House tenants and landlords:An endless torment [Archives:2005/863/Reportage]

Taiz Bureau
Moving from one house to another. Evacuate my house, and the tension at the end of each month, with the hushing up of children lest the land lord might get nervous. In this tension the house lessees spend their time.

What are the sufferings of the tenants? What are their claims?

Is there any law that regulates the relationship between the landlord and the lessee? What is the draft law of tenant and landlord that was discussed in the Parliament?

We interviewed some of the tenants, and came out with the following returns.

Early morning visits

Najat Mahmoud 30- an employee: She said: “We have been a tenants for 30 years. We moved to three houses. Our present rent is 15 thousand Rials, which is to be increased at the end of each year and with each governmental increase in prices. There are so many inconveniences from the landlords. The landlord will eventually pay an undesirable visit and invent an altercation at the beginning of each month.” She added that they couldn't build their house in the past, and now this hope seems to be receding. She hopes for a law that would regulate the relations between the lessee and the landlord. She also dreams of acceptable apartments, built by the authorities, for investment for ownership.

My kids are really scared

Mohamed Ali Abdul Ghani

I have been a tenant since1992. I moved to four houses within this period. The eminent one is for ten thousand a month. There are many vexations. Continuous water and power cut, regular raise of rents and the teasing of the landlord's wife to my wife. As for the kids, I brought them up on fear. They should always be silent, so that they should not enter into any skirmishes with the landlord's kids. When we move to a new home, they spend the first month weeping, because they want to go back to their old house.

Rat holes

Some of the houses are no better than rat holes, but owners still demand high rents.

Ahmed Al-Izi: A truck driver, says that he lives in a hole similar to the hiding place where Saddam was caught. It consists of a room, a kitchen and a bath room. “I live with my wife and three kids in this room. We huddle ourselves in this room at night. The problem is when a guest comes. I have to send my wife to her sister's house to make a place available for our guest. The land lord demands 4500 rials for this grave – like room. If payment is delayed, there would be no water, nor electricity. The landlord starts crying till the neighbors come. We demand law protection and not to be left at the mercy of the landlord.

Courts and loses

Ali Saif Al- uriqi says that apart from the increase in the rents, the landlords, sometimes get the tenants out of their houses with no good reasons. A tenant is supposed to be given ample time to look for a new house. He is to have at least three months, without pay to compensate for the cost of luggage transfer and the auctions they pay for the new house.

The above was a good reason to contact several sides to know their point of view and their part in coordinating the relation between the lessee and the landlord. Several parts said that it is not within their jurisdiction, so we were to meet Mps/Abdulkreem Shaiban and Sakhr Al-wajeeh. We asked them about the draft law that regulates the relation between the tenant and the landlord. It has been lately discussed in the Parliament. We enquired whether this law will express the tenants' hopes.

A new law that doesn't grant the needs is a futility

MP Abdulkreem Sharaf Shiban said that there was no need to introduce the draft. The subject of the new draft which was discussed, is the relation between the tenant and the landlord. This was tackled in details in the civil law in about 98 articles. These are articles 682 to 780.In addition to that, the civil law was issued only 28 months ago. This won't contribute to the stability of the legislations, which maintains people's interests. Shiban adds, “To present any law, there should be a real need for that law, or other wise it would be a futile effort.”

In his comment on the law items, he said, “there are contradictions in this draft. There are restrictions on the rights of individuals to agree on the terms in the contract, and the rights of the landlord in case damage of the property. There are other penalties that the law has imposed on the lessee. The domination spirit is clear in this law.

In case of enactment of some of the items of this law there will be, overlapping of jurisdictions, of administrative bodies. The constitution had empowered these bodies to evaluate the rents, and resolve some disputes. There will also be interference in the affairs of the courts and other sides. Other complications in resolving renting disputes are also a problem in this draft.

Abiding by the law will preserve rights

MP Shaiban concluded by saying, “Though the law appears to be protecting the tenant's rights, but it will create a problem for both the landlord and the lessee. Such a trend contradicts the constitutions and the legislations.” He said, “If there is an insufficiency in the civil law items, those items should be discussed, but in spite of all that, there should be adherence to the law to maintain people's interests and the tenants in particular”.

A mysterious law that could be differently construed

MP Sakhr Al- wajeeh said, “the council discussed the draft law, and its tendency was to reject it for the following:

The civil law has covered all the areas of the rent contract. Added to this is the confusion that the new draft law has created a number of complications between the landlord and the lessee, which is not for the good for either of them. This is because each party can interpret the unclear items for their own interests. There are other elastic items in this draft law that make an insurance law out of it, rather than a rent law. An example of these is the item that gives the minister the right, in emergent cases to take on lease, houses that are prepared to let. This will be without permission from the owner. This is of course a transgression over the rights of the citizens. There are other flaws in this law.

MP Alwajeeh adds that the law didn't specify the rent amounts. It created an administration inside the ministry to determine the amount of rent in case of dispute.

Returned for amelioration

On the general aspects of the law, MP Sakhr said: “The committees of Islamic legislations and services, tried to amend the draft law, but when the law was presented to the council, we found that every item needs to be amended. This compelled the MPs to return the draft to the legislation and services committees for amelioration.

Conclusion

The issue of the tenants remains to be a nightmare to many. This necessitates the efforts of several bodies to contribute to the right solution for this problem, in order to reduce the sufferings of the tenants. This needs finding out a mechanism that would strike a balance between the two parties.
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