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Unjustified rental hikes cripple lives of Kuwaitis
The global economic turmoil has taken its toll on various aspects of life, world wide. Kuwait has been no exception, with the lives of both citizens and expatriates being crippled, particularly among the middle income sectors. While on the one hand, cost of living has increased manifold, on the other, employers are seen cutting salaries or downsizing staff, further adding to the misery.
In such a scenario, the government in Kuwait has reacted by subsidizing few consumer goods, and taking measures to prevent the collapse of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE), but, nothing has been done to reduce rents so far, which has reached the heights over the past couple of years.
Rentals are not the burden on expatriates alone. Several citizens, particularly new graduates and newly married couples are also going through the brunt when they live in rented properties, as the only other option they have is to wait for a 15-year period to get a house from the government.
At present, the situation in Kuwait is quite depressing. Although the prices of few goods have gone down, due to lack of cash flows, rental costs for residential apartments are still growing.
A leading Kuwaiti daily spoke to few citizens and expatriates about the problem. A Kuwaiti man, who spoke to daily, said that he was compelled to give in to the greed of his landlord, as the latter increased rent from KD380 to KD420.
Another citizen, Abdullah Al-Saleh, too, agreed that a huge chunk of his family’s income was kept aside for rent, loan re-payment and such essentials.
When citizens themselves are in such a situation, the expatriates with incomes far below that of the citizens are in a still worse situation.
An expatriate and father of two, said that his family has been renting an apartment in Hawally, and his landlord had compelled them to yield to a 20 percent rise in rent. To add to this, when the family sought legal advice, the lawyer mentioned that rent laws in Kuwait favor landlords over tenants.
Another expatriate bachelor admitted that to reduce the burden of soaring rent rates he had to share a two bedroom apartment with seven other fellow expatriates.
A landlord, owning two residential buildings, said that several owners prefer leaving their properties un-occupied, rather than renting it our for lower rates.
Yet another owner mentioned that the growing demand for properties in areas such as Downtown, Jabriya and Salmiya are the main cause behind the high rent rates in these localities, and urged the government to subsidize landlords through contributions towards maintenance costs and reducing their water and electricity consumption bills.
The landlords themselves have agreed to the fact that rent increases in Kuwait were unjustified, following the financial turmoil, and inability of tenants to pay other basic living costs, the daily reported.
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