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Kuwait Law: Rent

It’s been a while since my last post and since then I’ve gotten a lot of questions and rent was one of the most popular topics. That’s why I decided to put together a small FAQ on rent which you can take a look at below.

(All questions were answered according to rent law 35 for year 1978)

I have been living in my apartment for 3 years; can my landlord increase my rent?

No your landlord cannot increase rent. A landlord can only increase rent in the following situations:
1) If the tenant agrees to the proposed increase
2) Its been 5 years and the contract has ended (rule is once every 5 years)
3) The rent is 50% less than the market price

My landlord says he wants to increase the rent because he wants to do maintenance work? Does he have the right to do that?

No since the landlord is responsible for any maintenance and not the tenants.

I have a rental contract for 1 year but I’ve been living in the apartment for 18 months and the contract was never renewed. Now the landlord wants to kick me out. I know I have overstayed but do I have to leave immediately?

No in this situation he cannot kick you out but he can inform you to leave while giving you a grace period.
By law, if your rent contract ends and you continue living there then it renews by default for the same time of rent pay. Huh? What? Lawyers and there confusing terms… Simply put, if you pay rent on a monthly basis (which is how the majority of people pay rent in Kuwait) then your contract will renew automatically for a month at a time. If you paid rent every three months, then it will renew for 3 months, if you paid rent every 6 months your rent will renew every 6 months and so on.

What is the grace period?

Grace periods are only for when contracts renew by default (as explained above) and they depend on how often you pay your rent.

When can you really get kicked out? (with no grace period)

Reasons a landlord can kick you out are (for residencies and not commercial contracts)
1) If tenant hasn’t paid rent
2) If the tenant rents out the residency to a third person without permission
3) If the residence is being used for illegal activities
4) If the building is no longer structurally safe
5) If the landlord wants to rebuild the building or reconstruct it. There are a lot of variables for this one which I won’t get into.

My American friends can rent an apartment without a marriage certificate but I can’t seem to do the same? Do different citizens get treated differently in Kuwait by law?

Nationalities are not mentioned in the law so the law doesn’t talk about one nationality being treated differently than another (unless its Kuwaiti but that’s not in the rent laws), and therefore it is very disappointing to see that this kind of discrimination is being implemented in Kuwait.

Marriage certificates are also not mentioned in the law and my guess and only guess is that they ask for marriage certificates because unmarried couples might possibly engage in illegal sexual activities. The law restricts apartments from being used for illegal activities and sexual activity between two unmarried couples is considered illegal by law.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
Have a Kuwait law related question? Email me at [email protected]

The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

63 replies on “Kuwait Law: Rent”

Mr Fazer
We choice one room.hares are Bangladeshi some of our room mate went to see room we choice but highers rent.after then also we choice we inform hares we come February 25 .hers ask from us 100 kd for some work in room we give also.but in the mean time some roomate disagree to take room . We inform hares 10th February night now he asking full rent for March. With him we no agreement don’t give anybody civil id .hares can take any action regarding us.just suggest please.

Dear Fajer, my parents have been living in the same flat for 20 years and in April they were asked to vacate after 3 months. The landlord offered 3 months rent + 3 months free stay as compensation. We accepted the cheque, signed for it and encashed it. Now we have realized that some Arab neighbours have been given 3 months free stay as well as 6 months rent in cash. We are not sure what to do. Please help!

“… and sexual activity between two unmarried couples is considered illegal by law.”

LOL, swingers.

On a serious note, I guess you meant “sexual activity between two unmarried persons”

Up to my flat there is pipe broke, I notice the manager of rental company about this situation and since 4 months ago always he promise will fix the problem, now when I asked again what they will do about it, they answer me, until the last flat will not be rent, they cannot fix anything. Already in my flat coming too much water and all my things now are damage, pls advice me what I can do in this situation, why there is not a law in Kuwait which protect also the customers. Thank you

Also a bunch of apartments won’t rent to Kuwaitis, even if you’re married. Some of them will tell you “it’s full” if you look Kuwaiti, if you speak English and then say you’re from Kuwait they are sometimes forced to straight out say “We don’t rent to Kuwaitis”

Stupid for so many reasons.

Thanks a lot Fajer for the above info. I have one question:
How much notice period should the tenants give their landlord in case they want to leave?
For example, could I inform my landlord that I will leave by the end of the month (or next week, tomorrow…)? and could I stay till the final day or I should vacate few days before the end of the month in this case?

Due to the correct corona situation we want our rent to be half or a bit less but the Haris is not providing any no. Of the owner. Or he didn’t submit the request form to the owner which all the people residing in here sign requesting to consider paying less rent. What should we do?

Another good piece of advice is to make sure that you put your notice to vacate in writing and even get the landlord to sign as received.

