By Sanaullah Ataullah
DOHA: Civic crackdowns on illegally partitioned villas have brought the activity to a near halt.
Market sources say the situation has led to shortage of affordable housing that serves mostly low-income expatriate families and single workers.
It is feared that the greedy middlemen in the illicit business may take advantage of the shortfall to increase the rents. A major reason the unscrupulous elements are unable to partition villas without civic approvals is that the small contracting firms that thrived on the unlawful activity are unwilling to do the work anymore due to what sources say are prohibitive fines.
The municipalities have increased vigilance and agile inspectors are always on the move, trailing construction materials transported on trucks at the slightest suspicion and zeroing in on any illegal construction activity. The municipalities have cracked down on hundreds of illegally partitioned villas across the country, triggering fear among middlemen, say sources.
A company caught partitioning a villa or an apartment without legal approvals can be slapped with a minimum fine of QR40,000, one source familiar with the illicit trade said. Many illegally partitioned structures still exist on the sly and the middlemen managing them are said to be itching to raise the rents. Space is rarely available in such structures. A single room in an illegally partitioned villa or in an annex built in a villa compound which was available for up to QR1,800 monthly rent, may now command up to QR2,000 to QR2,200.
And two-room and three-room sets attract rents varying from QR3,000 to QR4,500.
The takers are mostly limited income expatriate families and those low-income single workers who get their wives here on either visit or work visas. There are some limited-income expatriates who manage to get their wives here on work visas and they are hired by companies as receptionists, computer operators. Those with less education manage to land jobs in cleaning companies as women-only schools, government offices and bank branches must get female cleaners. Municipal approvals are hard to get to partition a villa as one must submit a whole design of the proposed alterations made by an engineering consultancy. It is also an expensive and time-consuming affair. If a villa partitioned illegally can involve an expense of QR80,000 for instance, the amount would double in the case of approved changes.
The Peninsula
