Rental dispute panel late by months

A COMMITTEE, which was decreed as part of the new rent law to solve disputes between tenants and landlords, will start functioning in the Doha Municipality in October, some five months after the deadline fixed for its establishment, Gulf Times has learnt.

The new rent law, which came into force on February 15, said that a five-member panel with judicial powers would be set up in municipalities within three months, to amicably settle disputes between landlords and tenants.

Although a sprawling new office near the Al Muntazah Park has been kept apart for housing the committee and a signboard welcoming visitors to the Committee for Solving Rental Disputes put up, the building was found to be almost deserted yesterday.

“This building is being furnished with offices being designated and marked. It is hoped to open in October, after Ramadan,” said one of the men present in the building.

According to Law No 4 of 2008 that came into effect on February 15, the committees, one at least in each municipality, should have been constituted by May 15.

These panels were to have a judge as its presiding officer and their rulings, binding on both parties, can be challenged only in an appeal court, legal sources had said.

The law had also called for the establishment of an Office for the Registration of Rental Contracts, where all contracts between landlords and tenants should be registered. It was made mandatory for landlords to register the contracts with the rent offices at the municipalities within 30 days from the date of signing of the bipartite agreement.

Only registered contracts would be valid in case of any dispute between the two parties, it had said.

Gulf Times visited the Doha Municipality in search of the dispute solving committee yesterday but found only two counters which were marked as Registration of Rental Contracts only. A form in Arabic was available at the counter which the landlord or his agent could fill in and submit along with other documents for registering the contract.

When asked where a tenant could file a complaint against a landlord, this reporter was directed to the Complaints Department, where he was told by a senior official that “there is no such thing as a rental disputes solving committee here, not at the municipality, not anywhere else as of now.”

Upon further inquiries, the official suggested that tenants trying to raise that fall under the Doha Municipality could go to the First Instance Court located near the Hamad Medical Corporation on the C Ring Road and lodge a complaint there.

Once at the court, a form, which is meant to be filled out by a tenant whose landlord refuses to accept the monthly rent, was made available. This provision has been made to protect tenants in cases where the landlord refuses to accept the rent and later uses it as an excuse to evict him.

In case of a dispute between the landlord and the tenant, the rents can be deposited at the First Instance Court, it was clarified.

The new rent law says that landlords cannot increase the rent until the Cabinet decides on the relevant regulations, timeframe and percentage, at a later date. Some legal experts have explained Article 27 of the law as saying that all contracts in force as on February 15, 2008 will continue to be valid until February 14, 2010, provided both sides agreed to maintain the status quo.