Mahmoud Ahmad

My friend switched jobs from Madinah to Jeddah recently and last week I was with him, helping him in his search for an apartment in Jeddah. He had asked me to go with him since I knew the area well, and I thought we would settle on an apartment in a jiffy.



But two hours later, we had progressed to various neighborhoods and were still searching. Every time we liked a place, we were told all houses had been rented out, although we noticed many vacant apartments. It was, however, one Saudi apartment building owner, who told us flat out the truth.



We had inquired if there was any flat for rent, and at the outset he said there was a four-bedroom apartment for rent. But the owner quickly changed his mind when he found out that my friend was the one who wanted to rent it and said, "Sorry, I do not rent to Saudis".



I immediately reflected on the statement. If someone had said such a thing in America or Europe, the person would definitely be taken to court and punished for his racist remark. It not renting to someone because of his nationally is not a crime then I do not know what is. The ironic thing here is that the owner is a Saudi and the tenant to be is also a Saudi.



The owner was comfortable in responding this way, having his own reasons, whether racist or not, knowing fully well that he would not be held accountable for what he had said and also knowing that the person to whom he made the statement would not know to whom or where to complain.



I am not surprised that such things can be said blatantly because the apartment industry is not governed by any law. Each apartment building owner can do whatever he/she likes, even evicting people by force whenever they want to. It is probably only in this industry where an owner can increase the rent of his/her apartment unit by 500 or 600 percent at his/her whims and fancy.



This industry is badly disorganized and authorities should step in with strong rules to organize it and thereby rid it of such and many other bad behaviors. There are owners who leave specific conditions to real estate offices that look after the apartment building. One of the conditions that they specify is that they do not need a certain nationality in the building.



This discrimination is not against Saudis only. A Sudanese friend of mine said that he was evicted from his building within months because the owner did not want Sudanese in the building. The owner claimed that he (tenant) had many visitors and that his consumption of water was too much. I ask, will such excuses hold water in the West? Or will the owner be taken to task by the courts?



The issue of owners refusing to rent to Saudis has been reported many times in newspapers. The main reason cited by the owners for the refusal is that they refuse to pay on time and they refuse to leave the apartment when the contract ends and the owner does not wish to renew it. The vast majority of owners prefer expatriate tenants for the reason that they pay on time and that they are easy to evict if they want to.



In all fairness, I did ask an apartment building owner in Madinah about the racist attitude against Saudis when it comes to renting apartment units to them. He did confirm to me that he had many bad experiences with Saudi tenants, who sometimes did not pay their rent at all, some of them delayed payment and some left the apartment in poor shape while also not paying their utilities dues causing him a lot of headache. He told me that there is no racism involved here, for no one will be racist against his or her countrymen. He said that it is all about protecting their rights.



His problem with Saudi tenants is that they have too many excuses for not paying. According to him, they create excuses to delay payment and simply some of them just refuse to pay. What makes the matter worse is that when he goes to the court to complain, the issue just drags on.



Usually it takes a lot of months before he can meet the judge. If the tenant fails to show up, then the matter is deferred further for many other months. That’s why, according to him, he prefers expatriate tenants because they are more committed to paying on time.



He said that he is an investor who paid SR2 million for his building and that the last thing he wants is problems by someone delaying payment when he is trying to first recoup his investment and hopefully later make a profit on it.



All these excuses could be addressed if there is a system that protects all, the tenant and the owner. The racism against Saudis when it comes to rent is a great injustice against other Saudis who are committed. Collective punishment on this issue should end. Strict rules should be applied to all owners who wish to use their buildings for rent.



To solve this late payment issue, why can't an online rent payment system be created so that the rent amount can be treated as any other bill? The owner will receive the payment online and he/she would not have to run after the tenant. If the tenant is late in payment for any reason, a fine could be set for a period, which the tenant has to pay with the rent.



If the tenant persists in delaying while also not paying the fine, then just like not settling a bill nor paying a fine, the system should block the tenant from other governmental services, so he cannot renew anything or even travel until the payment is made.



Instead of burdening the court in any issue between the tenant and owner, a special court that deals with these issues should be created and the court should fast track verdicts.



It is time that we get creative and govern this industry properly, or at least we should benefit from the countries that are advanced in this industry and learn from them.



The writer can be reached at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa Twitter:@anajeddawi-eng