What are your (Late Grand Mufti Dr. Nooh al-Qhodah) notes on the Owners and Tenants Act?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
My notes are as follows:
1-In principle, a lease must end at an appointed term. However, as staying in the property lies in the best interest of the tenant, evicting him/her from it at the end of every lease term is a source of inconvenience and, as is known, most city population are tenants.
2-Staying at the property and paying the same old rent harms the owner because the purchasing power of currencies decreases while price are globally the rise globally.
3-The owner of the property might pass through difficult circumstances that make him/her more entitled to use the property than the tenant. Accordingly, it is not reasonable to deprive him/her from using his/her property and look for another with a higher rent.
Based on this, I suggest the following:
1-Forming committees to decide the rent of each property in accordance with the current rent in the market as well as the purchasing power of the JD, and this is binding to both the owner and the tenant.
2-Existence of a legislation that allows increasing the value of the property annually and automatically in line with the rise in prices.
3-Existence of a legislation that requires the tenant to leave the property in case the owner becomes in a situation that makes him more entitled to benefit from it. For example, he/she returned home after long years of living abroad, his son or daughter got married and wanted to stay in that property, in addition to other circumstances. This way, the rights of both the owners and tenants are preserved and the emotional aspect of owner being attached to his/her property is observed. And Allah knows best.