I’m not sure why this isn’t made a bigger deal of but one thing that really bothers me is how Kuwaitis are discriminated against when it comes to renting apartments. It’s one area where expats have it much better and I don’t understand why no one seems to be protesting this. It just doesn’t make any sense how everyone seems to be ok with ads advertising homes and then having a large note stating its “Only for foreigners” on it. How is this even legal?
I’ve had a lot of friends struggle to find apartments because they were either single male or female Kuwaitis. There is a post on Reddit right now by a Kuwaiti guy who had to leave home due to family issues and ended up living in his car because he couldn’t find an apartment that would rent to him. Eventually, he managed to crash at a friend’s place for a couple of months but now he needs to move out and he still can’t find a place that would rent to him.
salam people of r/Kuwait. some of you may have seen my post slightly less than 3 months ago about how i am homeless due to family issues and could not find a place that would rent for a single Kuwaiti male. i wish they would trust me because i am a nerdy guy whose day only consists of going to work and playing video games so i never have anyone over. i am very responsible with spending so inshallah i would never be late for monthly rent payments unless a great emergency occurs.
some compassionate people have messaged me either offering emotional support or offering to help me find a residence to rent. i was planning on accepting one of those offers after getting my salary but a chance for free stay came up and i took it. i am sorry for ghosting on those who offered me help but i felt too awkward to tell them that i didnt need it anymore (rude and stupid of me).
now unfortunately i have stayed more than was comfortable (2.5 months) for the friend who provided me with free stay. i need to find a place of my own before Friday otherwise i will have to sell most of my stuff and go back to sleeping in my car. it will make me so happy to find a clean place where i can sleep comfortably without hearing shouting all day and without worrying whether i will be told to leave the next day. source
It’s pretty absurd that a single guy who has a job and the ability to pay rent is forced to sell his belongings and live in a car because he is Kuwaiti and can’t find an apartment to rent. I’m not sure if it’s because a lot of Kuwaitis aren’t aware of this housing issue and that’s why it’s not a big deal, but if I was Kuwaiti I’d be calling up MP Safa Al Hashem daily to get this changed.
70 replies on “Discrimination Against Kuwaitis in the Housing Sector”
Wow… you managed to find one thing that discriminates against Kuwaitis
Against Kuwaitis 1 – Against Foreigners 1000
There could be 2 reasons.
1. If the apartment was rented to a KUWAITI, then the hares wouldn’t be able to carry out his illegal activities like renting out the basement car park to some trading company to setup their warehouse or probably wouldn’t be able to slack on the regular car washes. These days hares are more interested in the turnover of apartments, that means, he will more than willing to rent out to an expat, and then change his colors and begin to bother the expat until they decide to leave, so that he can find someone else to pay him key money and the story repeats. This is something they can’t do. They will have themselves fired if a Kuwaiti was staying in that building.
2. The real estate companies are worried that they apartment will be used for illegal purposes. A friend of mine works for a real estate company where they have a strict policy of not renting out to KUWAITI because they usually tend to turn that as their weekend hangout and create a nuisance and inconvenience to their neighbors. many also don’t oblige with the rental contracts.
Tbh i think this discrimination is completely wrong, I mean it actually creates an imbalance in society.
They should actually let Kuwaitis and non Kuwaitis live in and around the same environments so that the inequality is reduced, so that each side understands the other and hopefully the discrimination reduces.
I am married to a Kuwaiti. We were going to move 2 years ago, as our son grows and we needed more space. I went to look at loads of apartments by myself, but when I would find one I liked, as soon as I mentioned my husband was Kuwaiti, it was like a door slammed shut in my face.
(( Only for foreigners )), he didn’t say Expats. that means its for westerners, Australians…. .
so not only Kuwaitis but Africans, Asians , middle eastern ….are not allowed.
yes many building don’t rent for Kuwaitis as they think they are difficult to interact with. that’s due to a minority who caused problems with their expat neighbors, the caretaker or even with the landlord. an expat (mostly again not all) will be easier to handle and to toss around.
as for single men and women, its due to the society, the stereotype of a bachelor (specially a Kuwaiti) living alone means parties, girls …etc.
Unfortunately the Society needs to change in many aspects.
I had many Kuwaiti neighbors they are as any other nation, some are good some are not.
I think its time u go educate yourself and look up the word Foreigner before you go blabbing out of subject.
He didn’t say anything wrong… when they say expats they mean expats in general… when they say foreigner they mean whites. Trust me. They are only looking for Europeans, Americans, British.
I don’t intend to be racist. But I am elaborating what the term foreigners mean in kuwait real estate market.
If you don’t believe me, call them up. And say you are an Asian who wants to rent it.
It’s true. As an Indian, when my family wanted to rent a place in Salwa in a mostly western neighborhood, they were very reluctant to to lease the place to us. Nevertheless, they eventually allowed us to do so.
