I came to vomit my boredom today. So much so that we may have been promoted(!) to the office of outlaw in Bahrain at this very time.. Ok, I exaggerated a bit, but we’re running into a big problem.. Even though I stay away from every situation that will cause me to be deported because I have been in the tourist position for 10 months, somehow things come and find us.. Yes, we are in trouble with the first host in Bahrain. He threatens to report us to the police. Who knows, maybe he did; maybe he’s getting ready to sue us.
Then let me tell you the story from the beginning.. In the article MOVING TO BAHRAIN AND HOME DETAILS, I mentioned that when we rented our first house in Bahrain, I was not here and Uğur took care of everything.. Now, let’s go back to those days, namely November 2017-January 2018…
Meeting the Realtor
While looking for a house in Bahrain, Uğur made a deal with a real estate agent named Muhammed and with his guidance. visited several houses together. Since he was staying at a hotel in Saudi Arabia at that time, he had to take the fastest way to the house.. In Bahrain, he has neither the chance to tour the houses for a long time nor the time to do a detailed real estate market analysis.. Meanwhile, another real estate agent named Khalifa was involved in the process of looking for a house with Mohammed.. Uğur approved the 3-5 houses that Khalifa showed him and gave a deposit of 100 dinars.
We learned later: In Bahrain, the landlord pays the commission, not the tenant, but the landlord.. That’s why you don’t have to negotiate with real estate agents, and it doesn’t matter which realtor you go with, of course.. We will be in contact with Khalifa on all matters related to the house, such as arranging the contract to be signed with the landlord, completing the deficiencies of the house, getting the rent coming and going every month.. (The system is the same in our new house.. We do not interact with the landlord. Our only interlocutor, including the issue of renting, is the real estate agent.)
The rent of the house is 400 dinars per month; At the beginning of each month, Khalifa will come and take the rent.. At the first stage, a 2-month advance rental fee and a deposit of 400 dinars were requested.. Since Uğur gave his 100 dinars as a deposit in advance, he paid the remaining amount in full and the contract was prepared as Inclusive, that is, all inclusive.. Electricity, water, internet, municipality fee (monthly municipality fee), apartment attendant fee etc.. All additional expenses related to the house are included in the rental price.. But there are some limits on energy consumption; electricity consumption should not exceed 20 dinars per month.. At the end of the year, the total electricity bill will be divided by 12, if the monthly usage limit exceeds, we will make an additional payment.
We later learned: Municipality fee is a tax like a tax paid to the government for each house. fee. If the resident is from Bahrain, this fee is not charged.. However, if the landlord rents the house to a foreigner, 10% of the rent is added to the electricity bill every month.. So, how does the state find out that a foreigner lives in that house? The tenant has to make a declaration of address when applying or renewing a residence permit (CPR).. After the address declaration is made, Municipality fee starts to be added to the electricity bill in the house.
Of course, we do not know about such details until we leave the house.. During the second home search process, we realized that knowledgeable real estate agents ask at the point when you come to the stage of holding the house: Will you use the address in CPR? If the answer is yes, he arranges the rent in the contract accordingly so that they pay less the municipality fee.
When did the trouble start?
When the agreement is reached on all issues and the signing stage is reached, the landlord And finally it came out: Ms. Fatima. We rented our first house in Bahrain after Uğur and Fatima mutually signed the lease agreement, which was prepared in Arabic from start to finish.. Everything is fine, until I come.
Since she used the lucky house like a hotel, she naturally could not see the troubles or deficiencies.. He didn’t want to deal with what he saw either because it’s not that easy to set a joint day with Khalifa.. Looks like he’s a bit of a slacker. We were only able to solve our minor problems, such as the balcony door and a few windows not being locked, after I arrived.. Frankly, we didn’t dwell on it too much, because there is no theft problem anyway, even if the doors are left open.
We found out later: Our landlady, Fatima, was actually Khalifa’s wife.. This part sounded like a lot of gossip, but the man rented his wife’s house to us There is no problem for us, but we still do not understand why they kept this information hidden during the rental process.
But there is another issue that puts us in real trouble: Internet. I wish we had known before signing the contract that the host provides an internet with a quota of only 10 GB per month, but unfortunately we realized after I arrived.. I fill this quota in 2 days as I work at home all day. When it comes to evening, when we say series and movies, it is not possible for us to have this internet.. This has to change!
We talked to Khalifa and explained our problem well; We told us that this internet will not be enough, we need to increase the quota, we can add the price difference to the rent.. Reply from Khalifa: “No. This modem has internet. We can’t increase it any more.” Of course, we were not convinced by this answer, so we investigated how the other residents in the apartment found a way.. Who is enough for 10 GB Internet??? Anyway…
As a result of our research (I mean research, asking the apartment worker who doesn’t speak English :)) we learned that every house in the apartment has a wired internet connection, and it is necessary to start a subscription to use it.. But unfortunately we couldn’t convince Khalifa and his wife to subscribe after hours of ranting.. The strangest part is that this issue made them panic a lot.
