said the hike in rents was bound to happen after the price of lands increased, adding that the cost of laborers have also increased after Ministry of Interior activated stricter visa regulations and deported expatriates at a time when the demand was high in the country. Cost They also attributed the hike in house rents to the increase in the government employees’ salaries in the last ten years, which also increased the cost of consumer commodities. The real-estate experts stressed that the government’s inability to solve the housing problem has resulted in increasing demand for rental houses and apartments. In addition, Attorney Mohammed Al-Mutairi said the rental contract is one of the most important legal contracts and that rents cannot be increased without the agreement of both parties and within five years from the date of the contract. In a press statement to the daily, he stressed the need to increase legal awareness in the society and ensure appropriate modifications are implemented for attracting foreign investors in Kuwait. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By: Jaber Al-Humoud, Eman Al-Beli and Khalid Al-Hattab Al-Seyassah Staff
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 04:29:32 +0000