I think feel that Kuwaitis have it worse… Indians, like other expats, won’t complain if illegal activities take place like leasing basements
Believe me the owner of that Villa is Kuwaiti so they know the situation if they will rent it out to Kuwaiti u can’t give the rules to them they will obey everything…so respect 👍
The term foreigners in kuwait means westerners. Expat or foreign expats means citizens of asian sub continent. The post your shared is by a kuwaiti as foreigners/expats cant own a villa here in kuwait. So basically the kuwaitis do not want to rent it out to other kuwaitis.
I believe people don’t wanna rent for Kuwaitis because the law favours Kuwaitis in so many ways, once they live there it’s almost impossible to kick them out if they don’t pay or start trouble.
this is exactly the reason; as said by a couple of landlords i know. Many Kuwaiti renters (obviously not all) know for a fact that it is extremely difficult and time consuming to kick them out and therefore abuse this legal loophole by not paying. An expat, on the other hand, wants to keep his/ her record clean and therefore tends to be a much better tenant.
Sadly “Only Foreigners” ofter mean Westerners only. Couple of months back I was looking for a rental property. When I went to visit the properties and Haris and the property owners were like “bus abyad” which means white people only. Happened to me at least 3 times.
I’m a foreigner from the East.
It’s always like that unfortunately, a few bad examples ruin it for everybody
I once asked the Haris (janitor) of our building about this and he said that the ‘aslo’ Kuwaiti owner, instructed him not to rent it out to Kuwaitis because
1- most of them use it for illegal purposes..drugs, girls, drinking.. Etc
& 2- they refuse to pay for 3 or 4 months then they just leave without paying saying ‘Kefi’.
When I was married to a Kuwaiti we had the same issue, my ex used to use my nationality as leverage but it wouldn’t always work. Once a Kuwaiti guy looked at him from top to bottom and decided he wasn’t rich enough so he declined renting to us. My sister who has Kuwaiti nationality couldn’t find an apartment after her divorce because a lot of buildings won’t rent to Kuwaitis or divorced women, I’ve faced that latter myself. They say that if a divorced woman moves in she will make problems by having random guys visit her.
There again I had a Kuwaiti friend who rented the top floor of his house to a Kuwaiti family. Later on they refused to pay the rent and there wasn’t much he could do, he filed a case but that takes months to finish all the while the family was still living there. He started to turn off the electricity and eventually they left leaving behind a mess, broken walls, doors and it cost him thousands of KD to fix the damage.
Moving is terrible and it takes months of planning and even being accepted by the haris, they are the gate keepers and if they don’t like you then you won’t get a place either. They are like a mafia now and demand you pay them 10 KD monthly for taking garbage and washing cars. No one regulates the rental market or the haris mafia.
Mark I know of an apartment building that will rent to him. They actually only Rent to cases like this “Respectable single Kuwaiti Men”
Please email me his info or privately give him my email and I will help him out.
I have been in Kuwait since May of 2009 as many other expats. It’s obvious the amount of control the owners and all business have over expats. The vast majority of expats pay there rent on time and communicate properly if there are any delays.
Expats try to leave there rentals in good standing and repair what they can to try getting there deposit back. Expats try not to be rude to their neighbors. Parking situations are normally resolved peacefully. Parties and get togethers are wary of excess noise.
All what I have said happen because all these expats are on work visas and don’t want to jeopardize there employment. They do not have the privilege of being a Kuwaiti citizen. They’re wasta connections are nowhere near what a citizen has and also they do not speak proper Kuwaiti Arabic.
Kuwaiti families have established that they will sling there wasta around like a loaded gun. Everytime I have had to live in an apartment/villa with the owner or there family or another Kuwaiti family living there, I have had to move myself and family out within a year if they Kuwaiti stays.
Examples of what’s happen in the past is parking issues with the Kuwaiti family or there friends who block people in with no care. Complaining when Kuwaiti owner have to do maintenance to the building they own and swore would fix upon moving in but never do. Other kuwaiti families that move into a building leaving there apartment like a warzone after moving out & constantly not paying rent on time. Arguing with Harris to do all sorts of stuff at late night. Letting their children scream very loud late at night in the street! Doing burnouts in front of the house anytime there’s some water on the road. Having ridiculously loud arguments outside in the street bothering neighbors.
Basically all this stuff happens because there is no laws for Kuwaiti to be afraid of breaking. They feel immune or invincible because they assume to have all the wasta on there side. If they had anything to fear or make them respect their own laws then they could be trusted to be good people to rent to. The police are never called because expats fear them to make any situations worse! Kuwaiti have no fear so they act like they can do whatever they want!
