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- Dubai 04:25 05:43 12:19 15:46 18:50 20:09
Some tenants say their lease rates go up every year. (Chandra Balan)
Residential rents in Sharjah remain fixed for first three years of the contract for a tenant, but landlords can seek market rate once the three-year period is over.
Despite the Sharjah government regulation, landlords do often resort to increasing rents every year with some giving ‘bizarre’ reasons.
BW, a resident living in a one-bed apartment in the Sharjah Corniche area, has seen rents going up by Dh7,000 in the past two years.
“Every year the landlord increases my rent by Dh3,000 to Dh4,000 every year. This time he said he is increasing the rent because he is paying Dh3,000 from his own pocket to meet the mortgage payment for my apartment,” BW told ‘Emirates 24|7’.
“We have hiked rents for each tenant depending on the size of the apartment,” he adds.
A recent report by Cluttons, a real estate consultancy, stated rentals have risen by 23 per cent in the first nine months of 2014 though the pace of increase has slowed down marginally.
This website spoke to some tenants who have seen their lease rates going up every year with their landlords giving the below reasons for increasing rents.
# 1 You pay for my mortgage
A building owner told tenants coming for contract renewal that he was paying between Dh3,000 and Dh5,000 per apartment from his own pocket to meet the monthly bank installment. Hence, he will be hiking their rents by Dh3,000 to Dh5,000 depending upon the size of the apartment.
# 2 Paying less compared to Dubai
Families that had moved from Dubai to Sharjah were told by a landlord that they were still paying a far lesser rent compared to Dubai when their renewal came up. So their rents would go up by 5 per cent.
# 3 Giving premium service
A landlord increased rents for tenants saying he would be offering them premium service such as 24/7 security guards, a full-time electrician and plumber dedicated for the building and use of swimming pool and gym in the neighboring building (because the building has no such facility).
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