Dozens of Barwa City residents in Qatar have said they may be forced to move out of their homes after receiving notice that their rents would be going up by 30 percent.
The affected individuals reside in the 15-building Park Residences community, which is managed by Tanween Residences and contains some 800 units. It is part of the larger Barwa City development located between Mesaimeer and the Industrial Area, close to the Abu Hamour Church Complex.
According to tenants who spoke to Doha News, the company has sent out lease renewal notices warning of a hike of several thousand riyals a month.
A portion of that increase is a new charge for utilities, which is being added to tenants’ base rent, the landlord confirmed to Doha News.
But some residents say that the cost of electricity and water only represents a fraction of the hike, and have accused their landlord of “cashing in” on the long-awaited completion of neighborhood amenities such as a grocery store.
Increased prices
The development opened in mid-2013 and enticed its initial tenants with rents of around QR6,500 for a two-bedroom unit and QR7,000 for a three-bedroom flat.
“These were promotional rates to attract initial tenants and to promote this brand-new development in the market,” a spokesperson for Tanween Residences who asked not to be named told Doha News.
He added that rates varied greatly between units, depending on elevation, size, layout and other factors.
Those rental rates, which did not include utilities such as electricity and water, rose slightly last year. Now, residents whose leases expire at the end of March have been told rent would be increased to the tune of QR2,000 to QR3,000 a month.
Speaking to Doha News, some said they were shocked at the increases contained in renewal notices distributed at the beginning of this month.
“I really can’t afford this much,” said a Pakistani resident who said she was told the rent for her two-bedroom unit would increase from QR7,000 to slightly more than QR9,000.
Because the new rate is inclusive of utilities, tenants would no longer receive separate bills for services such as electricity and water.
But some said that the additional cost should only amount to QR500 to QR750 a month, leading them to suspect their landlord is raising the rent as more amenities in the neighborhood open.
For its part, Tanween Residences said it made the decision to add a utilities charge because many tenants had failed to transfer their electricity accounts into their own names. Others had complained about administrative headaches, such as delays in receiving their bills.
The spokesperson added that other affected tenants may be given a longer notice period of three months. Residents need to notify Tanween Residences of their intention to renew or leave at least one month prior to their lease expiring.
Finally, the Tanween Residences spokesperson denied rumors that it was trying to force individual families out of their buildings so it can rent large blocks of units to companies for employee accommodations.
He said many affected residents are renewing and that the company has a waiting list of prospective tenants who are interested in moving in and paying the new rate.
New offerings
In December, a Lulu hypermarket belatedly opened its doors. Additionally, many families have enrolled their children in the nearby Newton International School or the Newton British School.
This has caused some parents to worry about the challenges of finding additional classroom spaces as well as new accommodations within their budget if they choose not to renew at Barwa City and the pay the higher rent.
Even some residents who aren’t immediately affected say they are concerned.
Nazima Ali, who moved into her two-bedroom unit in late 2013, said she currently pays QR7,200 a month and fears she will be hit with a large increase like her neighbors when her lease expires.
“We’d be forced to move … We just hope they keep the rent same, or keep it within 10 percent,” Ali said. “It would be very tough for us to decide as to whether to leave or to stay. They know that the children are settled … Now we are trapped.”
The initial rental rates offered by Tanween were welcomed by many families in Qatar, where rising real estate prices have pushed rental rates in some parts of Doha beyond the reach of some residents.
Despite delays in completing the promised amenities, several residents described Barwa City as a pleasant place to live. There are open places for children to play, in contrast to the denser built-up areas of Doha where apartments often open directly onto busy roads.
The rental increase notices come several months after a a Central Municipal Council member called on the government to impose a cap on residential rent increases. There’s precedence for such a move; in 2008, landlords were limited to a 10-percent increase on tenants renewing their leases. Those provisions expired in 2010.
However, there’s been no official response to the most recent suggestion as rents continued to rise, outpacing salary increases in many cases.
“It’s totally unaffordable for people here,” Ali said. “They can’t increase rents by that much. They are playing with our emotions.”
Thoughts?
I can only describe thre landlords with one word but I’m sure it’ll get deleted… It starts with an a and ends with s for plural and it tends to stink
Isn’t there supposed to be a cap of something like 10% on rent increases? or have they found a loophole around that? 30% is a ridiculous increase for the landlords to be able to get away with it.
The increase is 40% and not 30%, as reported. This is looting, absolutely unbelievable.
Does the contract mention anything about the percentage of increase?
The old rent price is 7500 and new rent price is 10,500 and in some cases 11,000 QR. Do the maths…
Doing math isn’t the point. The point is if it’s written in your contract that the increase shouldn’t be more than 10% per year for example then maybe you have a chance.
No, it does not mention any percentage. That is my point. Is it the landlords prerogative to increase the rent, is there no fixed cap.
