A sad expat compound story -- my neighbors and I welcome advice
I'm wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences or has any ideas relevant to what I am about to describe.
My employer put my family and me in a somewhat old compound that seems to be past its prime. Lots of things broke often, but at least we were able to get repairs, and the repair guys were nice. Security could be lax, but the workers there were also really helpful.
I called with an urgent repair last week and was told that the entire compound had been sold, and that the repair service we used could no longer respond to requests to fix stuff. Someone from my job had to call a private plumber to fix the problem.
Today, all of the security people for the gate were put on a bus and sent away. So the complex now has no security people and no repair service. None of the residents (as far as I know) has been told anything. No one has contact information about the complex' new owner. The neighbors have banded together to call the police and to complain to the Ministry of Housing.
But all of us here are rather astonished that a complex of many villas can be sold, with apparently no information or provisions for taking care of the tenants once the sale goes through.
My employer has offered to move me, but the new house is not yet ready and is in a compound with no completed common areas.
My family are not here in Qatar to live the high life. We just want a house with working appliances and utilities.
I thought this might be an interesting story to share. If any of you has any similar stories or has any suggestions about what my neighbors and I should do, I would be most interested.
I am not naming names (yet). But people here are pretty upset that we have been left without any help or information.
Our complex is by no means especially fancy or large, but it should at least be a place that expats from Middle Eastern and Western countries can feel is safe and reliable.
Happy new year!
I lived in Mosnad compound in Al Gharrafa until last summer when we returned here to the USA. So sorry to hear your story, but it really sounds like my compound! *Everything was in disrepair, and the poor little Napali workers did their best to jerry-rig things with the limited supplies they could scrounge. Inshallah kher.
Oh Allah, increase my light. -prayer of Prophet Mohamed.
Sorry to hear that.
I wish everybody lives in a nice condition in Qatar.
In most legal systems, there are clearly protections for tenants if landlords sell their properties. Exactly because of the catch-22 you describe. There's no way in my home state in the US that someone could sell his property and leave no safety net in place for the tenants' repairs, garbage or security without expecting to have his *ss hauled into court. Conceivably, both the old and the new tenant would have some liability in this situation. Contracts can say anything, but generally, a lease is likely to have certain governmental protections so that it would not be considered "unconscionable." Thus, a contract with a provision that a lease is void if an owner chooses or sells the property with no notice or protection would not be able to enforced in most places, because it would be considered "unconscionable."
Of course, it obviously doesn't take a law professor (and my specialities have nothing to do with real estate or contract law in any case) to realize this. The point is that it is completely wrong to give tenants no notice of a change in their status or no services suddenly as the ex-owner of our compound has done.
I am sorry to hear others have had similar experiences. I was curious about this. Has anyone heard of general strategies for fighting the problem? Would calling the Qatari radio show "Watani Habib," for example, be useful? It seems as both of these owners need to have attention called to them.
Honestly, I'm lucky. A new home in a new compound has already been found for my family and me (the only problem is that it's so new, we're going to be pioneers in a place where the clubhouse, play area etc are not quite ready and the paint is still drying). But I feel very bad for the other tenants in my compound. These are very nice people, mostly Arab expats; they should not be in a situation where they have no idea who, if anyone, is providing for their emergencies, general repairs, sanitation and security.
Hence my post. Like some of the posts on bad drivers, I wanted to make something of a stink about this because, even if I get out to a new home later this week, I don't want my fellow tenants in this compound to be left in an unsafe cesspool.
This happened to me last year. My landlord sold our compound to another company. My contract had two months left (and it also had an autorenewal clause) so theoretically it should have been renewed at the same price.
Alas, the day that clause kicked in we got letters from the landlord saying the place was sold and that a new company would be contacting us shortly. Our caretaker was frantic since he was told that there was no job for him and he would be sent back to Nepal.
A week later we got a letter from the new landlord giving their lawyers number. I called him immediately and he didn't seem to have an idea about the contract renewal or pricing. After a week of going around in circles he put me through to the property manager.
He told me that the rent was going to be increased by QR2000 immediately. I tried to explain that I had a contract and he said that it was with the old company so was no longer valid. I have no idea of the legality of what he was saying...
I then told him that the price was too high so I was moving out - he said that I would have to give him two months notice since I was breaking the contract (does anyone see the Catch-22 situation developing in this narrative?)!
I tried to point out that it was ridiculous to use a clause in the contract which he told me was just invalid! Anyways, we ended up going back and forth and finally he agreed that if he got a tenant I could move out without the notice....(which happened).
Now since you're a law prof, I'm going to leave it up to you to report to us if contracts can just become void upon sale. It seems pretty ridiculous to me - I mean, if someone sells a business they should have to honour existing contracts.
I didn't bother finding out since I found a nicer place at a better price (can you believe that?!). But I'd still be interested to know the legalities of all of this.
nothing un-usual. Our compound being sold to one of the most powerful family in Qatar. So better keep quiet or else ... :-)
We have a similar situation. The owner of our compound is kicking everyone out this year so he can renovate. However, he is not telling people until they go to sign new leases. Also, it hasn't been said but unless it's an emergency, stuff doesn't get fixed. We have gone days without hot water, power, etc.
may be by now the present owner would have already sold it to someone else.
Thanks, but our compound consists of a number of villas that are being paid for by various employers. So my neighbors and I don't actually write checks ourselves. I should hope that my employer will react in some way.
So is the sort of thing that's happening (owner sells a complex without any safety net for providing for repairs and security booth staffing)typical for Doha expat compounds? Does anyone have any similar stories?
It looks as if my family and I will get moved out to a new compound, but I feel badly for my neighbors. There seems to be no one to call in this situation; the new owner of the compound is unknown, the old owner has said his liability is over, and the police say "what can we do."
Yeccch.
I always tell the truth, even when I lie
if you gave them post-dated cheques as your rent i would just recommend that you cancel them now.