An article in Saudi Gazette gives an interesting look into how apartment rents are handled in Saudi Arabia. Unlike most of the world where rent is paid monthly on a fixed-term lease, Saudis pay rent quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. The requirement to come up with substantial amounts of money can be a difficult endeavor.
The Ministry of Housing is proposing that rents also be made payable on a monthly basis in order to lighten that burden. Landlords are not thrilled. They claim that they already spend too much time chasing down their payments and don’t like the idea of having to do it every month. The Ministry suggests, however, that new regulations that put a bit more pressure on tenants might be warranted. Unfortunately, the Ministry also wants to fix the amount of profit landlords can earn.
Tenants soon to have monthly payment option
Fatima Muhammad | Saudi GazetteJEDDAH — Officials at the Housing Ministry are to implement a new system allowing tenants to pay rent on a monthly basis.
Abdullah Al-Ahmari, head of the real estate appraisal committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the decision if implemented will make the rent payment system more flexible.
It will make it easier for people to pay rent instead of having to pay large amounts every four or six months.
There are currently three ways to pay rent. Some people pay every four months, some pay every six months while others pay every year.
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November:21:2012 - 11:41
I think monthly rents make more sense for low paid workers.
November:21:2012 - 13:01
Its a bitch to cough up large sums of money even if you are highly paid. Better paid means you live larger. Coughing up a quarter of SAR 250,000 is not a joke no matter how well you are paid.
November:22:2012 - 12:20
How is it possible to earn SAR 250,000 Bob?
November:23:2012 - 04:32
I prefer monthly rents, even if there has to be a 2 month deposit. What I think is funny is that after being here a year, I can now find housing perfectly suitable for Westerners as low as 26,000 SAR/year. I have friends though who pay as much as 200,000/year. Some of it depends on the type of amenities you want access to, but some of it is just dependent on being here long enough to find good deals.
@ Kate, the SAR 250,000 is probably annual cost for a large villa on one of the nicer compounds. They wanted 100,000 for the studio apartment that I looked at.
@ Bob, yeah that would be a bitch to come up with.
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