Citizens and residents are complaining against the increasing prices of apartments in Riyadh which have risen by up to 90 percent in recent years. Residents have said that the small apartments that used to cost SR17,000 now cost more than SR28,000. Consequently, they have called for the activation of the ‘Rents Law’ which will limit the ability of owners to tamper with the prices of properties so much.
They added that most of the housing owners pressure their tenants to leave the properties if they refuse to pay the soaring rents, and added that owners actually tend to raise prices after one year of living there. In increasing numbers, nationals and residents alike are calling on the Ministry of Housing and the property owners themselves to put an end to such practices.
Specifically, house-hunters said that a flat with a kitchen and air-conditioning system can reach prices of SR30,000 or more, adding that the prices of flats at the lower grounds can be more than SR45,000 even if the flats are small and the rooms are small and in a terrible state of disrepair.
Salah Al-Adaileh, a Saudi disgruntled with the increasing apartment prices , said many countries enforce strict laws to limit rent raises to guard against inflation and so that property prices and rents don’t go up more than is fair. He added the concerned authorities at the Ministries of Housing, Trade and Commerce should limit this exploitation by owners and should not allow them to raise the rents without good justifications.