All what I have stated before is why I will never purposely live around Kuwaiti because I can’t turn to the police to help me with a privileged Kuwaiti or Arab acting a fool! (Everytime I have had to deal with the police they claim to not understand or speak English which makes the situation more confusing)
I’m a bit resentful of your comment that you would never live around Kuwaitis because of the few you encountered. I understand that some may be privileged, very spoiled, and loud. But there’s always a loud, bad part of every group. I am a single female Kuwaiti, my family was very abusive and I decided to move out. It was extremely difficult for me to find a place to rent because of being a single Kuwaiti female. I begged many places to let me rent. I even used the fact that I am half European, however they did not care because I don’t hold the passport – my Kuwaiti family never allowed me to have it. I wanted to die in that house because I couldn’t find a place to move out to, despite being financially stable enough to do it. All because I’m Kuwaiti and the stereotype of Kuwaitis. Thankfully, I eventually found a friend of a friend who was renting out. I am quiet, respectful, and keep to myself, even though I am Kuwaiti. Please keep an open mind, you can’t judge every single Kuwaiti person because of some you have encountered. Many of us are appalled by those type of people too, we even call them “hayleg” (hooligans).
I do not intend to make any good Kuwaiti citizen feel resentful to me BUT I have to be fearful for my family. Kuwaiti citizens maybe don’t or do care how much just there words have power of almost EVERY expat working in Kuwait.
It’s is terrible how single ADULTS (Local Citizen or Expat) is treated like a criminal before an Owner but that seems to be normal in Kuwait society. I didn’t plan to bring my family out here while I worked but found it much easier to move out on my own vs begging another expat family to rent me a room.
I really wish they had a FAIR and LEGIT way to gather recent information about an ADULT employed with a decent job trying to rent a living space. The idea that having a family is good enough reference is terrible. I am glad someone was able to help you out like I myself went through.
I tried to make it clear “I DON’T JUDGE ALL KUWAITI”. There are plenty that have come to my aid in the years I have been here and I really am thankful to them.
Dear Kuwaiti Girl: I Feel your pain and i am a Kuwaiti. Female going through the exact same situation and my abusive parents kept hitting my sister with a metal iron on her back, i went everywhere and because of me being a single Kuwaiti female also with my sister we had no luck and no one would rent to us, even when our intentions (niyah) is very pure
, can you please help me out and tell me the place that finally rented to you ? I could really use the help🥺 jazzach Allah khair
the housing sector is messed up in kuwait and it will continue be that way until the government makes some major reforms.
the reason why people don’t complain about discrimination against kuwaitis (which is wrong) is because they are not able to distinguish between the pampered landlords (who are kuwaiti) who can afford to choose their tenants (which could be kuwaiti). in other words, people think the government has decided to favor one set of kuwaitis (landlords) over another (tenants), and who can do anything about that?
why can landlords be so picky? market forces don’t affect them because the state has promised to provide them free/subsidized everything including housing, as well as a very favorable justice system for kuwaiti tenants. as a result, the landlords can afford to keep their apartments empty instead of taking the risk of renting out to kuwaitis.
should it be legal? probably not. but discrimination is so ingrained in kuwait’s culture that the newspapers will report things like “new service available for kuwaitis and foreigners” because writing “new service available” isn’t enough to imply that it’s indiscriminate. how would you regulate this anyway? would you regulate only the advertising? or would you allow people to take landlords to court over (perceived) discrimination?
but that’s only part of the problem. the other parts include lack of good housing, appropriate housing (for single people), poor transport (everywhere), and the fact that landlords are not responsible for checking whether their family-only apartments are being rented out to bachelors.
I do wish they wouldn’t treat ALL bachelors as depraved idiots doing all sort of illegal crap even though they are EXPATS on a freaking work VISA. They are here in Kuwait trying to make money for there family or to pay off old bills. They are responsible enough to qualify to be in Kuwait working and know the risk of letting things get out of hand. Now the Bachelors that are Citizens don’t have much to keep them in line……I have very little sympathy for their attitude and reputation!
In the building I stay, there are some kuwaiti boys owing an apartment, they do not visit often, and I happen to park in their space, that night they showed up, the harris instead of telling us to move the car accomplice the boys to flat my car tiers and when confronted they threaten next time we will remove the tiers. every time they are there there is loud music all night, but no one will say anything but if the we have kids playing the neighbour down stairs will come up to shoo us.
Foreigners Only is very deceptive. In reality and I know this as I have gone through looking for apartments myself and I apologize for saying this but , the foreigners that they are interested in are the white kind.
I am American and my wife is Portuguese but we are not the white type of foreigners that these landlords want in their apartments. When we inquire on the phone almost every time the first question they ask is shounu ginsiya??? You say American and they say welcome. You say any other nationality say Indian for example they say maffi !!
So any ways at the appointed time you show up and that is when the fun begins; the harass looks at you and your wife up and down like aside of beef and goes amreki????? and you nod in the affirmative and he still doubts you coz you dont look like one neither does your wife . That is when he asks to see your ID.
At first it used to be really annoying and insulting and I used to think it aint your business to check my ID but then my wife used to calm me down and say they will eventually get a copy of it anyways so might as well save yourself the grief from the get go.
So out comes the ID’s and soon as our American and European status is confirmed and checked off the list he opens the door.