You are correct, not mentioned in the contract. Also this is mentioned in clause (29) of the contract: This agreement shall be interpreted with the laws of State of Qatar, Qatar courts are authorized & entitled to judge any disputes arise between both parties regarding interpretation or execution of this Agreement.
So it seems that they are very brave!!!!!!!!
Im curious if the existing contract mentions anything about the old rate being a promotional rate.
Nothing like this has been mentioned in the old contract Misha
It’s called pay what the market accepts and what it’s worth. If it’s expensive then leave? If the rent is as high as the pearl go live in the pearl.
Again, just leave them and screw them by leaving.
I believe the cap only applies to commercial rental
That cap expired years ago, though people are calling for it to be re-instituted.
you are correct Shabina & was told the same by Tanween property manager. I’m afraid its Fun time for all landlords in Qatar, very sad indeed.
Honeslty, 6500 for a FF 2 bedroom is not cheap but average for that area, so to claim that their initial offering was discounted is nonsense. But 9000 for a 2-bedroom? You can get a similar rate in AlSadd and pretty much everywhere in Doha except Dafna and the Pearl. I think the Tanween people got it all wrong this time and I hope people will boycott their apartments.
Greed is the word.
I will be directly affected by this rent increase and all that comes to mind is that we have been taken for a jolly good ride by Tanween. When there were no takers for Barwa City apartments, we made a choice to stay there despite having no facilities i.e. Swimming pool, clubhouse, shopping center, etc. Despite all this we made it our home. Now after Lulu has opened there, the greedy landlords have decided to force all the tenants out, those.. who battled against all the lies mentioned as amenities. Is there no law to protect the tenants rights??
At the moment, 3 BR apt which rent for 7500 QR will be increased to 10,500 QR. Isn’t this daylight robbery??
Is there any government body which can address our rights for a decent living?? The guys in the waiting list, BEWARE. The clubhouse is not yet ready, the swimming pool is also not ready. There is no 24/7 security, as they state in their recent adverts. Bunch of liars….Greedy and blood sucking landlords..
10,500!!! I could get a decent villa in doha in that price!
Lol yeh best of luck with that Mo. You need to crawl out of that box u live in and get up to speed with villa rental rates in Doha..
Maybe you’ve been looking in the wrong places Ozzy, no need to start name calling though is it
I’ve recently seen an ad for 4 bedrooms villas in ain khaled and their monthly rent was 10,500. to pay 10,500 for an apartment so far from everything is a rip off!
If you dont like it, you can leave.
Thanks, but no thanks for your very witty reply.
Maybe you are from Tanween, cold hearted & feels nothing for other’s pain & grief.
Have a heart Mr. Guest or just don’t comment if you don’t have anything meaningful to say.
Just to add the above. How would you have felt if you or your wife had to travel 10-km just to purchase a bottle of water, let alone daily household requirements. All amenities where promised by Feb 2014, so……..think about this my friend.
Dear Guest,
Guess you have enough money for paying the rent for this place and that you are one of the people who are in the waiting list!
This is the best comment i have read so far & very true, Ozzy is the same
Unfortunately this is the attitude of the authorities and companies here.
Never mind all the trouble the families will go through moving out or lost savings if they stay.
Take it or leave is. Thank you Mr. Compassionate
If-you-dont-like-it-u-can-leave man strikes again with his unlimited wisdom.
That’s not the point .. Everyone can leave or stay but u cannot sell a laptop for 100 $ and say after a year that maintenance will now cost 300 $ every year.. That’s pure cheating and a ripoff.. U should let the buyerknow that u will be charging that kind of money after 1 year when u sign the contract
There’s actually quite an easy solution mate, you don’t like it leave! Best of luck finding alternate residents in Qatar even at the rate of forthcoming increase.
We need more people like you mate. God knows what all the fuss is about.
If you ask me the landlords should be allowed to throw tenants out the same day they find some one who is willing to pay more.
People should be thankful to tanween for giving them a months notice and to you for showing the light.
Please share more easy dolutions
Ozzy is from Tanween, undercover devil 🙂
There is strength in numbers. I don’t know the development, but if as the article says there are 800 properties, try getting together with other residents and fighting this. At the very least, you may be able to negotiate down.
I do feel bad for you and the others affected by this. That’s a big price hike..
this is a Far West
U must mean Wild West, right?
yes, or whatever you want to call it, also Wind Middle East!
We rented a 2 beds in May 2014 for 6750…to renew we have to pay 10000…is there any law in Qatar? How is this possible? They said utilities included, but the utilities are not 3000.
3250 QR increase due to opening of LULU. What will the new residents pay once all amenities are opened?? These guys have gone nuts and guess what. All of this is acceptable by law?
Any law experts here….
If you don’t like the rates others want to rent. You should of saved your money while you enjoyed such low rates.