An American friend verbally notified his landlord and was later sued for non-payment of rent. Not nice.

Unfortunately here at the end of the day , you should be one of the lucky ones to have a decent landlord who has the capacity to relate to the rules of the land. In most cases when things turn sour , the tenant is usually harassed and eventually just gives up and shifts out , yes even the most hard headed tenants bend on most occasions..

Great post. Very informative.

Mark if possible please post the reason for the sudden rise of rents everywhere in Kuwait and why no authorities are putting a hold to it ?

Especially salaries don’t seem to increase for anyone but the new flats that come up keep increasing the rents.

I’ve heard some instances from a couple of co-workers where, if he cannot increase it legally, the landlord stops turning up to collect the rent and does not allow anyone else to do so in his stead – then he simply evicts the tenant for non-payment.

What would be the legal position for an expat in such a circumstance?

Happened to us a few years ago. The haris would not take the money and he kept saying banks are closed because of eid and then got a lawsuit against us.

What I want to know is, do we have a Ministry of Housing in this country? And if so why aren’t they doing anything about the ridiculous rent and land prices recently?

The landlords are taking advantage of the lack of supervision, to an obscene extent.

Mr. Fajer,

Good Day.

I would like to seek for your kind advice regarding the issue of two sharing families in a flat. is this legaal in kuwait or not?

thanks and more power.

jbotac

Hi mr. Fajer i would like to ask if the flat holder has the right to ask us the 1 month rental rent after leaving the flat bec. They did not see any replacement here is the story we transferred to that flat april 25 paying 50kd and he ther 60 kd on may 5 with the total of 110kd monthly rent for the whole room and we had a big financial problem and paying 110 continuesly will be a problem so may 8 i told her that it will be our last month with them as we need to transfer to a more cheaper room. Day after that i started to post ads about the room she shr just posted her post after a week of my notice.. so many has check the room but refused to take it as the rent is high and the flat holder as well is very picky that until now they didnt get any tenants for our vacated room and now she has been calling and texting me to pay the rent for the month of june even half she said we have to pay. She even went to my work and still texting and calljng me its like a harrasment already… i would like to know if she has the right to ask us money and if if it is legal… my friends said that they dont have the right to ask us as the notice of leaving the flat is on they day you paid the rent which is on the 5th andaximum is 10th of the month and leaving the flat should be on the 25th… i paid her fully on tbe 5th gave her my notice on the 8th and we left the flat 25th of may… please i do need yohr advice as until now she still calls and texting me… thank you…

you talked about a “room”.

subrental is not even allowed, imho.

ignore the call. if she persists, tell her you’ll file a case of harrasment against her.

Our landlord want us to leave the apartment because he want to demolish the building . We have paid rent for these month in court. The building is 16 years old and is in very good condition. The building have been sold to another Kuwaiti by our old landlord and he want us to leave and we don’t want to leave . We have paid rent for these month in court in the name of old landlord .
Now please can u suggest me what can be done now .

If you dont pay your rent for lets say this month, is it legal for the landlord to cut off the electricity in your apartment?

Thanks Mr Fajer for having this site to enlightened us about Kuwait Law. My question is our Haris told us that 5 years is finished and the owner of the building wants to increase the rent starting November. At the moment we are paying KD 180 monthly, and it will be KD 240 starting November 2013 that means the rent will increase KD 60 more. This is too much. Actually last year only is was kd 170, in July 2012 the rent increased by KD 10 and it became KD 180. How much percentage should the landlord increase the rent. The building is getting older and the rent is getting high? This is ridiculous. Please advise if 60 KD increase is normal. In case not, what step we need to do? Thanks a lot.

dear iam living in room past 3 months my house owner staying here more than 2 years now they guard told her he want to cancle his contract and change contract to another person she is very scared she dont know what to do and guard told her kuwait owner want to increse rent 205 to 250 and she is not agree but guard told her to go out from here so now give me solution for this and idea help me for this

when i get flat i pay the advance payment but i dont like the building coz not good we cancelled we staying only one month and not signing a contract.the landlord its have a right to ask the rent again except may advance payment?????what is the defferent for ejar and arbon in arabic???coz i pay two times in a one month for this flat…thanks

any low about this???

I was stayin in a Flat since 2003 in Mahbula. At that time the Flat rent was KD:90/- per month including Water and Electricity. After a year the Landlord increased to KD:110/- per month, then after about 2-3 years again increased to KD:150/- per month with water and Electricity. At last 2012 April again increased the Rent by 20/- to KD:170/- per month with water and electricity. Bu in the contract mentioned water and electricity on the tenant account. At time of signing new contract I asked about the water and Electricity then he said that its normal clause but actually the water and electricity on account of the Land load. I believed and signed the contract. After 18 month i.e. now he is asking to an additional increase by KD:30/- i.e total KD:200/- as rent. Is this legally allowed to a land load to increase the as and when he wants…? The Watchman is renting ONE flat (2 bead rooms one bath room Flat ) for 3-4 parties and taking more than the land load gets. I want to know can the land load increase the rent within 2 years / Kindly advise me what shall I do in this regard. Appreciate your kind assistance.