Then on the way to the apartment the staring still continues and then comes the mentioning of the rent which to a regular Asian expat is probably double if not triple his monthly income. Again the belief being colored Americans and Europeans probably earn far less than their while brethren. When you dont flinch and smile and say OK he grudgingly opens up the house and then gives you the cold shoulder . Dose not t even bother selling the place .. He’s like take a look; you like you talk no like no problem ..Fuck Off
As for Kuwaiti’s its a mixed bag out of 10 decent Kuwaitis you get 3 that end up spoiling it for every one else .. exactly for the same reasons mentioned by others here. Exactly why they dont want to rent to them. No one wants a neighbor who thinks they can do what they want when they want and how they want based on the entitlement of their nationality. Especially Westerners.
If I pay the same rent as he does;then he should follow the same rules. But that doesn’t happen. If I dont pay the rent I get evicted or a case filed against me or worse yet travel banned where all my legal procedures essentially my entire life gets put on hold.
If a local does it cases are filed he still lives in the apartment live his life and when told to move destroys stuff and says kefi and the owner has to foot the bill coz the tenant claimed bankruptcy or something . So why take the chance
Mate what do you mean why take the chance ? Its like saying why take the chance to rent to an Italian, maybe he’s part of the mafia. Why rent to a Mexican, maybe he’s part of a drug ring. Why rent to an African American, maybe he’s in a gang. Why rent to an Arab, maybe he’s a terrorist. Every racial group can get stereotyped (except white ppl because everybody wants them) but discrimination is discrimination and stereotypes are stereotypes!! Do you know how much I was crying my eyes out, ready to die because I was stuck with my abusive family, despite being financially stable, just because I’m a single KUWAITI female nobody wanted to rent to me! It was hard enough to break from my family’s chains because of the sexism of our society let alone not finding rent because of my nationality. It’s not right and you can’t sit there and complain that they looked at you differently for not being white, but still say its better to not take a chance on Kuwaitis.. sorry to say it but that is just very hypocritical.
If I own the property I have all the right to choose who lives in it its my property in the end.
and if you own a restaurant you can also choose to refuse service to black people? asian people? it’s your restaurant so you have the right to choose right?
Essentially yes, I’d lose business because people will stop coming to my place, at the end of the day it’s my time and service and you shouldn’t be allowed to force me to do anything.
yeah except that’s not how life works, it’s not just about you. No one can force me to do anything but that doesn’t mean it’s ok if I kill you. There are laws like the one that will punish me for killing you and ones which protect people from discrimination and racism from people like you.
I know the argument you are using and you are using it in the wrong way. You are using the argument of the Christian baker who refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding. I’ve heard Ben Shapiro make this exact argument, so I’m almost certain that’s what you mean.
There is a big difference, and even Shapiro mentioned it. He was not denying THEM service for being gay. They were allowed to buy any premade cake. He was denying SPECIFICALLY making a gay wedding cake because it went against HIS religious beliefs to make it. There is a difference between denying your service, that you are already doing anyway, to a group of people completely, and denying a specific REQUEST. To use it correctly, you can’t deny black people to your restaurant because that just makes you a complete racist, but you CAN deny to service non-muslims pork or alcohol because it goes against YOUR beliefs, but still service them what you are already making.
Its the same as refusing service for Expats at certain times of the day, Expats having their own queues, no expats for certain jobs, driving licences, taxes and more…
Let it be Mark, you are just adding fuel to a fire which is already up so high.
Last week, I stood at PACI for a new civil ID for my maid, I arrived at 2, took a number, and waiting for 1 hour and 30 mins till my number was called. Why? Because they were serving Kuwaitis first! Not only that, the window which was supposed to be for expats was serving Kuwait’s first.
Discrimination is bad either way… if they don’t want to be discriminated against, then they shouldn’t discriminate against others.
It’s not the same, you aren’t being refused service because of your race or nationality.
Not all but alot of expats are refused service based on various criteria.
Drivers license is the biggest example.
Its not about the salary but its the designation too or a combination or something i am not sure. I mean if an expat can afford to buy and maintain a car then why can he. If he passes the drivers test then why isnt he eligible. I know of a pakistani who owns 4 garages in kuwait but does not have qualifications to support a decent visa status, so he is on a drivers visa.
I mean is the discrimination created to increase the imbalance in the society? is it to feed the corruption.
Its funny, that the citizens are the cause of the discrimination, and the victims too.
They highlight the arrest of an expat for visa trading. but if he made a million kd by doing so, there definitely must be a kuwaiti who made more. Because the fact in kuwait is that, you can do business without kafeel.
Mark your aim at spreading awareness about kuwaitis not being able to easily get rentals is right. But being an expat you should realise that there are alot of issues that the expats are also facing. Do those posts become too controversial for your blog?
If you notice 90% of the people commenting on your blog are bashing kuwait for discrimination.
You might not have been a victim to discrimation, and i am glad you havent faced it if you havent. But i know of my friends who have gone to the traffic department during the alotted timeslot to be confronted at the entrance and told to come tomorrow. I know of a person who was in a motorcycle accident and when the police arrived at the scene, and noticed that the biker was from egypt, he asked him “O, is this your bike. R u sure?. Give me your civil id and drivers license.” after verification, the statement he made was harsh i.e. “isnt the bike too expensive for you to won?”
expats are a victim of racism everyday. Even at work. A fresh grad comes to his first day at work as a supervisor. but a very hard working competitive expat remains as an executive and continues to do his work and revoked of a promotion or raise.