I want to rent at the Park at new rates and make sure the quality of people are the same as me.
I love the place and the fact the amenities serve my family.
I hate seeing how people believe or decided they are speaking like it’s social housing. Go find something within your budget.
Wow, I love your logic. You flaunt your budget and actually believe that this will allow quality people to stay in there. If this your quality, am glad I cannot afford people like you.
BTW, we did not enjoy low rents, it was a decent rent for a ghost town next to the cemetery. We made it livable.
I would love to see your reaction if you were on the receiving end.
Ha! You sound like you’re showing off your new Nissan Sunny to your neighbors that can’t afford a car. Barwa City is a dump, my friend.
“Quality of the people” ? Really ? The GCC is stuck in a time warp because of the undeserved respect the some nationalities get.
self scented & wish to God that your face will nit a brick wall & stay hit. You have no feeling for humanity, go live in the industrial area, it seems like your type of area, personality & character. even better, go back to your home country. This country is for Islamic & you are not, so go speak in your racist land & leave our Islamic values to us. Why did u come here in the first place?
So, If the Quality of people is like you even after paying 10,000 for a 2BR. I would rather like to live in a slum!
then go live in the Pearl buddy!!it will reflect your status and your budget!!
As long as i know the allowed rent increase by law should be 5 to 7% per year.
Why don’t you guys consult a lawyer about it?
It is so not worth it to pay 10k/month and stay in that area while you can get an affordable 2 bedrooms in doha for 7 or 8k as an average.
max utilities per month will be Qr800 for 3 bedroom……………….thieves!!!!!!!!!
Greedy thieving &@$~%
If there’s one law that’s needed (with any lengthy mulling), it’s protection from these thieves and their constant ridiculous increases
Others had complained about administrative headaches, such as delays in receiving their bills….what a bunch of lies from Tanween. These are received via email & sms but this is a ploy to make extra money from the tenants. We have taken this up with Consumer Protection but surprisingly they started a process & then just dropped it saying we should go to court, well that’s so much for consumer protection for you. Since i was an earlier tenant, my rent has not been increased however they are now asking for 2 security cheques & will encash 1 of them for unpaid utility bills, how absurd & they have added this onto the new contract.
Thieves, thieves & more thieves, the government need to support the expat community simply because it’s this community who are responsible for the Qatar’s growth.
A very disappointed Tanween resident!!!!!!!!!
Just have a look at their brochure which advertises gym’s, swimming pools, etc but all of these are false & fraudulent advertising to co-hearse people into signing with Tanween. Again this was mentioned to Consumer Protection but nothing………then again whats new!!!!!!!!
Oil prices the way it is now and projects being cancelled, Doha is pretty much going to be expat free.
Barwa in the red – they’ll do anything to get back on track, the conniving @&£#%¥€€$>.
Isn’t there a law against increasing more than 10%?
Staying at the edge of industrial area and they want a premium rent – who are they trying to kid!!! There is a dust cloud always over that area – can see it from my office
Agreed & Barwa are really in the RED. In fact they are now merging with QPM, wonder why!!!!!!!!!
there was a law, it was cancelled, because it worked! This is a Far West
Failed to transfer electricity number?
I was forced to transfer the number by a threatening letter that they eould encash my security check.
When i went to kahrama for transfer, there was 400 QAR outstanding in my meter. Tanween guys asked me to pay this and said they would reimburse.
I have been chasing them since 4 months for my money now. Not a penny recieved
Tanween is completely insensitive to the suffering it will cause to so many people.
When you move to a place, you dont move for a year.
For me the biggest reason was having my daughters school at a stones throw.
There is a reason why most civilized nayions have rental agencies and tenent prltection rules.
The protection in middle east seems only to be for corporations
I’m paying now 6500 + 500 for utilities so total if 7000 QR … I would expect a maximum increase of 10% (700 QR) in the worst case. But to reach a 35% increase if the total will be 9500 QR … This is totally un fair. And I believe there should be a law to protect us from such things.
Lulu justifies a rent increase of 3,000 QAR… hahaha!
The good way is this to send your complains to Barwa CEO not Tanween becoz Tanween wil not do anything and refuse to leave the House
Waste of time 🙂 they WONT do anything
As a resident of the Barwa Sailiya compound, I shudder at this news. If it happens at the higher-rent Barwa Village, can a rent increase for us be far behind? Sigh, Qatar is fast becoming unlivable for mid-income workers.
May i ask if the Studios are affected with these price hikes ? im dealing with Waseef and paying 2,500 QR / Month
Not yet as studios are managed by Waseef not Tanween
Managers at Tanween may be pushed to produce higher profits..it seems they came up with this ridiculous idea. One reason 4 this huge hike is non competitive atmosphere and monopoly. Also issue at stake here is Expat tenants vs Local businesses. No clue as to where the wind blows!
