Sharjah: Residents are rushing to renew their tenancy contracts to avoid the August 1 fee increase.
On Thursday, the municipality’s attestation offices were crowded with tenants, even though many of the contracts will only expire at the end of the year.
Khalid Al Shamsi, director of the Rent Regulation Department at the municipality, previously told Gulf News: that the attestation fees for residential tenancy contracts will increase from two per cent to four per cent of the annual rent.
“Fees for attesting commercial tenancy contracts will increase from two per cent to five per cent, while attestation fees for investment contracts will increase from one per cent to three per cent of the annual rent,” he said.
Atiq Siddiqi, who lives in Al Khan, was one of the many people who shuffled through the long lines.
“The crowd is unbelievable. I find it astonishing that people whose contracts have to be renewed at the end of the year should be allowed to add to the already-growing rush. People whose contracts are expiring this month should be given priority,” he said.
The previous fee to attest tenancy contracts for both residential and commercial properties was two per cent of the annual rent, while fees to attest investment contracts was one per cent of the annual fees.
An official at Sharjah Municipality has confirmed that the rush to renew tenancy contracts will significantly fall by Sunday, July 31, as residents want to have the procedure completed before the deadline kicks in.
In a bid to alleviate the burden of renewing tenancy contracts, the municipality announced on Wednesday that within the next two months, it will be mandatory for all concerned parties to carry out the procedure solely online.
In a circular that was issued recently, the civic body said that effective from September 1, 2016, landlords and real estate agents will have to adopt the online tenancy renewal system.
However, new contracts will still have to be registered and attested on paper with Sharjah Municipality.
When contacted by Gulf News, real estate offices in Sharjah welcomed the move and pointed out that many agents have been using the municipality’s e-services to avoid the heavy queues.
“Our branch in Sharjah has been renewing tenancy contracts online for over one year, and it is refreshing to know that it will soon be mandatory for all agents to move online,” said a property manager at Continental Real Estate.
Another property manager said: “Since the e-services were made available over one year-and-a-half ago, our staff have been renewing tenancy contracts online. The only reason for agents to visit the municipality was to attest either new contracts, or for contracts that had significant changes in rent.”