Thanks and best regards,
Syed Abdurahman Bafaky

Respected sir , I am living in Reggai, My air conditioning is not working for past 6 days, I informed Haris, He informed the service provider, but no response, I keep on calling the building office as well as the company to ask someone for help, and they keep assured me they would send someone to fix the problem. No one has come to see the problem yet and it is very hard for us to stay in our flat without cooling due to the immense heat . Kindly give me an advice
Thank you

Dear Sir,

Were renting flat in Amman St., for just 5-6months and till now they are not issuing the house countract! When we shift to the flat they asked me to pay 1month advance and 1 month rent! Now we decided to leave the flat but when we go to the office they asked me to pay 200KD for penalty since were leaving! So I just want to know Sir if this is a law in Kuwait? and aside from that they increase the rent by 20KD & we did not yet stay for a year or 5years even the electricity & water they force ask to pay by 100KD! Could you please let me know to whom we can approach to this kind of situation and please let me know where is the house court? Youre immediate reply is highly appreciated.

Thanks & more power,
Vangie Reyes

Abdou’s question on 14 May 2013 and many others have not been replied. So, is there a use of writing these questions? However, I am repeating the same question Abdou asked: Our landlord advises that he is going to sell the building to a new party and the new party is going to demolish our building. He said he will give us six months grace without rent or give us six months rents in cash to leave. My question is: If we tenants don’t get a grace period or cash in lieu of six months rent, how do we realize it? Is six months’ grace or cash the minimum they should pay and what’s the details of this portion of law? Thanks Mr. Fajer for your kind attention to reply.

Dear Sir,

Kindly let us know if the landlord/ownership of a building changes, they have right to increase the rent eventhough 5 year terms not completed. Thank you. Kind Regards, Ravi

Hello,

After 5 years, is there a limit to which the rent can be increased to? (i.e. a number or percentage).

Regards,
David

I have vacated the REAM building through proper way but company not yet returned my deposit money. What I can do now? Its almost 1 year now. Response of office staff is very bad.

Hello Ravi,

Have you received any reply/info for your query?

If you have any information than please do share with us.

I am facing the same situation.

Thanks & Regards,

Sir, We have been living in flat for 20 years and two days before the landlord, were asked to vacate the flat after 3 months.he says he going to demolish the building .how many months minimum will get for tents.Is it the rule says like that or we get more time. We are not sure what to do. Please help! please give reply

Dear Sir, We signed a house contract yesterday and want to cancel it today because we found out that the water supply in the building is very bad, always without water. We initially paid 50 kd however to cancel the contract they are asking us to pay the full month rent for september which is 200 kd, is this even legal? We haven’t stayed in the house yet. Please advice. They are threatening to sue us in court. Please advice. Thanks.

I m living in a room. But will going to left this room n shift to another but our room owner tell us to live or find another people to live in room before we leave. He also tell to complain my phone no. What to do we already inform him about we r leaving from this room.
Give me solution what to do?
This room is not gud. Not enough facility of water, kitchen very dirty full off coachroaches, etc…..
What to do?

Dear Sir,
I have a yearly rent contract which is going on for past 3 years. I have informed the hares that I am leaving end of this month (i paid this month’s rental and have receipt) but he says I must leave on 25th nor 31st Jan 2015. My contract with new apartment is from 1st Feb 2015. He says the vacating date is 25th as per the rent act. Could you enlighten me on this? I paid full rent for Jan 2015.
Thanks

Good day, I like to know, when is the time to increase our rent, Its possible my flat rent increase if i delay pay for one (1) day and how much should be increase. Thanks

Thanks for shedding some light on this topic. This has become the biggest problem in Kuwait. I moved into a new apartment 2 months ago and the apartment Hunt was a nightmare.

The watchmen rule the building like they own it and the owners listen to them.

In some of the good sized apartment buildings The Watchman (Harris) even ask for 400~500 KD to give you the apartment.

Also note it is not mandatory to pay the Harris for taking out the Trash. It is his job to do that. If you wish to pay him for helping him out you can.

I know alot of people who had to move out of their apartments as the Harris told them the rent is going to increase after the first year.

Any steps on how to go about it legally when the landlord wants to increase the rent within the 2nd year?

I have to to terminate the house contract after 4 months due to job termination and leaving the country. Do I have to pay lease penalty and the 2 months lease fee as claimed by landlord as I have not rented minimum 12 months.
Please advise soonest.