TANWEEN THEIVESS AND VERY BAD MANAGER I LOVE QATAR VERY NICE PEOPLE BUT NOT TANWEEN THAT MAKING PROFIT MUST CANCEL THIS INCREASE BARWA CITY PRICE
Come on DN, say it clearly, 2BR will be increased from 6500 to 10000 QR and 3BR from 7250 to 10500 QR, more than 3000 QR increase in rent.
This is a reflection of the bigger problem the country has. Value people for God sake.
It’s a shame for Qatar not to be protecting her residents who are contributing to the development of the country. I love Qatar it’s my home now, but seems we can’t afford a decent living here anymore. Do our salaries increase by 35%? Greedy ppl who can never have enough.
How is it greedy? Like it or not, let’s be realistic we live in capitalistic world. It is all about supply and demand. It is all about money and people/companies can choose to be sympathetic but they have no obligation to do so. If there is a demand of housing exceeding the supply, the rent will increase. Likewise if landlords need to entice you with low rents due to competition they will.
If you are irreplaceable or in demand you could probably negotiate a higher salary. How are they greedy when most if not all people would leave their current jobs for more money? Would that not be greedy as well then? I am assuming you didn’t come to Qatar leaving a better salary back home to contribute to the development here.
Im sorry but I’m not aware of any country or city that protects their residents. Im not sure why you expect Qatar to do so. If Qatar becomes unliveable due to costs people will leave in droves and either companies will have to raise salaries or deal with a shortage of people and Qatar will suffer the consequences.
Hi Misha, are you qatari?
There are many countries and cities that impose a limit on annual rent increase. E.g canada it is somethingvlike 2%. Not very far from here, dubai had them too.
2nd point, while the text book demand and supply argument appears logical, i am not sure same is true for the investment side. With big property developers monopolizing the market and oppurtunies for investments limited to foriegners I dont think this demand supply argument is very good.
Third, while again economically speaking it might appear logical that if it is not affordable, people will move out and the market will regulate. But remember the human side of it. It is a big drastic step to move to a new country. So imagine the misery it causes to find out that the salary you negotiated one year ago is not enough now because the land lord increased rent by 30%.
Plus remember that for some one who wsnts to move to barwa now. It is fair to ask higher rent because they can choose not to move. But people already settled in and their kids in the school thinking the rent 7000 QAR is in their budget.
Why do you think governments regulate things like food ,oil and housing prices ariund the world, so that the interests of corpirations do not take over the lives of individuals
If I may extend the demand supply argument, the supply gap would vanish in one year if you allow easy access to development. This is not newyork or Honkgkong where there is no more land to make houses.
Allow individuals like me to buy a land, build a house and put it on rent. Let the banks lend to anyone who wants to build a house and then lets have the capital market demand supply discussion.
I am not a landlord here for good reason and I doubt you would be as well. There are apartments at the pearl that are for sale why haven’t you bought one and rented it out? Probably because they are not worth the cost.
Well I doubt you would want to put down 3 million riyals or more to buy land and build a house that will be a bit outside of central Doha. If so then you will have to be one of the greedy landlords people complain about to recoup your costs. Banks will never allow those kinds of loans here because of the fear that some may take off to their homecountries without paying like what happened in Dubai during the economic crisis.
HI Misha,
I like that you the 1st person alteast here trying to have an intelligent discussion.
Please go through the below link to understand that with the highest per capita GDP in the WORLD, Qatar is the 5th on most unequal distribution of wealth in MENA region, doing worse than even Gaza and war torn Iraq. I have lived in the US and I have lived in Aus, and I have relatives in UK. I can tell you by experience that minimum wage in all these countries is alteast 4 – 5 times more than Qatar with much cheaper accommodation available. I believe your economics is better than mine, so you can read the below link well.
http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Working%20Paper%20195%20-%20Inequality%20Economic%20Growth%20and%20Poverty%20in%20the%20Middle%20East%20and%20North%20Africa%20(MENA).pdf
But this not what I want to discuss in more detail. Coming back to rent increase in BARWA 🙂 in particular and Qatar in general.
I was not arguing that demand supply logic is incorrect. Infact i meant the exact same as what you state, that supplier of properties in Qatar have unfair advantages as I believe there is no fair competition. And govt needs to make it fair and their are many ways to do it, rent cap being one.
And I agree with you that I would not want to buy in pearl myself. I was saying if any one who wanted to build a house, could go out, buy a piece of land, get an independent contractor, buy cement, bricks and build a house, you would see a lot of affordable housing start mushrooming by itself. I am not sure of land prices, but i would be pretty surprised if it is requires 3 Million riyal to build a house in a country where labor is 1500 riyal a month. My friend build a small house in the US for under 100K USD.
We are not in a free economy, expats residents are not free to buy, develop and own property at will. Thus with plenty of free land, the rates that we pay for a two bedroom here in Doha, which is higher than Sydney, is pretty artificial i would say.
