Sorting out rent in Doha
I posted this somewhere else on the site but didn't get any response. Could somebody please tell me what to expect when I look for a property to rent? Is there a law in Qatar that specifies what the tenant has to pay? for example, agent fees are paid ny tenant or landlord? And deposit? What are the common practices in case there are no laws? And how does it work - do tenants pay for one year in advance, or 1 month? Is security deposit required? Many thanks!
USAexpat, thank you so much for a detailed answer! It really helped. I am surprised to find out that agents don't charge a month's rent! That's good news. Well, I hope the "fee" you mentioned is not higher than that! Cheers!
The problem is that people pretty much do what they want here, you can try to get people to enforce the laws but usually you just had to take what comes. But I will answer your questions as to what generally happens although no guarantees.
Agent fees: you might have to pay a small upfront fee to get the agent to even work with you. Not all charge it though.
Deposit: Usually 1 month rent... We paid 1 month deposit when we first moved into our flat, then the building changed landlords and the original landlord disappeared with our deposit (so we'll never see it again). At least the new landlord didn't require a deposit when we signed with him.
Payments: You give the landlord postdated checks for the agreed upon length of the lease (1-2 years). Then he deposits one per month. You might have to pay a year in advance, but that's usually for the higher end places.
There is a place to go to if you have a disagreement with your landlord. Hopefully you won't need it. If you do, do a search of this site and there are plenty of discussions about it.
Good luck! Rumor is that rents are going down. We shall see.