Spotlight on rental policy

Manama : Landlords will soon have the power to ask tenants to evacuate, without taking the matter to court, under a new rental policy, said a top official. 

According to Mazen Al Umran, Deputy Chairman of the Capital Secretariat Council, the tenant will have to evacuate, if the contract is not renewed. 

He was speaking to DT News on the sidelines of a meeting held at the Capital Municipal Council where the Council met with Nasser Al-Ahli, Chairman of Bahrain Real Estate Association to discuss the new rental policy and its effects on the real estate business in Bahrain.

“There are concerns about the new rent law, where tenants fearing a price hike soon,” Dr Maha Al-Shehab, Chairman of the Committee of Information and Public Relations in the Council said. 

Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Ahli, Chairman of the Bahrain Real Estate Association pointed out that the new law will speed up the development of real estate investments in the Kingdom, especially in the Capital.

“In the old law there was ambiguity about the rights of the landlord, but now it is clear,” he said adding: “Previously, there was a delay in the courts, but with the new law the eviction process has become much easier.”  

“The biggest problem in the previous law, Al Ahli said, was that Bahrain was divided into two regions with different characteristics and requirements, but with a single law. “Now with the new law, all the other laws and decrees get annulled.” 

“In 1988 and 1989, the action began to pass the new law and it was finally enacted in 2014. According to Article (4) in the new law, if the leases expire, after three years of legal issuance, that is in 2018, all leases will have to be renewed.”

He also said that it was difficult to get the law implemented earlier as tenants had been living in the houses for a really long time. 

“So a time frame of three years was given to all the contractors to renew their contracts to guarantee the rights of both the parties,” he said. 

He further emphasised the need to register contracts, pointing out the importance of raising the awareness in this regard. The law stipulates the establishment of a contract registration office in each municipality. 

On the other hand, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Capital Municipal Council Mazen Al-Umran told DT News, “As of February 2018, the tenants must sign a new contract.”

“It is necessary to renegotiate with the lessor or vacate the site,” he said adding: “Most of these contracts are really old with the rents being too low and later on becoming a burden for landlords with these contracts were never renewed.” 

“Further, when the landlords asked the tenants to evacuate the place, the process took forever to complete as the case went to the court.”

“Thus, under this law, all the landlords must make a new contract that would benefit both the landlord and the tenant, and further if these new contracts are not signed by February 2018, the landlords have the right to ask the tenants to evacuate the place without involving court into this,” Mazen added.