Coming back to BARWA Misha, See we were given a rent offer which we took up thinking it fits in our budget, because at that time Tanween needed to fill up the space. Now we have our kids that go to the school in BARWA. If we had any idea that the rent would be so high may be we would have tried a school some where else. You know how difficult it is to change schools for kids in Doha midyear right?
This is why it is unfair to the residents to sort of force evict them with a inhumane increase which will cause displacement and trouble to so many, just to further fill the coffers of an already huge corporation. People will continue to leave and new will come. They can offer what ever rates they want to the new ones.
Have a good day
Thank you for your discussion Wiqas. Your economics might be better than mine (my interests lies in social issues more). I can not seem to find where the income data is sourced from and thus how the inequality was derived. Regardless, I am sure that Qatar is up there on the list for inequality of wealth (even just between its citizens) but very little about wealth is public information especially the top earners which is why I didn’t use it as an example. Also a lot of things here can be at the discretion of the gov’t so it is gets complicated. Now looking at expat income exclusively (since it is less complicated) yes there is great inequality and I do agree the minimum wage should be raised.
Land is very expensive here and the price to build as well. The states is a whole different ballgame (I used to live there) you don’t have independent contractors here, you don’t have stores like home depot where you can do it yourself or any house building workshops. The amount of resources and options there are amazing. Even if you did you would still need to go through companies for the cement and laborers to build.
Again I agree it is unfair to raise the rent that high, but it is realistic that in this world nothing will be done about it. Future residents won’t think twice about signing a lease for your apartment even if they think that you were being treated unfairly (which according to other user comments on this thread is subjective). This happens a lot in the US and is termed gentrification (although that usually refers to poor neighborhoods it is still the same concept). It is pessimistic but realistic.
Good luck to you, I hope you find a favorable resolution. Maybe try to get a sizable group of residents to try to negotiate a lower increase at least for this year? Although it seems like they won’t be sympathetic it is worth a try.
Hi Waqas. Yes, I am Qatari. I never said that there are no rental caps in other places around the world, there was a rental percentage limit here (although I doubt it was enforced) but the majority of places don’t have them.
I said I am not aware of a country that protects their residents. In my opinion the rent measures taken (or subsidizing of items you mentioned) by a government is not because of the wellbeing of residents but for political or economic stability etc.
I also disagree with you and think that the interests of corporations have taken over the interests of individuals unfortunately. Take for example the US and the UK (not to pick on them but that’s where most of the research is focused on), the wealth inequality gap is more than ever, and it increased during the economic downturn. This is the system we have gotten ourselves into somehow that encourages the beliefs that money matters over people and if you are poor then you aren’t trying hard enough and if you are rich there is no shame on spending obscene amounts of money on an item.
Though let me be clear I do think there should be rent controls here (especially when older more affordable housing is being demolished) although it should be your employers responsibility to increase your housing allowance. In my first comment I was not talking about my personal preferences, I was talking about the realistic situation of the world now.
I don’t know what you mean by the demand/supply argument is not very good. I am telling you how it works, the demand/supply pricing still is valid regardless of who is the supplier or if it is a monopoly. The supplier just has the unjust advantage of manipulating the supply (a bit like the sale of diamonds).
Employers responsibility, what is that? Is that a metaphorical sentence. In Qatar, people come on a salary they negotiated considering the costs that they investigated at that point of time. The increase of 35% is not only illogical, it is an act of greed and adventurism which is somehow not regulated nor is it condoned here.
We have people like you advocating that such increases should be the responsibility of the employers. Listen hard, THEY DON’T CARE. You know why, because we again have a ridiculous control over the freedom of choice provided to employees all across the world, aka NOC. I don’t need to get into details, but I am sure you understand that this NOC requirement allows employers to shunt off people with such demands.
The sum of these controls and freedom which benefit a small percentage of people but ignore the sufferings of a bigger group of people, is a perfect recipe for a anarchic society.
I wish the best for Qatar. It is doing a lot of good for people but I wish it would do more to address the above mentioned issues because even if I wished to make it my second home, one of the above two will put a stop to it.
Investment in cultivating people of value is paramount to increase the overall value of your investment, be it an office or a country. I wish you all the best, dear.
you make a very good point. a friend of a friend whose salary is 22K was offered 40K by another company, guess what happened???
Then whose responsibility is it then? I am well aware that they don’t care. I have seen it many times firsthand. I agree having an NOC will give you flexibility to work elsewhere but it will also give them flexibility to fire you and hire someone else who will agree on a lower salary. Hiring someone already in the country will be cheaper for a company. So I expect a lot of hiring and firing if NOCs are allowed, I wonder how the dynamics will change and who will benefit. Anyway I am a firm believer of taking care of your employees and making them feel valued. That gives the employer the best employees as well. This can be a rather lengthy discussion for a forum like this, so I won’t go into it but I do hope you find a resolution to your issue and are able to prosper in Qatar. All the best.
