The “Syrian Salvation Government (SSG)” in Idlib province has set rents for all properties in the US dollar or Turkish lira.

On 6 October, the SSG issued decision No. 438, which stated that “the lease contracts certified by a notary are considered executive instruments before the courts’ enforcement services. The commission of owners of real estate offices that undertake the rental and contract-making process is set by not more than half a month of rent, for one time only as long as the tenant remains the same.

The decision stated that the lease term is determined by agreement between the lessor and the tenant for a minimum period of six months, and the tenant is to be evacuated upon breaching the contract terms.

Based on the decision, the lessor party must certify the lease contracts by a notary, municipal councils or local councils, and the contract alone is not legally binding and is under judicial liability.

The SSG considered the relevant courts responsible for determining the rental costs and promised to reassess the value of leased properties in case of any dispute between the two parties of the contract.

The SSG also repealed all previous decisions that contradict the provisions of its new resolution.

On 2 July, the SSG in Idlib established a “real estate documenting office” in the building of the local administration and services ministry, after issuing a set of instructions to regulate the lease contracts in the province under a decision issued by the SSG’s prime minister’s office.

During the last two years, Idlib governorate witnessed a house rental crisis due to the increasing demand for rents following the arrival of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) to Idlib from inside and outside the province.

The cost of housing rentals has risen since the beginning of the current year, which exceeded the average of 200 US dollars due to displacement waves into the cities and countryside of Idlib, according to what was monitored by Enab Baladi.

The public relations officer of the SSG’s ministry of development and humanitarian affairs, Mohammed Ghazal, confirmed in a previous talk with Enab Baladi that there were attempts to control the city’s rental prices.

Ghazal pointed out that the SSG has counted the residential blocks, houses, and farms in two main areas in Idlib and the western Aleppo countryside in an attempt to secure new houses.

He added that there are houses ready for occupation; however, their owners are absent, in addition to houses that need to be maintained and reconstructed.