Here’s how; subscription requires CPR and we don’t have CPR yet. It doesn’t matter though, because what needs to be done is to start a subscription on behalf of the host.. But as soon as this issue came to the fore, voices began to rise and Fatima, whose voice had not been heard until now, stepped in.. He claimed that there were 7 subscriptions registered to his name, he could not get more subscriptions, this was the upper limit.. “Then let’s apply with someone else’s CPR.” we said, they got up well. If we start a subscription with someone else’s CPR, the electricity and water subscriptions will automatically change, which will also affect the future bill!
We later learned: One CPR can be unlimited subscription , there was no upper limit.
As a result, they did not care about our victimization one bit, and they vehemently opposed every solution we offered.. We are left with no choice but to change house.. Depressed and angry over the speeches, we searched for a house on the internet, with our non-existent internet
Searching for a new house
We looked for a house, but at a time when our main priority was to adapt to life abroad, over and over again Since we did not want to spend time moving, it was a more logical option to find a solution to the internet issue ourselves.. Uğur started a wireless modem subscription using his colleague’s CPR. It may not be familiar to all of you as there is no existing system in Turkey yet.. A hand-held modem that works with SIM Card provides 4G internet connection in places where the phone draws.. (Those who are curious can search under the name of wi-fi egg or portal wi-fi.)
We gave up on moving for that period, but when our contract expired, we decided to leave the house because when we checked the house ads, we actually ignored the opportunities provided by the rent of our house. on the front, we noticed that it was quite high. Houses in a more central location, with extra features such as a swimming pool and gym in the apartment, and in much better condition, were already around 400 dinars.. If we take into account that there is a bargaining share in the apparent prices, we should have given 350 dinars to the house we were in.. But once the contract is signed, we are not in the mood to make any changes anymore.. The only change we made was this: We returned the modem in the house because we no longer need the internet provided by the host.. We deducted the 10 dinars paid for him from the rent and continued to pay 390 dinars to the house in the following months, and this issue was closed forever.
Truce period
We arrived until July without any other problems.. In the meantime, let me point out: Uğur and I both act very meticulously in cases where we owe money, such as credit card or rent payments.. As we do not pay anything late, we will prepare our payment plan 2 weeks in advance because we feel like we have a burden as long as we have it in our hands and in our minds.. We continued to show the same meticulousness here as well.. For example, if we are going to be abroad on the 1st of the month due to travel, instead of paying the rent on the 2nd of the month, we will pay the rent on the 25th of the previous month before leaving.. “We are not at home that day, we will give it to you the next day.” we don’t say. In this way, we will both be at ease and not give the other party any material against us.
Khalifa liked this approach of ours, of course, and it quickly melted the ice between us.. Every time he talks to me he says, “Are you okay? Do you need anything?” he didn’t miss his questions. ha! “There is.” would it meet our needs? Probably not but even having a positive dialogue at least bodes well for a country where you are an immigrant.
What was I saying? It’s July… In July, it’s time for us to apply for CPR, and it’s already passed.. At the stage of collecting the documents, our friend Khalifa again fell for our work because among the requested documents, there was a photocopy of the CPR of the landlord.. After a week of texting regularly, Fatima finally called back and asked why we wanted CPR.. When he learned that we would use it in the CPR application, he sent the photocopy, but on the other hand, he kept telling us that we should definitely not go to the municipality.. We do not understand, why do we go to the municipality out of the blue? Our business is with the immigration office. Anyway…This matter was settled and it was closed.
The smell of hike
By the way, Khalifa said that the rent will be 500 dinars in the new term, if we want to stay at home, we need to inform 3 months before the end of the contract. , he started saying that according to him he will find tenants and start showing the house. Now let’s examine the absurdities in this sentence in turn:
First of all, it is never acceptable for us to be 500 dinars in the new period, while even the rent we have already paid is very high.. Still, “The market has changed, the ads on the internet are fake, or we can’t find other homes that accept dogs.” We assumed that we would continue in this house by considering all the bad scenarios like and we decided to investigate the matter a little, since the attitudes of our landlord and real estate agent at the beginning of the year did not give us any confidence.. This time we’re out of the Bangladeshi apartment guard, don’t worry. Uğur asked both his friend living in Bahrain and the human resources in Saudi Arabia about everything.
First; homeowners could not raise according to their own mind, the rate of increase could be 10% at most.. So if we didn’t investigate, he would try to give us a 25% raise.. Latter; never had the right to show the house to anyone else until the contract expired.. Even if he had it, I wouldn’t let him believe it anyway. If I were Saudi rather than Turkish; If my head was covered instead of uncovered, could I bring a foreign man to my house or could he come himself? Never!! Couldn’t even offer. It’s called taking advantage of our convenience.