My sympathies for those affected and I wish you well for a fair outcome. Unfortunately vested interests at higher levels will continue to ensure that Qatar is anything but a fair society.
We live at the Park Residences and would like to thank Tanween for their level of service and quality of their apartments that they provide. I believe it is important to note, that the park is not the entire Barwa City and are different than the rest of the city’s apartments. I believe the apartments which we have also viewed do not come fully furnished, nor do they have the amenities that the park offers.
My husband and I have talked about the potential rate increase and called Tanween for clarification, which by the way I believe everyone should do. We live in a 2 bed and currently pay 7500QR for the rent, we also pay approximately 500 to 650QR for our Waseef bills, additionally we pay on average 70 to sometimes 120 riyals for our Kahrama bills.
Their explanation in our opinion is somewhat valid, that they don’t want us to be responsible for our utility bills once our contract is up for renewal and with new terms that safeguard the interest of all families living at the park.
They even took the time to break down the entire costs and how it all adds up. We are slightly disappointed that they have also added an increase to the rent, but the article is not correct in the calculation, definitely not for our apartment. In total we pay at the moment a maximum of 8,300QR per month which includes rent and utilities.
My husband and I don’t mind paying up to 9,000QR for our 2 bed, but if we have to add another 500 riyals to that for less of a headache and the fact that everything around us has started opening up like the schools which our kids go to and the shops, then I guess it’s worth it.
We have no issues with moving, but honestly we have looked and we don’t get the same quality out there nor community for that matter.
I am surprised that some residence are paying less than us and would of loved to have such a “tax” break, but I feel that they should also know what we are paying and that it’s only fair they pay the same.
I hope this helps, I live in building M3 and my contracts renews in June, will keep you posted as we have booked a meeting with them to validate our new rate, which we understood verbally is around 9,500qr all inclusive.
Again, it’s important that some residences also look at the fact of what others are paying and how their lower rents create an atmosphere of unfairness, as we are greatfull to live here and pay what we are paying. I dont view the park as some social housing but rather a lifestyle that I appreciate.
Much love Ashley
Please let us know what they say. Our rent for a 2 bedroom is 7,500QR plus pretty much the same utilities you mentioned.
We live in L2 btw
If what you are saying is true, then thats not 30% increase that’s between 8 to 15% which is pretty much the norm out here
The utility charges itself are a subject of much debate. Why should I pay for other peoples usage and their carelessness. I am ready to pay for my usage, that’s fair.
As per your post, you are fine with these hidden charges + another 1250 QR, subject to Tanween agreeing for 9500 QR rent. This is an increase of 26 % all inclusive.
People have received notices asking for 11000 QR instead of the 7750 QR rent presently, which amounts to 42% all inclusive. Why are we so ready to accept such BS. As long as the expats are ready, these landlords will milk them to death.
Will this ever happen to a Qatari? What do you think the reaction be of that individual or for that matter within the media??
I am hopeful but clearly ashamed that such an act can pass under the supply/demand logic. Shame…disgusting.
I believe again you are misleading people in your percentage calculation. The new rents INCLUDE utilities and therefore you should add them to the current rents you are paying.
i.e. 7,750QR plus 850QR for utilities in some cases even more is a total of 8,600QR vs. 11,000QR is a 27% increase which I admit is alot. So agreeing a rent to about 10,000QR all inclusive would be accepted which is approx 15% and not the 40% you are claiming nor 30% that the news is claiming. I believe somehow this article is simply a means to twist arms and inflate numbers to only serve the occupiers and not the landlord, which by the way will not be able to rent at prices if they don’t have demand for it. It seems to me you have taken your own self for a ride and have not appreciated the rents you have paid in the past which as a current tenant as I mentioned before is unfair towards what we are paying today.
Back home, we own property and we rent to the highest payer and we chose who we rented to. I think the issue here is that due to the scale of homes owned by the landlord, people feel they have the right to create a form of social housing demands. But if the landlord charged too much rent and more than what people would accept, then no one would rent from the landlord. So I believe there is two sides to the story and as a home owner I have the ability to understand both sides.
I am ashamed that people have labelled The park as if it is the “projects” or with all do respect some sort of labour accommodation, which I can easily state is not true at all. We have family and friends here and we love it. No one likes to pay a higher rent, but no one also likes to know they are paying more than their neighbours so I believe it might be time for you to find something you can afford rather than create our community into an affordable place which might invite a different problem within the community. I am aware of more affordable accommodation in the market and suggest you start moving towards there and create the atmosphere you are creating over there. Additionally, Barwa City has 1000’s of apartments which are I believe managed by other landlords other than Tanween which are not called The Park Residence which maybe serve your interests along with the type of offering.
