ACCOMMODATION

Foreign nationals are not permitted to own property. Accommodation can only be rented. Normally, leases for accommodation, are for a period of one year at the end of which, the lease continues on a month to month basis on the same terms and conditions unless otherwise specified by a written agreement. It is usual for employers to include accommodation as part of the benefits of the employment contract.

In its continuing pro-landlord policies, the National Assembly amended the 1992 bill. Henceforth, the landlord (Kuwaiti citizen only) can now hike the rent to a maximum of 100% before the expiry of the lease. The tenant, only on the giving end, has either to accept or vacate.

New 'pro-landlord' amendments have been passed on April 5, 1994, and came into effect from May 1, 1994. Yet another pro-landlord amendments have been passed the following year, accordingly the open end contract does not exist any more. It is as follows:

The landlord now has the right to evict tenants after one year without stating a reason. However, in this case he must serve the tenant with a court notice prior to the termination of the contract period. Failure to do so, will mean automatic renewal of the contract for a further period of one year. At the time of renewal the landlord reserves the right to increase the rent, as stipulated by the earlier amendment.
If the landlord asks to evacuate adhering to the notice period of nine months, and the tenant refuses, then the latter will be considered as 'illegally occupying the place'.
Court notices for sessions will be served only once irrespective of whether the person concerned was available or not. If the person (tenant) was located, the notice would be handed over to him/her, failing which the notice will be stuck onto the door of his/her
apartment.
Once the verdict has been passed, appeals will not be considered.

If the landlord sells the property during the tenure of the lease, the tenant is not affected. If the landlord wishes to terminate the lease he can do so under the following eviction stipulations:

The landlord requires the flat for himself or his immediate family.
The tenant has illegally sublet the flat without the landlord's permission or knowledge.
Non payment of rent for more than 20 days after its due date.
The tenant has carried out unauthorised activities at the premises.

If the landlord evicts the tenant for any one of the reasons mentioned, then the Rent Tribunal grants the latter a grace period of 6 months to find alternative accommodation.

For the transient businessman in Kuwait who might require accommodation for a month or so, it is advisable to hire either a studio apartment or stay at a hotel. Serviced apartments and chalets are available at certain hotels.

Furniture of all types and standards are readily available. Electricity is 230 volts, 50 cycles AC. There is no piped gas facility - gas for cookers is supplied in cylinders (available near all local co-operatives). The water supplied through the pipes carries both brackish and drinking water. The latter from the desalination plants is bacteriologically safe and therefore drinkable, provided it is filtered. Filters must be fitted to the water supply for washing machines, dishwashers and drinking water taps.

Since 1981, the Ministry has been implementing a system that depends on estimating the average annual consumption based on the previous year's consumption. Bills had to be distributed for the whole year in advance and it was left for the consumers to pay in ten installments. This system has many problems and complaints. It also led to accumulation of huge amounts of unpaid bills. The Ministry is however continuing with the old system till a new one is devised. It has now been decided to set up a full computerised central control room directly linked with Ministry's main computer. This KD 50 million system is considered costly and difficult to maintain but man requirement is much less.

TENANCY LAW
This law covers rental of residential flats, houses, buildings, lands for storage use, offices, warehouses and the like. This law doesn’t cover agricultural lands, or premises meant for speculation for cases in which the tenancy contract is signed between two parties, where it contains specific stipulation meant to secure big profits for one of the parties. In such cases the commercial law will be applicable. The state has the right to expropriate any real estate for the public welfare in return for a suitable compensation to owner. For state-owned real estate leased to others, the state has the right to eviction if the lessee, or his tenant has breached the contract with the state.

The tenancy contract obligates the owner of real property to present his property, subject of the tenancy contract, to the tenant for a specified or unspecified period of time. If the period of time is not specified in the tenancy contract, then the period of property use by tenant is the period for which money is paid monthly, quarterly or annually etc.

In case of conflict between owner and tenant regarding rent, certain standards are taken into consideration by the court to decide whether rent should be increased. These standards are as follows:

