Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

Doha • A new rent law passed yesterday and to be brought into force from today makes all existing tenancy contracts valid until February 14, 2010. It provides for the Cabinet to issue a decision regarding the percentage of increase and the period after which a property owner can raise the rent. It implies that unless the Cabinet issues a decision, no landlord can now increase the rent by any amount. The law (Number 4 of 2008) was ratified by the Emir, H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, nullifying Law Number 2 of 1975. Article 27 of the new law specifies that unless a tenant does not want to renew a rent contract, all current contracts will be legally valid until February 14,...

Continue reading "Qatar's New Rent Law Effective Feb. 2008"

Comments (1)

Before we left for our vacation last May, we had to settle our rent for the flat as it was expiring while we were on vacation. We had a 2 year contract for the flat for QR4700 a month. At that time, June 2005, Qr4700 was already on the low side for a 2 bedroom flat in a new building. The guy who we talked with was trying to convince us to sign the contract for 3 years but then, we were still hoping that rents would go down after the Asian Games so we only signed for 2.Since July 2007, we have been paying 5500QR for our 2 beroom semi-furnished (by semi-furnished I mean 3 airconditioners were provided) flat. Initially, when I contacted my...

Continue reading "Housing in Qatar 2007"

Comments (2)

I've thought about it over the weekend, I even made a sketch of how I'd like it to look. Doing a makeover in a flat could be a bit tricky, especially if you have to deal with a limited area. We're still lucky though, for a 2-BR flat, I consider ours good-sized. But I've decided to go on with it anyway, I'm just too bored with the former "look" of our living room cum dining room. And today was the day to do the makeover. First I had to remove the individual drawers from the frame that holds them. There was no way I could have moved it without doing that first. I had to move one couch from the left side to the right side. Then I placed the drawers on the...

Continue reading "Living Room Makeover"

Comments (0)

A friend of ours is looking to share his apartment with other Filipino bachelors or families. The place is near Philippine International School (PIS). We went there yesterday and saw that the building was new and that the rooms were big. It has one big bathroom and a small one. It would be a good location for those families whose children study in PIS. The asking rent for a room is QR2500 and their are 2 rooms available.If interested, call Ate Mae Ann at 523 9631 for inquiries....

Continue reading "Room for Rent: Sharing near PIS"

Comments (4)

The offer I got is QR3,000 for the basic, QR5,000 for the housing allowance, QR2,000 as supplementary allowance (they say for the inflation), and QR600 for transportation allowance.  I am planning to have my family follow after I become regular (three months probationary period).  My first question is can I live a decent life and have some savings with the package that I have? The total package is then QR10,600. Let’s break this down to your actual expenses (cost of living expenses) so we could get a rough estimate of how much are you going to save. But before that, I’m not sure what your job position is but I do feel that your basic salary is on the low side especially if you...

Continue reading "Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar: The FAQ Series 4"

Comments (4)