Doha News, please correct your article as it is false accusations: Mainly; The Park is not Barwa City, but rather a community within Barwa City and Second; The increase for our apartments are HIGH but not 30 or 40% but could be true for those who rented when the park first started with promotional rates as your own article states. The problem is simple, people are willing to pay the rent that is being demanded and in-turn we have to either accept it or leave.
I request this article to be either modified or taken down as it creates a bad atmosphere to many of us living here who accept or feel unhappy with other tenants trying to bring the value of the place we live to serve their interests only. I think you have a lot more options in Barwa City that do serve those interest or maybe other areas with less quality than here.
Arm twisting, misleading, false accusations, remove the article…wow. Good choice of words but certainly not from a person who has nothing to gain from the increase. These are generally used by defending parties, which in this case is Tanween/Barwa. I suspect you are one of them trying to do some number crunching and somehow justify this rent increase. Anyone who has some common sense can see through your article. Refer to para 4/5 & 6 of your article and its evident that its not written by a fellow resident, instead from someone who has a lot to lose from this article.
Well, I have always quoted figures of the present rent and the proposed hike, the numbers will make sense if you do the maths well. And for gods sake keep that ‘Utilities charge’ away from this. Its not real and just a figure to extract more from tenants.
You have family and friends and love the atmosphere that you somehow feel is your creation. Guess what, we have done the same. How dare you advise me to move off somewhere else and recreate MY atmosphere. I have a right to demand explanations and I have yet to receive true answers.
For once, think logically. If you accept such rent increase once, you will be served this every 2nd year. This case could also be used as a precedent by others to justify rent increase for their properties. Its not a problem for only Barwa City residents (Tanween/Waseef). This is going to snowball as a potential problem for all tenants across Doha.
I really believe you think you live in a social house or welfare housing. If the rent is too high, then NO ONE will rent it. If the rents became too high I will leave also!!!!
Just go rent somewhere else, remember you don’t own the house you are renting… you are RENTING, you’re not the owner.
I am again not condoning the rent hike, but I also don’t condone that I pay more than others and believe they should pay what I pay immediately or leave. If the landlord raises the rents too much I will leave also and go somewhere else. At the end it depends who is willing to pay what, it seems you are not willing, so you should leave and let those who would pay it pay.
We are happy with the our current rents and if they raise it reasonably we will stay, if they don’t we will leave. The fact that people like you are fighting the landlord, it ends up creating a negative atmosphere for the rest of us. You are not living on welfare and social housing, this is not some sort of free housing, if it is, then let me in on it…
This is almost funny that people feel they have the right to dictate their rents as renters. The market is suppose to dictate that and you should speak to your employer for a raise. You are the one who is losing out and your employer is probably the one benefiting, not your landlord. Tell your employer to pay you more and if he is an employer he probably can speak to the landlord directly to do something, but apart from that, pay or leave. Don’t ruin things for others if its not working out for you as it might be working for others.
Again it seems its a quality issue of residence at Tanween and maybe they know what they are doing,.. You should call them and demand your rights! Please don’t mention me in your call to them as I am actually ok with what they are asking.
Go to bed Sam & wake up as a human being in the morning or over the weekend. Feel the pain of others & leave your personal feelings out of it. Good night Sam.
This “market”! Ha! You’re the sucker getting screwed by a phony, artificially over inflated market.
Again.. like it or leave kind of sentiment… which I totally abhor like many others..
Listen luvee… it just is not simple or cheap to move somewhere else..
Do you not read what others have posted? For one, they have children in the nearby Newton School! Do you have children in the school? If so, can you imagine how hard it will be to find yet another school and to settle your child into yet another school seeing as Doha has an acute school placement availability problem for children that are not Qatari’s?
Really… I just don’t see that you think like a normal person…. all these hardships are REAL and hurt everyone affected in various ways…
It is NEVER easy to leave it here in Doha, Qatar – no matter what you are supposedly leaving – be it rental, the job, your partner or the country. And that is a fact!
Please have a little sympathy for your fellow human beings that obviously are not in your particular enviable situation, huh? 🙁
Helen, don’t take Samantha and Ash too seriously.
Both are either working for Tanween at worst, or extremely selfish individuals wanting other to pay more just because they took the apartment at a higher rent.
1st case being more likely. Have you ever met a tenant anywhere defending the landlords right to increase rent without limit so vehemently???
Lol.
Falcon, I have yet to meet a tenant so agressive in their defence of a rent hike.
Simple logic: Waseef 3 bedroom tenants pay fixed Qr425 pm for Waseef utilities but Tanween pay between 700-800 directly to Waseef (not Tanween) for the same apartment, so helloooooo, which part of STUPID does anyone not understand?
1st of all, you sound rather over enthusiastic in thanking tanween. The commmunity is nice but not due to tanween. It was just designed by waseef with open spaces snd green areas.Tanween is actually pretty lame.
