The committee of the Union of Associations in the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)  proposed solutions to the problem of high housing rents in the areas under the AANES control and organized a working mechanism for the real estate offices there.

The committee is an institution that regulates commercial activities in the markets and all internal trade-related works, including shops and real estate offices.

On 14 January, Hawar News Agency cited the committee’s management member, Doran Anz, who talked about the said solutions.

The proposals call for preventing owners from renting their properties by themselves and obliging them to conclude leasing transactions in real estate offices. The entrusted real estate office would then arrange the lease contract with the lessor’s consent.

The lease contract should be in line with the model adopted by the real estate offices union, certified by the relevant authorities, and for a period that does not exceed one year. The administrative units (local councils) are responsible for writing down all necessary information regarding the leased property and its updates whenever there is a change. The administrative units must supervise the leasing transaction.  

Anz pointed out that contracts concluded since August 2020 are signed by many parties, including the municipalities, the local councils, and the real estate affairs office affiliated to the internal security forces. These procedures aim to enforce the established security measures before leasing the property and that the signed contract is the only document deemed valid.

The agency cited Anz as saying, “these contracts are operative in all areas of northern and eastern Syria. All real estate offices of the property union are obliged to comply with these contracts, which will be adopted in the coming days in all real estate offices in the northeastern region.”

The proposals set specific amounts as monthly rents, taking into account the conditions and quality of the house offered for rent.

The monthly rent is set to be between 25,000 and 50,000 Syrian pounds (SYP = between 9 – 17 USD) for smaller houses, while the rent for an average house must be between 50,000 and 75,000 SYP (17- 25 USD).

A super-deluxe house’s rent is required to be between 125,000 and 150,000 SYP (43 – 50 USD).

The committee asked for imposing a fine on the lessor if there were any complaints by the tenant upon being exploited by the house owner. The fine would be twice as much as the lessor asked from the tenant, in addition to imprisonment should the offense be repeated. 

“The proposals are aimed at preserving the rights of the tenant and the lessor. They will benefit the residents and the real estate offices alike in terms of organizing the real estate offices’ work and reducing exploitation,” according to Anz.

The northeastern Syrian regions are experiencing a marked rise in house rents due to increasing demand for homes after the arrival of large numbers of displaced persons, the devaluation of the Syrian pound, and the overall high pricing of everything.