Qura University in Makkah have been threatened with eviction after their university refused to pay a rent increase requested by their landlords. The university pays up to SR30,000 a year directly to landlords in housing allowance for its faculty members, who choose wherever they want to live. If the rent is more than the allowance amount, the extra is paid out of the professor's pocket. The university has declined landlords' requests of rent increase, sending notices to vacate to its 35 professors. As the professors had refused to vacate, the landlords have threatened to take the case to court. “The landlords have bothered us with their frequent requests to vacate the rented homes,” one professor said. “We are in the middle of a school year and the university should handle it at least until the end of the second semester,” he said. Some professors have accepted the eviction notices and relocated to furnished apartments close to the university. But most nearby apartments are fully booked all year round by visitors to the Grand Mosque. This may now force the 35 professors to look at homes further away. The professors have called on the university to grant them new housing units built for faculty members. The villa complex for faculty members was completed a year ago, but the university has not distributed the units yet. The university, however, said that it could not increase the housing allowance to cover the new rent for its faculty members. “And the new villa complex in Ma'abidiya has not been officially received by the University's Housing Department from the Projects Administration,” said Muhammad Zamzami, director of the university's Housing Department. Once the new complex is received, it will be distributed according to the university's housing regulations, he added.