Do you still feel that expats are not refused of service or anything in general?
I think you’ve misunderstood the whole post and my comments here. This post wasn’t about the fact that expats aren’t discriminated in Kuwait, this post was about how Kuwaitis are discriminated against in the housing sector. I also didn’t say there was no discrimination towards expats in Kuwait, I just disagreed with the examples the person gave.
I agree with you that discrimination is bad both ways, and that there is a lot of ways expats are discriminated against. But it doesn’t mean that it’s ok to discriminate against Kuwaitis, too. Not every Kuwaiti discriminates against foreigners, and a tit for tat attitude is immature, especially when talking about racial wars.
At least you (or your family) CHOSE to come here and you can read online before coming the discriminations you will face. You still came so something must be working in your favor better than your home country. Still not saying that the discrimination is ok.
However, this is our country and we are denied a place to live. Imagine being denied a place to live in your own country. Where are we supposed to go? We’re not all rich and can afford to buy infinite land, despite the stereotype.
Its bad that you are denied to rent a home in your own country.
But do you see the root cause.
This era of Kuwaiti’s are so used to discriminating, they dont even spare their own.
This nation has jealousy and hatred installed deep within, which is actually holding the country from development.
I have seen kuwaiti’s eye on their neighbors and want better than them. lol. IN EVERY ASPECT. eg. O the neighbor purchased a Mercedes s 500, kalas i need to have a s 550 AMG. O he got a second wife, Khalas I want a new one probably who looks like a victory secret model.
They are stupidly competitive. They give hugs and kisses while greeting eachother, but they freaking hate them and are waiting to stab eachother if given a chance.
They will never want to help another develop. unless there is an expat in the equation. They would rather help their own than the expat.
So, the only fix. KUWAITI’s need to stop discriminating. Whether the expats or themselves. The day the stop discriminating, the country will begin to prosper.
Kuwait is a country built by immigrants, foreign nationals.
Similar to countries like malaysia, singapore, UAE.etc
What makes us different from other countries, is discrimination. If we were humble and weren’t the discriminating types, I feel for sure we would be in the tier 1 league of developing countries and not tier 1 league for the wrong reasons
My dad used to rent our top two floors out when we were young. The only people that left it trashed and a complete mess were expats/foreigners. He used to have to renovate the kitchens and bathrooms completely! They would never ask permission to remove or add new lighting, doors, bathrooms etc and we were left with a complete mess. When he asked one family to leave, the woman ripped out all lighting fixtures, broke all doors, turned on all the water and let it run while they went on a short break ( my father could not enter to turn off, had to call police). He rented to a European family, an Indian family, a Lebanese family and finally two separate Kuwaiti families . All horrendous experience, except for the kuwait families. They were respectful and he had no issues with them what so ever. He only rented to families not single men, as he had his only family living downstairs. So for those who say landlords only want to rent to expats because Kuwait’s trash the place is a load of rubbish. The truth is they can over charge the expats. I’ve seen expats on Facebook saying their housing budget is 2000 and asking for best locations! What! When I first got married my housing budget was 450. I still can not afford 2000 for a home! This is my families experience with renting for over 20 years. We no longer rent to anyone. When I mention expats in my comment I’m talking about the ones that come here and get paid very very well, not the ones who are barely making it. There are two groups of expats here, the ones making more money that most Kuwait’s and then the rest who struggle like maids, those working in shops etc.
“He rented to a European family, an Indian family, a Lebanese family and finally two separate Kuwaiti families . All horrendous experience, except for the kuwait families.” <—What fantasy world are you living in?!
I am quite sure you got it ALL backwards. EXPATS from any country coming to work in Kuwait no matter how well paid or not do not risk getting the courts involved over rental issues! It is NEVER in the renters favor!
Maybe, just maybe you'll find some random well connected EXPAT with TONS OF WASTA to burn that might do 1 of the things you mention but nowhere to the extent your talking about!
The law's all favor the Kuwaiti owners & the Kuwaiti people. The vast majority of Kuwaiti that rent chose to be argumentative and disrespectful of people's property and time!
“the vast majority of Kuwaiti that rent chose to be ARGUMENTATIVE and DISRESPECTFUL of people’s property and time”
The only person being disrespectful and argumentative here is you. You’re refusing to acknowledge her/his experience– something her family went through on the basis of YOUR beliefs and what you choose to agree or don’t agree with.
An experience is an experience. It’s a chain of event someone goes through irrespective of whether you agree with it or not. It doesn’t take away from the reality of the experience they had.
You really should learn how to think objectively.