Prevalent rent of similar properties, their sizes, quality, architectural finishes, and services etc.
All tenancy contracts must be written; old unwritten contract are governed by rules and regulations prevalent at the time of the verbal contract.
For cases where there are several tenants to the same premises (flat, house etc.) the law considers priority to the first tenant who occupies the property in good faith and with a proven contract date preceding all others.
After the tenancy contract is concluded the owner must hand over the property in good condition and free of defects, and if the tenant discovers any defects that are unacceptable to him, he has the right to cancel the contract and claim compensation if need be.
The owner must do maintenance to the rented property in appropriate times (during holidays, vacations etc.). The maintenance includes necessary general rehabilitation of property, sewage, and other utilities, stairs, and roof. If he does not undertake this responsibility, the tenant has the right to demand in court permission to do so, and incur the reasonable costs on the owner.
If the declared costs are exaggerated, the judge has the right to adjust the figure in such a way as not to over burden the owner, the rest is borne by the tenant; and if he does not accept to pay the difference he can cancel the contract.
The judge takes into consideration the amount of the rent and duration of stay in premises in his decision regarding compensation for repairs.
The tenant cannot refuse the owner any necessary repairs or maintenance, or renovation that must be done, but the tenant can claim compensation or demand reduction of rent if the owner causes damage of any kind to the tenant when doing necessary repairs, or the tenant can terminate the contract. Nonetheless the tenant and the owner can agree in writing on any terms different from that.
The rent must be paid at the beginning of every month, or as agreed. In case of litigation with owner for whatever reason, the rent must be deposited in the execution department of the Justice Palace or courts within 20 days from date of rent pay, and that should be done after the tenant officially offers the rent to owner and the latter refuses to accept the rent. The execution department then informs the owner of the deposit within five days. But if the owner accepts the money deposited in the execution department of two consecutive times, then the tenant can deposit further rents in the execution department without previously offering the rent to the owner; the tenant can give the rent to owner directly if the owner agrees to receive the rent and give the tenant the receipt. The tenant cannot withdraw from the execution department what he deposited unless he gets a court ruling allowing that, or explicit permission and consent of owner. In case of conflict between owner and tenant regarding rent, the tenant must pay the rent in the execution department pending court ruling or conciliatory agreement between them.
The amount of rent agreed upon by both parties can only be changed or amended with the mutual agreement of both parties, or by a court ruling. It is legally possible to amend the amount of rent after five years, or the lapse of contract period if the contract is more than five years, bearing in mind the rent value of similar property, and whatever specifications that incrementally effect the value of property. Also consideration should be taken that the increment should not exceed 100% of the difference between what the tenant pays the owner and what a similar property is rented for at the time of dispute.
The tenant should not effect any structural changes to the property, and if he does, the owner has the right to demand from the tenant that he should restore it to its original condition.
The tenant must take good care of the property he uses, he should maintain it properly (sanitary fittings, paints, doors, electrical fittings, etc) unless the agreement between owner and tenant dictates otherwise, or the owner willingly does that.
The tenant is responsible for any abuse of property; any damage incurred on property while he is occupying it is his sole responsibility. The tenant should not sublet the property or part of it, unless permitted by the owner, and if the tenant has taken a permission to sublet the property or part of it, and after some duration of occupancy left the property, then the rent relation between owner and tenant will be transferred to the one who rents part or all of the property from the tenant unless he pays more money to the tenant than what the tenant was paying to owner, in which case he will be asked to pay that rent (the rent he pays to original tenant).
In case of subletting parts of the property, the owner has the right to ask the tenant, who sublet parts of the property without the consent of owner, to vacate the property.
In case the owner sells his property to another person, the tenant if he knows of the sale, should pay the rent to the new owner, and the tenancy contract with the previous owner will be considered effective till a new one is drawn by the new owner without affecting the period of time needed to amend the rent (five years). Naturally the new owner should inform the tenant about the new situation; if he fails to do so, and the tenant pays the previous owner, then the new owner must claim his money from the previous owner. But if he proves beyond doubt that the tenant knew about the sale of property and still paid the previous owner, then he can claim the rent from the tenant regardless of what the tenant paid to the previous owner.
If the new owner discovers that the tenancy contract between the old owner and the tenant is fraud, or fictitious, then the tenancy contract will be considered null and void without any effects on the new owner.
The tenant must give the rent to whoever owns the property.
If the state expropriate a certain property, then its owner will be considered a tenant of the property, if he already occupies it, till he gets its estimated value from the state; but if his property is already rented to tenants then the relation between owner and tenant remains intact till he is paid half the evaluation amount, (the value of his property), and officially notified to vacate the property.

TENANCY CONTRACT TERMINATION
The tenancy contract is considered terminated on the day of termination indicated in the contract; but if the tenant stays in the property without any objection from the owner, the tenancy contract is considered renewed for the same period of occupancy indicated in the contract. (one year, five years, etc)

If the owner of property wishes to terminate the contract, or the tenant wants to vacate the property then the appropriate notification must be sent to the party concerned:

A notification to vacate within fifteen days for the rent periods not exceeding three months.
A notification to vacate within one month for rent period not exceeding six months.
A notification to vacate within two months for rent period exceeding six months.

