A number of residents in Makkah demanded legislation that would oversee and control the holy city's skyrocketing real estate rents. Rent rates of land plots, villas and apartments are witnessing double-digit, and sometimes triple-digit hikes, after the government launched its development project around the Holy Mosque in downtown Makkah. Mohammad Ali, a retired teacher, said his landlord pressured him to pay more for his rented villa, for which he used to pay SR25,000 a year. Now he is looking for another place to live after the owner asked him to leave, because he wanted the villa for his recently married son. Ali searched for another decent house with a reasonable price, but could not find one he could afford. He said that he eventually offered the owner an SR5,000 rise over what he used to pay, to which the owner agreed. Ali said he found out later that this whole “newly married son” charade was part of putting pressure on him to agree to increase the rent. According to an employee in Al-Harthi Foundation for Architectural Contracting and Real Estate Marketing, this type of behavior by some in the property business is due the lack of legislation that would have regulated the issue of rent rates. Speaking to the Arabic daily Al-Watan on condition of anonymity, he said that the landlord is usually the party who has full control of the price. He added that during his work in real estate, he had seen many property owners pressure their tenants to evacuate an apartment or a villa under different excuses. Once the place is empty, the landlord comes to the real estate agent's office, asking for another tenant that would pay more money. Lutfi Msa'ed, another resident of the holy city, said he had been living in a villa in Al-Marwa land plots for SR25,000 annually. After five years, he said, the owner of the villa asked him to evict before they agreed on a rise in rent. Harthi, the real estate office employee, said that many owners use different ways to put pressure on the tenants. They usually don't stop at asking the tenants to evict the premises. Sometimes they go as audaciously as manipulating electricity and water, or even asking for the whole rent to be paid in lump sum instead of the usual installments. Fawwaz Sa'ad Al-Jundi, a recently married man who rented a small apartment for SR17,000, said that after several months, the landlord just started cutting off water to his apartment with no other reason except wanting him to leave. He said he had to look for another place. Fawwaz Hasan Al-Hakami, manager of Al-Faysaleyyah Realtor Office in Makkah, said the rise in rents in Makkah is due to the fact that devout Muslims want to live in the holy city. He said that the highest rent prices are the ones in downtown Makkah around the Holy Mosque. Second is the district of Al-Aziziya, followed by Al-Awali, Al-Shisha and Al-Rsaifah respectively. Hakami said that many tenants and property owners do not respect the articles of the lease, pointing to the fact that it is illegal for an owner to demand a tenant's evacuation unless rent payments were not made in time. According to Hakami, demanding a rise in the rent is the owner's right only if the amount was determined a very long ago and was too low compared to current prices. He added that cutting off electricity or water is a violation of the law, as landlords should go to court in cases regarding payments or lease violations. Fahd Hawwal Al-Metairi, a legal consultant, said the relationship between property owner and tenant in the Kingdom is based on the articles of the lease they sign. Metairi criticized some owners who raise the rent after the lease's period had expired, saying that most tenants give in to this kind of extortion, as most of them are forced to do so because of social circumstances, or the fact of children going to a certain school, or any other conditions. Metairi believes that this kind of behavior is against Shariah rules, which state that for a lease to be valid, both parties must agree on it. He said that the government should intervene with a legislation that determines a ceiling for rents. He suggested the formation of a committee from the Rural and Municipal Affairs Committee to do the task and determine the prices according to the average prices of a group of properties. __