What did he do when we conveyed this information to Khalifa? He said that he would make the new rent 450 dinars without even making a sound.. However, since we were extremely irritated by this situation, we made up our mind to do what we should and leave the house, and we conveyed our decision in the last month, at the beginning of October.. Hearing our firm decision, Khalifa could not dissuade us from our decision, although he insisted that we are a good tenant, that we paid the money on time, and that he insisted that we stay at home in exchange for a further reduction in the rent.. In our eyes, Khalifa and Fatima were the ones who tried to deceive us at every opportunity they got.
To give the deposit or not, that is the question!
And let’s come to when things get ugly… we will move into our new house on the 31st of October, hand over the key to Khalifa on the same day and get our deposit back; this is our plan. Khalifa says he will first ask the electricity administration for the annual consumption fee, after checking it he will give the deposit. ok, no problem. That’s our deal anyway. If we have an average consumption of more than 20 dinars, it can be deducted from the deposit, but there is no point in prolonging the process.. The date we’re going out is certain, we should prepare a few days in advance so that we don’t get late to get the money.. We forward them exactly to Khalifa.
The evening of the delivery day, Khalifa arrived with the electricity bill in his hand.. They argued with Uğur for 45 minutes, I won’t go into details, but the story is roughly as follows: Khalifa, let alone paying the deposit back, argued that we are making a very serious consumption and asked for money on top of it.. When Uğur examined the bill, he saw that our monthly consumption was 8 dinars at the most (and he went crazy :)). He realized that the amount that appeared extra on the invoice was an old debt, and he absolutely refused to make any additional payments.. As you can see, there was no conclusion after the long discussion that evening.
Two days later, the expected news came! Khalifa said we were right and he’d give the deposit back (thank god!) but this time that payback day never came.. Not responding to our messages, not making phone calls… Now we’re starting to get really angry.. Ugur told Khalifa that he is someone who is constantly deceiving us, trying to steal our money, etc.. We couldn’t stop him from writing. The matter was starting to get unpleasant.
Finally, the fight was loud, we made it clear the day he would give the money, but the figure he was talking about was 300 dinars.. However, the deposit amount is 400 dinars! I specifically wrote above that when we approved the house, Uğur gave a deposit of 100 dinars.. However, this detail was not included in the contract.. Therefore, Khalifa does not accept 400 dinars.. Come get crazy!!! Fortunately, Uğur never risks such things.. He took a separate document for the deposit he paid and kept it. When he showed Khalifa the proof, wouldn’t he say that this time he was convinced, “I only have 300 dinars, then I will give it next week.” saying. Anyway, friends, let me not prolong it… Again, after messages, unreachable phones, we finally got our money.. Is it over? No!
When did we become guilty?
A few days later, a message from Khalifa: “We investigated why the electricity bill was high.. There is an additional fee due to foreigners living in the house.. (He’s talking about the municipality fee) So you have to pay for it.. Come on, let’s talk.” From this point on, it’s really hard for people to put on all their manners, but I think we did our best, we managed to continue without swearing We explained to Khalifa nicely that the contract was all inclusive and that the landlord had to cover the fees.. But the man is the rasp of a lifetime! He accused us of using his home address in his CPR application. Supposedly, we said we would not use the address, but we did not keep our word.. Don’t they say to the man, “We cannot apply without a copy of your wife’s CPR.. How could we have applied without your knowledge?”. Before we even wrote this, the message you guessed came from Fatima: “We will report you to the police.”
We don’t know if they were bluffing or for real, but this sentence was enough to spoil all our fun.. Maybe it was written to intimidate us, maybe it was really a complaint to the police.. After all, a wolf fell inside us.. “I wish we were in Turkey.” Although we did not come to the point of saying, we could not help but think that; If we were in our own country, there would be a lot of experienced people to consult and get ideas.. We already knew what was legal and what was forbidden, and we acted accordingly.. Now, even if we are right in a Middle Eastern country, it is not clear whether the police will find us right or punish the locals for humiliating them.. Who knows, maybe we misunderstood something, the man was right to ask for money… But everyone we asked gave the same answer: The contract clearly and clearly states that the landlord must pay the municipality fee! So, as far as we understand, the summary of the matter is as follows: Fatima has not made any notification to the municipality in order not to give extra municipality fee.. He made it look as if they were living in the house.. The rent is already taken away from the hand, the spirit of the municipality does not hear.. Whenever Uğur applies for CPR and gives the rental agreement to the immigration office, then it is understood that there is a foreigner staying at home and the municipality fee is added to the electricity bill.. Khalifa and Fatima also said, “This bill is not normally this high, it went up because you are foreigners.. You have to pay the difference.” he comes to us.. We also do not accept. That’s the thing.
Let me get to the point… We’ve decided not to do anything about it.. We heard that the Bahraini police were not very functional either.. If he complained or filed a lawsuit against us, “Let the competent units decide.” we said. Although we try not to worry about it for now, we are actually quite worried inside.. Even if it doesn’t happen, it’s extremely disturbing when someone says they’re going to report you to the police.. Things we haven’t heard of in our lives… Let’s see what time will tell.
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