By Abdelaal A Khalil Legal Consultant
Apartments in a new building were offered for rent at rates lower than the market rates, but a prospective tenant found that the owner was a company that had leased the property for five years and its contract allowed it to sublet apartments. The lessor demanded advance payment of a year’s rent, with the contract to be renewable automatically for a similar period. The payment for the following year was to be made by post-dated monthly cheques. When you pay a year’s rent in advance, is the contract renewed automatically? Are there any special conditions governing subletting?
We recommend that the questioner check the ownership of the property first. Regarding rent, the principle is that the tenant pays the amount in advance, usually by monthly cheques. No law prevents payment of a year’s rent in advance.
Advance payment of a year’s rent is usually demanded when the lessee is offered some benefit, such as a reduction in rent.
In case of a renewable contract, the lessor shall notify the tenant a month in advance if he wants to terminate the contract. Civil law No. 22/2004 indicates that the lease expires by the end of the period specified in the contract, with no need to notify the tenant to evacuate the apartment, unless there is an agreement to extend the lease. The lessor has to notify the tenant if he wants to renew the contract with new conditions, such as an increase in the rent. The tenant’s continuance in the apartment is considered approval of the extension on new terms.
I recommend the subtenant specify the full duration of the contract in the lease agreement to avoid any possible disputes.
My brother came to Qatar in 2008 and started working for a company as a cable technician. After six months, the company told him that it would pay him only half his salary as it had no work for him. My brother did not agree, but at the end of the month, he was paid just QR388, which was not enough for him to sustain himself or to send money home. He complained to the company’s manager, who said he could not help.
My brother left the company and started working with another firm without permission from his previous employers, who handed over his passport to the police. He is working illegally in Qatar. For more than five years he has not gone home. Now, the previous employers are calling him and asking if he wants to work with them again. They say they will renew his residence permit. Is it possible to renew the residence permit after four years? What is the fine for this? Please tell me what he should do.
Work relations are covered by labour law No. 14/2004, which says that the employer should provide the employee a job and everything necessary to do the assigned work. If the employee cannot perform his duties for reasons beyond his control, he is deemed to have performed his job and deserves all benefits arising from his work. The company stopping its operations is no reason for cutting his salary by half. Rather it is a reason for termination of the work contract, which results in the employer sending the employee back to his country or transferring his sponsorship to another employer who can fulfil the contractual obligations.
Concerning the company’s plan to resume work and its willingness to correct the worker’s status by withdrawing its complaint against him and renewing his residential permit, this can be done only by applying to the authorities and paying the due fines, including the fine for not renewing the residence permit, which is QR10 per day for the period of delay.
I advise the questioner to positively respond to the company’s offer to correct his legal status. After his legal status is settled, the worker can apply for his dues. If the company refuses to pay, he can approach the courts because the company is not fulfilling its obligations under the contract.
If the company does not fulfil its obligations, he can approach the Ministry of Interior for transfer of his sponsorship to another firm.
The Peninsula
Legal advice:
Transfer of lease and subtenancy
From Civil law No. 22/2004:
The tenant has the right to transfer the lease fully or in part, unless the agreement says otherwise. However, if the property is rented for a factory or shop and the tenant wants to sell the same, courts may, in spite of a clause in the rent agreement preventing this, allow continuation of the rent agreement if the buyer gives a sufficient guarantee and no harm is caused to the lessor.
In case of transfer of the lease, the new lessee assumes all rights and obligations arising from the lease. The original tenant remains a guarantor of the new lessee for fulfilment of the obligations.
In case of subletting, the relationship between the original tenant and the subtenant remains subject to the provisions of the contract they have signed. The subtenant is obliged to fulfil the commitments of the original lessee.