If we believe what you say, your rent has been increased by 15% plus, which in most parts of the world is not allowed, but still manageable. What we are talking about here is people who were paying 7000 sent a notice for 10000, plus 10000 in cash on top of security.
What you are paying should not be a punishment for people who came earlier. They made a decision to move based on the offerred rent as you did. What we expect is the rent incresse to be within reasonable percentage not bringing each tenant to the same rent. So you wanting everone to pay the same is not fair as you think, its rather very self centred.
Again you appear to be unusually going at length to explain how justified this rent hike is and hoe good Tanween is, which i am a bit surprised to hear from a resident.
I am not happy with the rent hike or raise in rent. But I am unhappy that your statement is in fact self centred around what you are paying and not others. You are wrong to say that you should pay less than we do. In fact you should pay what we pay immediately and or we should be given an immediate discount to pay the same rent as you do. Which we believe is impossible as we agreed to the rent we are paying.
Again stop throwing incorrect numbers, You are not comparing apples to apples correctly. your past rent did NOT include utilities and other services, YOUR NEW RENT DOES. STOP being self centred and in fact almost daft
If only Tanween was spending more time on their job than doing media campaign for the rediculous 35% renr hike
I have a feeling they realized that they need to provide their tenants with better quality service, thus removing certain quality residence.
And keeping the quality that cannot differentiate between residence and residents?
Have u worked out exactly what the actual rental increase is Ash? Including the Waseef & Kharama as a 1 package is a wonderful idea but this must not create an avenue for exorbitant increase in the actual rent part & must be restricted to 10%, do u agree?
Oh and, there is no such thing as a “tax” break here.
Are you really taking samantha and ash seriously?
Have you met a tenant so agressive in justifying the rent hike for tanween?
Does it give you a clue?
Simple logic: Waseef 3 bedroom tenants pay fixed Qr425 pm for Waseef utilities but Tanween pay between 700-800 directly to Waseef (not Tanween) for the same apartment, so helloooooo, which part of STUPID does anyone not understand?
Ezdan is a business and they are trying to extract maximum profit for their owners, they have no social motive to help ordinary people. After meeting with Ezdan management to discuss leasing some of their properties they made it clear they wanted maximum revenue, even going as far as to boast they are leaving a compound that has been completed empty for a year as they believed they could get as much as 30-40% more rent by doing so.
Qatar is probably losing somewhere between 80 to 150 million dollars a day due to the lower oil prices and everything in Qatar is underpinned by the money provided by the O&G industry. So much so many companies are laying off employees in their thousands. This will be a taste oft he future when Qatar’s O&G reserves are worthless and the economy crashes. Those expats that came for the money, will leave just as fast.
So what am I saying? Companies like Ezdan know they only have a finite window to extract as much money as possible from expats before the boom runs out. They don’t care if it takes a larger percentage of your salary as they know you have little choice but to pay now. (Or you could leave but some come from third world disasters and the last thing you want to do is go home)
Enjoying some bubbly yesterday or got too much sand in the eyes? The article is on a Barwa Facility not Ezdan.
Unfortunately not so I don’t have that excuse….
I may have wrote about ezdan but I’m sure it also applies to this mob as well
lol, fair enough.
Barwa is a corporate and it should be a corporate policy as a standard excuse every Qatar corporation says..
It is the govt.. Who support this because there is no rule or justice for expats in case of the rental and lease aspects..
10% increase in rent every year is not a good long term plan for the country..talk to any financial analyst(not with suit and cot, but with brain, knowledge & experience)..
Qatars vision is only next 20 or 30 years..if govt. has a long term goal, its Govt responsibility to control the cost of living..
Next 2 3 years people will be under So much stress to live in this country and resources might leave from here..
I hope that utility bill of 600 riyals includes internet & TV, because I have never paid more than 375 riyals for just water and electricity during the summer. Our January 2015 bill was QR70. And I live in a 2BR flat with a family of four. Also, isn’t there some government regulation on rent hikes, like they aren’t allowed to make an increase greater than 10% of the current amount? Or am I just remembering wrong…(wishful thinking, perhaps)
Dear Doha news and Peter,
It amazes me how you can put out this story now when on the 15th Jan you put out the story of how a survey showed a break in rent increases.
https://dohanews.co/mdps-qatar-tenants-enter-2015-break-rent-hikes/
Do you check sources and verify data or just print whatever you can get your hands on to put out some news for the day?
Its illogical and certainly not right but they and the others landlords too, keep on doing such things year in and year out because they know they can get away with it. I would not be surprised if they increased the rents a bit more when the next year comes around
It’s time to unite and raise voice against this unjustified increase. Rent is increased from 7250 to 11000 QR. I hope Qatar Authorities will intervene and help residents of Park Residence Barwa City.