Landlords, agents ignore Rera rule

Landlords and property agents are not following the Real Estate Regulatory Agency's (Rera) directive, that all rental contracts be registered through ejari.com, the authority's online registration system.

"It is not common practice for us to register through ejari, as I believe it is not mandatory," an agent told this newspaper on condition of anonymity. Another realtor's firm, which is leasing new buildings in Discovery Gardens and Intern-ational City, said it has not yet registered any of its rented units with Rera through ejari.com.

"We have never been asked to register the contracts by any tenant. If a client insists we can do it, but the client has to pay the registration fee," the agent added.

The regulatory agency had made it mandatory for either the tenant or the landlord to register the tenancy contract on ejari.com from January 1, 2009 onwards.

The plan was for every landlord and property management company to generate tenancy contracts through ejari.com, thus giving Rera an accurate idea about prevailing rents and values in each area. This in turn was to assist with the development of the comprehensive rental index.

In February, Rera said 209 real estate management companies registered with Ejari and 2,822 lease contracts were submitted. The latest figures are not available.

Rera still maintains that the rent index is based on data collected from ejari.com.

While it is not mandatory for landlords to abide by the index, Rera said it would use it as a reference point during disputes between tenants and landlords.

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