SA

Dear Sir,
I’ve been living in my apartment for 9 years. I had a rent increased after 5 years; from 180 KWD to 235 KWD in 2011, without contract. Now, I was informed by the Haris that rent will increase to 350KWD by January 2016.
May I ask if this is legal? Please advise.

BR,
Leo

In light of the current COVID crisis, what are the latest rules on concessions for both residential and commercial rent charges?

Dear Sir/Mam
I was renting a room for about 5-6 months only.before I moved to thier flat we did an agreement that if 1 person it will be 70kd and if 2 person it will be 100 by then I start transferring my things and paid for deposit she told me it 75 kd instead of 70.I accept it bcoz I don’t want to have an argument.so everything went smooth until 5-6monts now they told me that the real rate of my room is not 75 it was 120kd! So I refuse about that and not accept bcoz it was too much and thier reason is that they have a financial need. I asked them if I did something wrong or did I break any rules they said no.and that was right bcoz they see me how clean and organised I am.and I’m always paYing the rent very advance that’s why I am very shock when they said that I need to increase the payment of my room for about 50kd? My question is, do I have my right not to leave and not to give the increase that they are asking for me.?

Hi Atty Fajer,
I just want to ask if an unmarried couple is allowed to stay together in one place and should a man tenants be mixed with women tenants?
Thank you very much Attorney and good day Godbless!

Hello. I pay my rent on time. Haris told me I have to leave my
Flat on 25 of November because they want to vacant the floo
Floor for some purpose. I have legal contract as well. I stay
There for 8 months. Is the owner of the building can kick us out?

In addition we inform the Harris that our flat having water on the wall from
The other flat. He said he will not do it either we go or we ask someone to fix it. Please help export kuwait.

Good afternoon sir, my question is I live my for 5yrs with my cousin it was in there name then they transfer it toy name my question is in this year I pay late, now I still didn’t pay my Jan. So I have now two months this Feb.10 but I will pay,by then do they can kick me out now coz I still didn’t pay my rent ?

Dear Fajer, I am a 17 year old who wants to rent his own apartment, is that feasible in Kuwait?

P.S I am freelancer programming so i make a fair
amount of money my Question is strictly legal.

Hi i need to vacate my flat because my wife is pregnant and she having some health issues but the owner is telling me to bring someone and leave the flat so what should i do.

Sir I leave in hawally and I want to leave my apartment but landlord say u have to pay 400 kd to leave your apartment
I had paid all my rent
200 kd for maintains
100 kd for agreement
Every year
Now I want to leave it but he say u have to pay 400 kd more to leave apartment
Please help me what to do

Good Day Mr.Fajer,

In my case, I want to vacate the flat , I have given prior notice before one month, but owner refuse to cancel rent contract. He say, your contract is for 1 year. you are leaving the flat after 4 months. Must pay Penalty as “one month rent”. Is this correct.

Do he has right to take ” one month rent ” as penalty. Please advise.

Good Day Dear Mr.Fajer,

needed your legal advise, Legally what is the period how many month we should wait, by when we have to go to court to pay the rent, because the owner is deceased, looks there is property dispute know with in a family, so no Harris in the building, no maintenance, so what is the law saying, should we wait for month 1 or 2 or is it compulsory to go to court & pay the rent & if we go to court with the current rent agreement or last rent receipt, do we have to pay the same rent or rent will be lower as per the market rate or we have to pay the same contract amount even though we are not getting any service like no security in the building, no maintenance of building, is full dirty, air condition problem, one side lift is not working
Thanks & Regards

Hi, I live since 2 years in my appartment and it’s writen that the contract renews every year of not canceled. I pay my rent monthly and want to move out now in 6 weeks. Is this my right or did I have to complete the year? Thank you

Hi.
My family is now renting a flat in which we are given two months free to stay after payment of the first month. Now, we have been staying in the apartment for almost 7 months. I But recently I wanted to move to Salmiya since my workplace is closer there. Now, the building guard said, yes we can go but we have to pay the two months rent which is not written in the contract they gave me. What legal thing should we do? I really wanted to move out. Pleasew advice. Thank you.

I have a query regarding my building. I have paid the rent for the month of March 2024 and am leaving Kuwait for good. The Mandoop from the company comes to my house and says that there are some damages and it will cost my KD 95, which I will have to pay. Although the damages are minimal (for ex. a door knob and a pipe leak)

Keeping in mind that I have already paid KD 50 towards insurance which was at the time of signing the contract.

Please help with a solution.
Thank you

We got a contract from the landlord in Dec 2023 and the contract they mentioned as 1 year.

I need to know as per Kuwait law is the contract will be for 1 year or 5 years.

Landlord renovated the flat and within 4 months wanted to increase the rent.

Will appreciate, if you can revert the law..

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