Well, there was no need to insult me. I was only explaining our family’s experience. You’ve also implied I’m a liar. I didn’t want to go into more detail but we Had to take the labanese family to court and the European family. Both left Kuwait without paying my father for the damages. He rented because he needed the money. Trust me he wouldn’t have otherwise. Our experience is ours, sorry you don’t like it! Unless you are a Kuwaiti that rents and has experiences with many nationalities, your last 3 sentences are baseless and just for the sake of being argumentative. But again, everyone have their own expertises.
For starters, when the ad saying ‘foreigners only’ they mean white Westerners, so the same shitty rules applies to Arab expats as well. And to add insult to injury, sometimes having a foreign (white) nationality doesnt help if you have an Arab sounding name. I have been turned away at some places i was interested in renting simply because I have an Arab name, even though i have a Western passport.
That said, lets not forget that 100% of the villas and apartments in Kuwait are owned by Kuwaitis and they are the ones creating these rules which may or may not be illegal…
its a sad state of affairs!
Hi Mark
I’ll tell you my experience in renting out my property to Kuwaitis :
1- they don’t pay rent , and I can’t do anything about it.
2- when I ask them to leave, they demand 6 months rent in advance – as it is their legal right.
After losing so much money renting out to Kuwaitis I also adopted the policy of only renting to foreigners.
Why is 6 months rent their right, if I may ask? Thanks.
this is super ridiculous, i am a respectful man with a high positioned job in the financial sector, why can’t i rent in a decent area? why am i forced to rent in shitty place in salmiya or hawally? you know what, i am calling my parliament representative that i voted for regarding this. this is purely stupid, we sign a contract, make it clear any illegal activities would get me evacuated
+1.
Foreigner in your own country is what this is.
+1
You guys need to stop vilifying Kuwaitis, I’m fucking sick of it. I’ve honest to G-d met WAY more expats who are much more rude, bigoted, entitled, showoff-y, judgmental and hateful than most of the Kuwaitis I know.
There is a vast difference between hating something or somethings about a country (which is totally fine) and hating on ALL its people. You guys are doing the latter and seriously you need to look inwards and ask yourselves why you’re here because it’s obvious you have no spine or moral compass. If you hate all Kuwaitis and think all Kuwaitis are bad people, leave.
My mother is Kuwaiti and neither her nor any one of our neighbors or friends is any of the things you guys listed up there.
MARK – do you know how this problem can get solved? In America, before a landlord allows you to rent their place, they do an objective background check on you as well as look at your Rental History and credit score. Instead of relying on lazy stereotypes and downright racism, this will solve the problem.
I know plenty of white folk who are nasty and filthy and who leave apartments in tatters. And likewise I know plenty of Arabs who are respectful and clean. Stop with the stereotypes, everyone is different.
Rental discrimination isn’t exclusively a Kuwait problem though, in Bombay they discriminate against Muslim Indian tenants all the time!
This all needs to stop.
Finally someone to break the complete rant against kuwait and kuwaitis.
Honestly there is so much hatred in this country that has given birth to one too many stereotypes.
I grew up in kuwait, and in the 90’s i have seen how there was no discrimination. It was a land of harmony. Ya there are always a few people to spoil the name of the community. whether they are kuwaitis or non kuwatis.
I have seen westerns who are nice and down to earth and some who think no end of themselves.
I have seen even more lebenase, egyptians, indians and pakistanis in the corporate sector who think no end of themselves. they have some how landed some high profile jobs and have the iq of a 5th grader. They are living their life in overtime and literally have no clue how to secure their jobs apart from manipulation. No wonder kuwaitis are hating on expats because of the selfishness of a few expats.
but that the kuwaitis too arent victims in this case. There are a few who are either prone slack at work and take way too many smoke and coffee breaks, or are way too ambitious to achieve a directors designation that they disregard co-workers because they somehow feel that its their birthright to have expats to work under them. because of which managements avoid to hire kuwaitis because they cant handle work pressure.
Kuwait is a very troubled nation and its all because of a few that the rest have to suffer.
Using blogs and websites to say things they can’t say to your face on the streets. I’m Kuwaiti and I never worked for a Kuwaiti boss during my career. My supervisors were one of the most snobbish, rude, vindictive lot. They make triple our salaries and use their positions to satisfy their whims holding on to their grudges. And those are the kinds no one talks about.
Meanwhile they like to focus on the victimized labor worker and the horrible rude Kuwaiti.
Carry on with your idiocy.
THANK YOU!
I honestly have had much more negative experiences with expats than Kuwaitis especially the ones as you said, are in high positions. They’re more hateful, mean spirited, conniving and vindictive.
Fuck them. I worked for a bunch yes and they really are morally bankrupt in every way.
I think your comments are more of a testament to the ruthlessness that’s often required to land these “high positions” than an expat vs. Kuwaiti “Kuwaiti’s are the real victims” BS you are trying to spew.
+1
This.
I have made such defenses for a long time and I even received backlash for it by expats. They make it sound like Kuwaitis are horrible people when in fact generous, and polite ones exist too! As with every nation you can’t be so judgement about every person. Kuwaits get labeled with so many nasty stereotypes, which is hypocritical because that makes the accuser racist themselves. It doesn’t make them any better. I’ve met far worse personalities in my professional career.
