An estimated 10,000 limited income families have been harmed by the over 30 percent increase in rents last year, according to real estates sources here. Muhammad Al-Malki, the owner of a real estate office, said a four-room apartment in Taif which used to be rented for SR16,000 to SR18,000 per year is now being rented for SR22,000 to SR24,000. The same steep rent increase applies to other apartments and houses in the city. Zayed Al-Otaibi, a realtor, said that rents differ from one planned district to another, depending on the services provided in the district. He said that many limited income families have been forced to relocate to unplanned and old districts in search of residences with lower rents. Muhammad Al-Thubaiti, a retiree, said his pension is less than SR3,000 a month. He said that he and his family used to stay in a four-room apartment with a rent of SR10,000 per year. However, recently the building owner increased the rent to SR14,000 annually and has given him the option to pay the new rent or vacate the apartment. Abdullah Husein, an employee in a local company, said, “My monthly salary is only SR3,300. I'm married with four children and I pay installments to the Saudi Credit Bank. The only apartment I could find to suit my income was a three-room apartment in an old building with a monthly rent of SR1,000. I find it hard to afford this rent, and it would be impossible for me to pay more.” Abdul Haleem Al-Sayyid Ali, an Arab expatriate working as a teacher in a private school, said the increase in rent has forced him to send his family to his country. He said that he had been renting an apartment for SR6,000 per year and that the building owner raised the rent to SR10,000, which he could not afford. Not everyone agrees as to why rents in Taif have increased so dramatically. Nawaf Al-Harthi, owner of a real estate office, said the rental crisis began last year. The rents started to rise with the increase in the prices of building materials and plots of land. However, Ahmed Al-Obaikan, Chairman of the Real Estate Committee in Taif Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI), sees no real justification for rent increases. He confirmed that earlier real estate prices did rise because of the increase in the price of building materials. As a result, high rents were charged for apartments in newly completed buildings. This, however, does not justify rent increases in older buildings, he said. Al-Obaikan confirmed that the real estate committee has received several complaints regarding the rise in rents. He demanded that building and apartment owners be considerate to people and try to lessen, not increase, their burdens. He called on them not to raise rents without justification. He said the committee is studying the complaints of citizens and in the near future, it will meet with a number of realtors to discuss the rent hikes. All the present solutions are temporary, he said, and there is a need to look for radical solutions for the housing problem that is a burden and a worry for many citizens. Al-Obaikan suggested that the solution lies in constructing residences for citizens in large areas that are available in Taif. There is a need for the Real Estate Development Fund to support citizens by lending them larger amounts, he said. The loan should be raised to SR1.5 million, he added. Furthermore, he said that the procedures for land grants distributed by the municipalities and mayoralties to the citizens are slow, and are not a complete solution to the problem. “These land grants are not very beneficial, as citizens do not possess sufficient liquidity to construct houses on them,” Al
