Many of these tenants have complained that the Real Estate Development Fund is not taking adequate steps to address their problems, forcing them to approach the Ministry of Commerce and various courts as the only alternative to redress their grievances. They demand that the owners of the apartments be forced to set up special offices to deal with problems such as periodic maintenance as well as those pertaining to water tanks, disposal of sewage, technical failures of elevators and the like, according to a report in Al-Eqtisadiah business daily.

Several prominent figures in the real estate sector have urged the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Justice to take action toward addressing problems and settling disputes that often break out between tenants and landlords. They underscored the need for the formation of societies for owners of real estate units as per the provisions of the concerned law that is yet to come into force. They also urged the authorities to expedite implementation of the law in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice.

A large number of Saudi citizens, especially the young and those with limited income, have turned to lease residential apartments under the scheme. These groups are unable to buy plots of land to construct houses or villas of their own, especially in the wake of the rising real estate prices.

As a result, there has been tremendous demand for buying residential apartments under the scheme in various parts of the Kingdom, notably in Riyadh. However, some people are hesitant to buy such apartments, due to their reservations with regard to the quality of the product. They are wary of not falling prey to the greed of some developers who allegedly fail to construct buildings with the required quality and standards. There have been complaints about construction defects that surfaced a few years after completion of the building. There have also been thousands of petitions in front of courts following disputes between landlords and tenants on the issues of after-sale maintenance and service. This is mainly attributed to the absence of an effective law to address these problems, according to realtors.

Hamad Al-Mousa, head of the board of directors of Hamad Al-Mousa Real Estate Company, said that several problems existed between tenants and landlords. “This is mainly caused by the delay in implementing the law to form a federation of realtors among whom after-sales services are common. The Ministry of Justice should prevent the attempt on the part of landlords to evict tenants of apartments under the scheme before formation of a federation of owners,” he said, adding that these attempts lead to various other problems between tenants and landlords, most often leading to litigation.

Faisal Al-Dakheel, an expert on real estate markets, noted that several people who wanted to buy residential apartments under the lease-to-own scheme now have reservations about it. “This is because of apprehensions about possible involvement in disputes with the owners in the absence of an effective law to protect their rights,” he said.

Some tenants drew attention to the fact that there is no law that forces the owners to pay the monthly charges for common services, such as the salary of the guard, maintenance costs and payment of water and sewage bills. They also noted that they have no recourse to any agency to redress their grievances with regard to problems that may arise with landlords.