If it is indicated in the tenancy contract, a clause that stipulates a certain period of vacating the property, then this period should be upheld. All notifications to vacate property must be written and officially handed over to party concerned. An owner of property can ask occupants (tenants) to vacate the property only in the following cases:

If the tenant delayed in paying rent (being absent or away from country is not an excuse)
If the tenant sublets part of property without express approval from owner.
If the tenant has breached the contract in any way (effected changes on property, or used property for other purposes than declared etc).
If the tenant of commercial property closes the property for a period of time exceeding six months without reasonable excuse, even if he was paying the rent regularly.
If the property becomes unfit for occupancy, or the owner has gotten official permit to demolish it. If the owner wants to demolish the property for the following reasons:
After 25 years of building it.
If the municipality grants him an extension of area for building where he can demolish and rebuild a bigger building.
Where there is old style house and the owner decides to build a new building for commercial or residential use; in this case new building area must be commensurate with the highest percentage of building area permitted by municipality. Evacuation of property becomes effective after the owner informs the tenant that he acquired all the necessary permits to demolish and rebuild. He should rebuild within six months from date of getting the permit, otherwise the vacating tenant can reoccupy the property and demand necessary compensation.
If the owner wants to build an additional floor to the rented building, when to do so requires evacuation of tenants, the owner should start construction within six months from date of getting permits, otherwise the tenants have the right to reoccupy property or demand compensation.
If the owner decides to add a floor to the rented building without demanding from tenant to vacate, the construction should not effect the tenant; if it does, the tenant can abrogate the contract or ask for decrease in rent.
If the owner or one of his close relatives needs to use the property, but he does not do so within a period of six months, and does not present a reasonable excuse, then the tenant has the right to ask for compensation.
If the rented property is part of the owner’s residence and he intends to use it for himself, or his close relatives.
If a commercial property (stores, shops, offices, etc) is owned by a minor (an under-aged person) whose legal guardian rented it, when that person reaches legal age he can demand his property, otherwise the tenant can reoccupy the property or demand compensation.
If the property was used for commercial purposes or to practice a certain trade or profession, and the tenant was deported by court order or by Ministry of Interior administrative order.

In certain cases, the judge has the right to grant the tenant a period of six months to vacate the property without paying rent or any compensation to the owner. If the judge gives a period to vacate less than six months, then the rest (months to complete six months) should be compensated to tenant by and amount equivalent to rent for the remaining period (six months minus period grants to vacate).

Regarding compensating the tenant when the owner decides to demolish it is as follows:

If the period granted by court or owner for vacating the property is less than six months then the owner must compensate the tenant for the rent of period to complete six months, and if the tenant has been occupying the property in accordance with agreement for more than 6 years, he is entitled to the above compensation in addition to the amount equivalent to 6 months’ rent.
The tenancy contract is not terminated if the owner or tenant dies, but tenant’s inheritors or family can demand termination of contract.
When the tenancy contract is terminated for whatever reason, it is imperative that the tenant should leave the property in good condition, and as he received it, but if he stays in the property after termination of contract and without explicit permission from the owner, then the owner can double charge him for the period of overstay (he can legally ask for double the amount of rent). It goes without saying that the owner can get an eviction order from court if there is a legitimate reason to do so.
It is required from the tenant to return the property in good condition (it is presumed in the law that the condition of property is good) unless the tenant has a written report or statement from owner (when signing contract) describing the exact condition of the property (barring any deterioration from normal use only). Damage resulting from natural causes is not considered the tenant’s responsibility.

Article 24 of this law concerns the establishment of a court for cases of rent disputes. The procedures in this court are relatively quick except for eviction rulings.

Article 25 deals with the procedures of filing rent-related cases (any issue covered in the rent contract), and notifying the parties sued. To file a rent-related case one should do the following:

