Barwa Group has decided to increase the rents by 10% for its housing units at Al Sailiya and Mesaimeer with effect from October and upon renewal of the annual contracts of the residents, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported yesterday.
The monthly rent for two-bedroom units will increase from QR3,300 to QR3,630 and that for three-bedroom units from QR3,850 to QR4,235.
A Barwa official said the rent increase was to meet the maintenance operations in the two compounds which contain a total of 1,984 housing units.
The maintenance costs are steadily increasing, especially at the Mesaimeer compound due to some misuse of the units’ utilities and parks. In October 2011, Barwa had increased the rents by 10%, four years after the opening of Mesaimeer compound and two years after the opening of Al Sailiya compound.
The earlier increase was met with objections from a large number of  residents who said they cannot afford it. The Barwa housing programme was announced with a policy to allocate 997 units for persons with an income of less than QR10,000 and  872 units for those with an income of less than QR15,000.
The project was meant to provide houses with all advanced utilities and services and to limit inflation, mitigate the housing crisis and high rate of rents.