Do you know the feeling of arriving in a new country, instantly finding a place to call home and happily sitting back in your armchair stroking a cat and binge-watching Netflix’s new hit series? Me neither! This is the stuff of fairytales and has never happened to me or to anyone I know.
So, what DOES happen when you try to find someplace to live after your big move to the Middle East?
Qatar is a wonderful country (so wonderful, in fact, that after an attempt to live somewhere else for 8 months, I had to come back to Doha because I missed it too much!), but navigating its real estate market is tricky and can easily make your life miserable.
When I came to live in Qatar many years ago, we had it even worse. None of the super helpful property search platforms (such as hapondo, hint hint!) existed yet, and you usually had to resort to driving around or calling people who barely spoke English and advertised sketchy, half-legal properties in a local newspaper.
And although it got better in time, it’s still a major struggle.
During my time in Doha, I’ve lived in 6 completely different places, including apartment buildings, flats in partitioned villas (this is illegal now, don’t do it!), and a compound villa (100% of it, hallelujah!). I’ve also set all kinds of rental budgets, anywhere between QAR 3,500 and QAR 11,000+, depending on my family’s financial situation. I do consider myself a seasoned property hunter and happily share my experience and lessons learned with anyone interested enough to listen!
So what are, in my humble opinion, the most common reasons for frustration while looking for a place to stay in Qatar? And what can you do to overcome them?
Complete and utter chaos on property search websites and Facebook groups!
Some properties might have been rented already, some agents are notorious for not picking up their phones, many ads don’t include any photos or photos don’t reflect the actual condition of the property. You might be forced to visit a place based on one blurry photo. Of a floor. With someone’s foot in the frame.
What can you do?
Use only well-established property rental platforms for your search. The admins do their best to make sure that all listings are up to certain standards. The unique algorithm used on hapondo favors properties with informative descriptions & high-quality photos. This gives the real estate agencies extra incentive to do their best and upload superior listings.
Having to deal with all the hidden charges, that miraculously appear once you show interest in a property.
Suddenly, it turns out that the agent wants half a month commission for doing as little as sending you a location map so that you can go and check out the place. Or they inform you that you will have to cover the cost of major maintenance. Or tell you that you need to pay a deposit in cash, which gives you a sneaky suspicion that you won’t see any of that money again.
What can you do?
Here, again, transparency is key. Always ask about any charges before you even see a property (if a dishonest agent knows you like it, they might try to “milk you” for extra money). If you have a reason to suspect they might still try to squeeze something out of you, ask for a list of charges, in writing.
It’s not clear from the beginning how much you’ll have to pay once your contract is up and you decide to leave.
I’ve experienced a situation where a landlord wanted to deduct 2,000 QAR from our deposit for re-painting a small apartment! Overcharging for end-of-contract maintenance is, unfortunately, quite common.
What can you do?
Before signing a contract, ask for a written permission to take care of all end-of-contract maintenance yourself. Most landlords won’t mind it at all – in the end it’s less headache for them. That’s what I always do, to avoid being overcharged. And if you’re bored, you could even do most of it yourself!
Agents renting only to certain nationalities.
It goes without saying that big, respectable real estate agencies would never do anything like that. Small ones, on the other hand, practice this surprisingly often. This has actually happened to me and my husband a couple of years ago.
The owner of an agency came while we were viewing the property to “check us out”, because (something that he admitted himself) we were not representing a certain nationality that he would normally consider for tenants. I also know for a fact that there are at least 2 compounds out there that will refuse to rent you a villa if you don’t fall under a category of a “Western expat”.
What can you do?
The question is: do you really want to do anything about it? I mean, would you like to live in a place where you’ll never feel entirely welcome? Or spend your money to support a landlord or agent who behaves in such a way? My advice is: move on, there are plenty of amazing properties for rent out there!
The bottom line
I hope you have more clarity and confidence now to go out there and find yourself a place to call home! And in case you are wondering if I’m sponsored by hapondo…
I kind of am, in the best possible way: I work here! 😊
As an expat who had struggled for years with finding the right place to stay in Qatar, I strongly support an initiative to create a home-grown property search platform, such as hapondo. And when I was offered an opportunity to actually help running it – I jumped on the bandwagon faster than it would take you to say “help me find a house!”. Because working with people who are truly on a mission to improve house hunting experience for others is the best.