Haris asks for money

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It is very difficult to understand the current situation in Kuwait as the house rents are going higher and higher. Here a person earning a salary of KD 500 needs to spend 50 percent of his earnings on rent. And everything else needs to be adjusted within the balance (this includes grocery, schooling, credit card, other bills etc).

On the other hand, we see the so-called watchmen (haris) of buildings asking for key money if we want to rent an apartment.

This seems like we are bribing someone to stay in a flat which he does not even own. He is just an employee looking after the building. The haris, therefore, tends to ask for KD 200 or KD 300, depending on the space of the flat. If you aren’t able to pay, the flat is given to someone who can afford to pay. I have come across a newly built building in Jleeb Al Shouyukh behind Indian Central School, just next to the petrol pump.

The building rent is KD 300 or KD 330 but if you need a flat you must pay the haris KD 80 beforehand so he can make a contract for you on the spot. Is this fair? How can the owners give the contract paper to haris and let him decide how to run the show. Here my question is: does the Kuwait Law allow such things to happen or it’s just a way to deal like any other issue where you pay someone to get your things done. Hope to get some positive feedback on this matter.

Name withheld

Answer: You will come across this situation all over Kuwait. The haris don’t see the money you pay as any kind of illegal payment. They call it hadiya (gift).

The problem is that the Rents Law or any other law doesn’t address the issue of hadiya but this hadiya has become a demand to secure a building on rent. Some of the haris ask for KD 30 to KD 50 “only” while some unashamedly ask for huge amounts, especially in those areas where the demand for flats is high and the vacancy low.

The only thing you can do is report the matter to the landlord, who may or may not act on your complaint. The only other way around this problem is to hire a flat through one of those companies which have offices located all over the country and don’t use the haris as front men.

This news has been read 8255 times!

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