Write the complaint and photocopy it, sign it, and register the complaint in the courts clerical department. The clerical department will inform the other party (defendant) of the date of court session.
The following procedures are followed to inform the tenant except when the tenant is the State or a public figure:
A copy of the complaint is handed over to tenant or whoever represents him.
If the tenant is not present, or refuses to take the complaint, or the one present in the property refuses to receive the complaint, then a notice will be affixed to the door.
If the premises were closed, a notice is affixed to the door, and the notifying officer shall indicate in the complaint what procedures he took. After the notification is done, it is considered that the tenant has been informed of the court session. In litigation concerning rent issues notification is done only once.
On the session date the parties to the case must attend the session, however, it is possible to give persons of legal age, powers of attorney to represent the parties. The power of attorney must be official and authenticated at the public notary.
The court will look into the case on the session date and in due time the ruling of the court will be issued by the judge, and this ruling cannot be appealed unless exists a legal error, or the ruling is considered null for legal reason (normally all cases are appealed).
The period of time during which appeal is accepted is 15 days, appeal is filed after payment of KD.20 fee as deposit to be refunded if appellant wins the case.
During the litigation process the tenant should deposit the rent in the execution department of the court before the twentieth day of each month.
If the subject of complaint is not paying the rent, then the owner can get a court order demanding that the tenant should pay the overdue rent. The owner in this case must submit to court a proof that the tenant did not pay or deposit the money in execution department. The tenant then has a period of 10 days to place a petition in the same court, and he must pay KD.50 deposit, otherwise his petition will not be filed. If the petition is dismissed by court, the petitioner will lose his deposit, any executable court ruling cannot be legally delayed from the loser, but the winner of the case can delay execution for good reason, but he should deposit KD.100, which will not be refunded if the delaying process does not accomplish its purpose.
The owner has the right to ask the tenant to vacate the property after 5 years of occupancy, but if the owner does not ask for this, the tenancy contract is considered renewed for an additional five years. In case the owner decides to take back the property, he must inform the tenant of his wish 3 months before evacuation in the last year of the running tenancy agreement, without infringing upon his right to demand from tenant to vacate the property from other reasons indicated previously in this law.
The owner has the right to ask for an increase of rent every 5 years, the increase, if demanded, should not exceed 100% of the difference between the rent he takes and highest rent of other similar premises.
If a person rents certain premises for a fixed sum of money and then leases the premises he rented for a sum of money exceeding what he pays to the owner in order to make a profit, then this process is considered a commercial activity and the tenancy law does not apply to it. (it is an investment activity)
Every five years of a tenancy contract the owner of premises has the right to increase the rent. Normally, this is done by agreement between tenant and owner; if they do not agree and disagreement ends up in court, the judge will decide on increase in the light of rent paid in similar premises (flats, houses, etc.).
For any maintenance paid for by the tenant, reasonable prices must be quoted to owner for reimbursement. If the cost of maintenance is found exaggerated the judge will advice the cost within acceptable limits, and the tenant will be left with the choice either to accept to pay the difference, or cancel the contract.
The tenant officially offers the rent to the owner by doing the following: before the passing of twenty days from the date the tenant is suppose to pay the rent (it should be indicated in the contract) the tenant goes to the execution department of the court of the district he lives in, he deposits the rent and receives a receipt, he gives the address of the owner and his explicit offer to pay the rent (which is deposited at the execution department) the notification clerk of the execution department will inform the owner about the deposited rent within days. The tenant must check to see if the owner accepted the deposit. He should keep on depositing the rent in the execution department till he receives an acknowledgement in writing from the owner that says the owner accepted to receive the rent directly from the tenant. Actually there is no need for an express acceptance of rent from the tenant other than a dated receipt.
Subletting rented premises or parts of it must be with the express approval of owner.
If a tenant signs a rent contract on a certain date and the owner sells the property which the tenant occupies to another person, after 3 years from the date of rent contract, the new owner can ask for rent increase after the passage of two more years.
If the rent contract is illusory or fictitious it will be considered void for the new owner, and thus no compensation whatsoever is required if the tenant claims that it is based on his fictitious rent contract. A fictitious rent contract could be done to perform a certain act that requires a rent contract or proof of residence without the actual use of the premises.
Notification to vacate property must be done through the notification section of the execution department in courts in written form and for a nominal fee.
Normally what happens is that the tenant claims compensation if the owner evicts him on such grounds without starting demolishing and rebuilding in the prescribed time. Nevertheless the owner may demolish without rebuilding within the prescribed period (six months) also in such case the evicted tenant can claim compensation.
Court rulings regarding crimes committed by foreigners entail deportation; and deportation can be effected by any order from the Minister of the Interior or the secretary of the Interior Ministry if this happens to one having occupancy of a commercial property, then vacating the property will be a matter of course.
Eviction rulings take more time to be effective to allow tenants ample time to fix themselves. Normally all first instance court rulings can be appealed if eviction is demanded by owner.
In rent related cases lawyers are not needed. Nevertheless if one is busy or cannot attend the sessions he can appoint by power of attorney someone of legal age to stand before the judge, and voice out his defense. However a lawyer does have delaying tactics which are a necessity in tenancy lawsuit and his legal expertise is a must in complicated legal matters, be they about tenancy contracts or otherwise.