As a kuwaiti myself , ive heard the horror stories when searching for apartments. living next to Kuwaiti tenets themselves are a nightmare ( we dont speak with our nieghbors even ). ive had an apartment where just across from us was a Kuwaiti d3ara ( brothel ) , no joke, they had all sorts of men coming in and out. me horrified after 2 years of yelling and bashing ( no soundproof walls niether) i went back home ( atleast i wont have some guy knocking at our door at 3 am thinking it was the brothels place ).
again , if your a decent family and you dont cause problems , your just a 1 in 20 case. and kuwaitis do leave thier apartments like filth after they leave ( not all but again a needle in a haystack to find someone with ocd ). i dont support discrimination , but these are landlords who have probebly already experianced alot of bad Kuwaiti tenets that they gave up on there being good ones. ( + must have costed him a fortune to clean the mess and holes in the wall !! )
I think I can see your pain in having Kuwaiti families vilified vs expats BUT *The rental market is 1000% controlled by Kuwaiti Citizens!!* The stereotypes being followed are completely in the hands of the Kuwaiti citizen. It does hurt to see your fellow citizen treat you worse than the foreigner who has many more worries than you where rent & job is concerned.
Yes, it’s easier to come on a blog to complain/bash the stereotype of the Kuwaiti renter BUT *it’s being done by Kuwaiti Citizens to Other Kuwaiti Citizens!* The courts are extremely bias against non-citizens. Expats have the fear of losing there Rental, Job & freedom from jail very quickly.
Due to the privilege of being a citizen and general bias in favor of citizens, this favorable area of being an Expat renter and employee is mainly the few things that allow foreigners to survive in Kuwait. The general laws don’t get enforced equally amongst the residents in Kuwait. There is an obvious CASS or Rank type system in kuwait.
When it comes to being a renter and Kuwaiti, this is not an area that heavily favors the Local Citizen. Also being a Kuwaiti worker(not management) is not an area that favors Kuwaiti locals. The hardest workers in general are foreigners in any country. The stereotype for citizens in any country is the fact that the local workforce doesn’t work as hard or feel the pressure to do better and get a pay raise.
You feel like everyone here hates the Kuwaiti but it’s a matter of fairness in our sectors of life in Kuwait the rubs the majority expats the wrong way. Yes, most Kuwaiti in Management with majority expat workforce seem to do very little work and are constantly coming in late and taking many breaks…….so when expats get to that tier of responsibility, they try to emulate what they see the majority local Kuwaiti do.
There isn’t any real forum that will help fix these issues as long as the majority of laws don’t represent any real fairness to ALL RESIDENCE in kuwait. This is a popular blog that people are airing there grievance with no real thought of recourse.
Kuwait wants to employee it’s own people in jobs but the vast majority Kuwaiti citizen just wants to rule over the foreigners in there country any chance they get. I am quite sure foreigners don’t hate the country of Kuwait or it’s people. They just see the arrogance of a few as the norm and spread there disgust to all things that happen to be unfair.
Sure this could be solved if the police and courts properly occomadate Expats vs assuming the worst of non-citizens and doing nothing to curb the bad actions of actual Citizens regardless of wealth & station.
When all is said and done, this whole thing, racism included is in the hands of the Kuwaiti Citizens…..the rest of the expats are at the mercy of the courts and system.
This whole defense of “expat assholes are assholes because they’re trying to emulate Kuwaitis” is a bullshit fallacy.
Just because someone is a dick to someone does NOT mean that that person should be a dick to someone else.
That’s fucked up!
There are many Kuwaiti doctors and professionals out here and they all for the most part graduated from the top schools in the UK and America where there is no wasta and they had to work just as hard as anyone else to get to where they are.
Well,I am sure you have heard the saying “…when in Rome”. The majority of time expats see Kuwaiti is in positions of management and when expats get to similar positions, they do like there local counterpart.
People in every country do the same. When in America or the UK, the Kuwaiti people act like the locals as a means of blending in. Not ALL locals of their country is bad but the bad ones are easily remembered and with how strong the WASTA issue is here in Kuwait…..some people let there power of position go to there head. Something like this happens everywhere in the world.
The Doctors and Lawyers I have seen in this country have all seem professional but I am sure if I worked for them I would see the same issues I see at every company. Wasta & citizenship plays a big issue here more than most places. I don’t doubt the hard work of professionals trained in UK, America & Europe. It’s the general attitude that a random Kuwaiti citizen will treat someone, who is obviously not a citizen, like crap because they assume you have no wasta or importance. Rich people do the same but from the wealth perspective, not from race.
No habeebi, the reason why a lot of expats here act like total dickwads is because they suffer from an inferiority complex.
Kuwaitis are discriminated against in rental housing market and in private employment sector by fellow citizens.
There are many factors that probably contribute but an overriding one in my opinion is about control. It is easier for landlord and employer to exert control and authority over the non Kuwaiti.
