Soaring rents and a dedication to saving money have forced many expatriates in the Kingdom, especially many from India and Pakistan, to physically partition their apartments so as to rent out the new space and lessen the impact of high rents on their pocketbooks.

“Landlords often increase their rents and that forces us to take on lodgers,” said Mustafa Noor Al-Deen, a Sudanese resident of Jeddah. “If we do not agree to pay a rent increase, the landlords tell us to leave our apartment so he can bring in someone who will agree.” 

In some cases, renters have actually constructed a concrete wall to create an entirely new apartment. The wall is a burden on the building’s infrastructure as is the addition of new inhabitants in a space not designed to accommodate them, but the leaseholder is faced with a choice of vacating the apartment or learning to live in a divided one.

“Renters who build a cement wall inside their apartments to share their flats with others do not violate the Kingdom’s housing law. The municipality does not punish landlords who allow renters to build a cement wall as long as it does not exert a strong impact on the infrastructure of the building,” Chairman of the Contractors’ Committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Eng. Abdullah Radwan, told Arab News.

Not only tenants divide apartments for economic reasons. Landlords also look to cash in on the high demand for apartments in the city by partitioning large apartments in order to take on more paying tenants.  Such tampering with apartments, however, usually has a detrimental affect on the standard of living of those living there.

Sameer Taha, an Egyptian national living in a three-story building in Jeddah, complained about the impact of living in a building in which many apartments have been divided to increase occupancy. “Because of the large number of residents in the building, we often have water shortages and suffer from a reduced level of cleanliness in the building as a whole,” he said.

Sameer has resisted taking on roommates even though he now pays an annual rent of SR30,000. “If the landlord decides to raise the rent, I will have to look for another place,” he said. An Indian resident, who asked to remain anonymous,, said he was forced to divide his apartment to be able to afford the rent. “This is a perfect way to face the increasing rent prices,” he said. “I do not see any logic in renting a large apartment because my stay in the Kingdom is temporary. There is no need to live in an expensive building as long as your stay here is not permanent.”

He said that he used to pay SR25,000 in annual rent for his apartment, but after dividing it, he pays only SR12,500 for two rooms and a bathroom. “I am now saving more money which will enable me to reduce the duration of my stay here,” he said.