Rents of residential apartments increased over 100 percent in some Jeddah districts in the past two years, an official of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) has said. According to Abdullah Ahmari of the real estate committee at the JCCI, many apartments have been sublet for rentals. He says there is a need to work out solutions that are fair to the landlord and the tenant. Ahmari suggests that all contracts be unified by concerned authorities and that all such agreements should be enforced by housing committees without recourse to lengthy litigation in Shariah courts, noting that such committees were approved by the King as part of the project of development of the judiciary that is about to be announced. The ‘Shomoos' rating system is required to be adopted by all rental agencies because it is aimed at the standardization of rental contracts, and provides a mechanism and preserves the rights of all parties. For example, if someone rented an apartment and defaulted, his civil status number would be entered in the ‘Shomoos' system and that person would find it extremely difficult to rent again. Tenants on the other hand demand clauses in contracts that prevent landlords from increasing rent beyond reasonable values. Ahmari pointed out that such increases are a burden on low-income tenants and are often not created for any improvement in services by the landlord such as re-building, renovating, or providing services, but for mere greed. Faisal Al-Mahdi, an engineering consultant and president of Elements Real Estate Group, pointed out that investors must be attracted to invest in housing development and this can only be achieved through partnership between both the public and private sectors, indicating that involvement of the municipal service authorities and the regional governorate with the potential investor would encourage more investment. Al-Mahdi stressed that there must be an official body that regulates rent increases, because if this matter were left to the market, it would result in significant increases and manipulations. That body can also force landlords to improve their facilities before demanding further increases in rent. Al-Mahdi also suggested that the government buy buildings and assign them to low-income citizens with rentals at an affordable price. He believes this would solve a small part of the problem, pointing out that we are now in need of an urgent and expeditious plan; such as adding new items to lease contracts that protect citizens against increasing rental prices. Khaled Abdul Aziz, owner of a real estate office, pointed out that rent rates have been rapidly rising during the past three years, attributing this to greed and exploitation by landlords in a supply restricted market. Abdul Aziz pointed out that the government must bring down these irrational increases and issue regulations that freeze rentals of residential apartments for seven years, and slap monetary penalties on those who violate such regulations.