Tell me about it, 2nd job in Kuwait. Just got out of a surgery during my probation period and I’m getting stalked and my coworkers are getting threatened if they talk to me in “non-designated” areas.
I’m the only local there, I don’t think I’ll last another month.
omg what? I’m really curious about this. Stalked by who? They need to talk to you in only designated areas why?? So odd.
Exactly. I think the general feeling is the unfairness in most aspects against non-kuwaiti. The renting and jobs favors the foreigner here to live and work in Kuwait. There are some truly awesome Kuwaiti and the bad ones just stick to the mind unfortunately longer.
aaaand the festering haterd comes to a head once more…
Real estate aside, you know its really sad how this local vs foreigner problem is being inherited generation after generation. Its especially depressing when you see kids from different backgrounds who you grew up with eventually get sucked into these discriminatory topics.
Oh well.
The entire country is just for foreigners. And before I get misunderstood… we must distinguish between foreigners who were born and raised here in Kuwait and consider this place as the only home they know, and the foreigners that are now coming to the country,.
Businessmen are realizing now that they can get more money by focusing on the temporary migrant workers. This is bad for the sustainability of the economy. Most decision makers are businessmen making decisions that are based on their very narrow business perspective. They don’t think like statesmen, care about their legacy, or the future of this country.
This is sad.
Very sad.
I have seen grown men weep for where this country is going.
Mark I know of an apartment building that will rent to him. They actually only Rent to cases like this “Respectable single Kuwaiti Men”
Please email me his info or privately give him my email and I will help him out.
I am a single Kuwaiti Female, I come from a very abusive family my sister was beaten up at her back with an iron from our parents, we want to search around for apartment buildings. We were discriminated because of our nationality, Kuwaities not paying rent on time and Me and my sister know the value of money as we would work several jobs and that behavior does not resemble us, I would he honored if you can help us out because we both are respectful Kuwaities that only look for a peaceful life
Please help us out
My hares in Mahboulah once told me they prefer renting to westerners and Indians because they pay rent on time and generally respect the property. Arabs tend to be late on rent, with Kuwaiti’s being the most difficult to deal with. He said often times they don’t pay at all and it takes forever to kick them out. In the end, the problem won’t get resolved until the legal system becomes fair and enforced. No landlord wants to risk having to deal with tenants who act like they own the place.
I feel the only reason why they prefer expats is because they can push them around as they feel convenient.
example.
I move into a building in salmiya block 12, because it was a well maintained slightly upmarket apartment. Little did i know that it was only a show.
once i paid for the apartment and was moving things in, I began to face the issues.
1. basement rented out to some company. So no basement parking. Plus, every other day there is a trailer with a 40ft container in the driveway. so if your car is parked, you are either blocked or are expected to move the car so that the trailer can park to offload.
2. the hares has rented out the staircase to some event management company. so they store their inventory in the emergency exit. so while moving furniture in, we were not allowed to use the stairs (since I live on the 2nd floor, it was easier to move large size furniture through stairs, instead of dismantling).
to make things worse, one day i had to head to out because of an emergency, and I couldn’t use stairs nor the lifts because they are programmed in a very stupid manner, so if 1 lift is halted on a closeby floor, then the other is not usable. and that day there was someone moving into the building.
The haris takes 10kd to wash the car and throw trash. to be honest, he attempts to wash the car 2 – 3 times a month. which mostly destroys the paint on my car.
Overall what i am trying to say is the haris would never be able to do such things if it was a Kuwaiti living in the building.
Its all due to citizen reputation:
There many factors that makes Kuwaities different then Europeans, first we don’t have strict laws and we don’t have laws at all. Second, the government does not care about corruption because it is the source of corruption. Third, so many Kuwaitis are getting paid by government to do nothing.
Now, to know if I can rent for Kuwaiti or not, I should know little about his financial and background history on whether he/she committed any crime or does he have history for breaking stuff in properties…etc. The problem is that the civil id does not give you that much information about the person.
Not all Kuwaitis are the same, and I cannot trust everyone.
I regret staying in an apartment with local tenants. When we were house hunting , we clearly specified that we werent looking for locals staying in the apartment as many of our friends advised so . in short the harris lied
3 months in, and the truth just spilled out. One of them smashed our car, another one keeps parking at our designated parking ,another gets his friends to park right in front of our car- Almost always even after repeated concerns were told to them and these are just the few.
And i could have understood if it was one person. more than one person is entitlement. Guess they all have issues with foreigners 😒
we are still facing issues almost on a daily basis.
What makes it worse is some are actually working for the system-if you know what i mean .We are having a really difficult time And looking to change our apartment to a better ,peaceful and safe housing. We have lived in other middle eastern countries and also beyond this region owing to work ,even lived with local crowd there, but never in such a sad state.
I truthfullycame here to find if anyone has any tips/advises on how to check for a home that doesnt rent to the local crowd/local bachelors even when the harris is lying through his teeth ? Any tips would be helpful?
Please dont tell us to talk to the owner/real estate or harris , we already did it and still no changes to our concerns.