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Doha Events 2011
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Legal consultations Thursday, 18 November 2010 02:47
Question: An investor is asking about the rules and conditions of investment in Qatar and if there must be a Qatari partner with the foreign investor?
Answer:
Foreign investors may, by a resolution issued by the Minister of Economy and Trade, have more than 49% up to 100% of the project capital in the fields of agriculture, industry, health, education, tourism, development and exploitation of natural resources, energy or mining, provided that these investments shall be in compliance with the development strategy in the State and according to the project priorities that achieve the best exploitation of the raw materials available at the national level as well as the exporting industries using modern technology, in addition to the projects that nationalize famous world industries and the projects caring and qualifying national staff.
Foreign investors are prohibited to invest in the fields of banking, insurance, trading agencies and purchase of real estates.
Question: A tenant said that he, with other people, rented a property including five apartments five years ago and the contract duration is one year renewable automatically without objection of any party. The tenants were astonished by the landlord’s warning to evacuate the property under a pretext of maintenance in spite of the fact that the property is in good condition and the required maintenance is paints for the external walls of the property which does not need evacuation. The landlord also rejected to receive the monthly rents although the lease contracts expire on 31/10/2010. What is the provision of the Law in this matter, knowing that we feel that this dispute is a mere pretext for the landlord not to renew the contract?
Answer:
Accordingly, the tenant may not object to the landlord in making the maintenance.
Regarding the landlord rejection to receive the rental value, the said Law states that the tenant shall pay the rent determined in the contract fully to the landlord within maximum seven days from the due date under a receipt proving the rental value. Should the landlord reject to receive the rent and give discharge bond, the tenant, before the elapse of seven days from the date of the landlord refraining, shall have the right to notify the landlord under a registered letter to the landlord address mentioned in the contract to receive the rental value within seven days. In case the landlord did not receive the rent within this period, the tenant within the next week shall deposit the rental value with the Rent Dispute Settlement Committee’s treasury without fees. This deposit is considered as a payment of the rent in the set time. The tenant shall notify the landlord with this action in a registered letter to the latter’s address mentioned in the lease contract.
Regarding the renewal of the lease contract duration, Lease Law states that the lease contract ends with its expiry of the set duration. Should the contract duration expire and the tenant still using the leased property without landlord’s objection, the contract is considered as it is renewed for similar duration with the same conditions.
Therefore, we advise the tenants to negotiate with the landlord in order to renew the lease contract or evacuate the current property once they find another place pursuant to the landlord warning of evacuation with liability to settle the rental value till the date of evacuation only.
Question: A lady says that her husband has been working with private sector in Qatar for more than six years and he tried to transfer his sponsorship to another company in order to improve his status, but the expatriate company manager rejected that despite the fact that the sponsor has no objection. The manager also objected him to bring his family. Therefore, she is asking if there is a way or means through which he can transfer his sponsor without interference by the manager.
How can he get an entry permit to Qatar for his wife to reside in with her father, knowing that she was born in Qatar and lived more than sixteen years in Qatar?
Answer:
Regarding the family procurement application, if the employment contract states that the employee shall have the right to bring his family, which can be indicated by allocation of a family accommodation allowance and air tickets for family when bringing them to reside in Qatar, the objection of procurement letter by the sponsor will be considered as a kind of arbitrariness in using the right. The employee’s “husband” may resort to the Labour Department to request for obliging the sponsor to implement the conditions of the contract and approve the non-objection letter to bring the family.
This litigation permits the employee’s “husband” to resort to Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Interior to transfer his sponsorship in accordance with the abovementioned law which sates that the Interior Minister or his deputy may transfer the sponsorship of the expatriate labourer temporarily if there are lawsuits between the sponsor and expatriate labourer.
the peninsula
Regarding the transfer of sponsorship, the sponsor’s approval on the transfer application is a condition in accordance with Article 22 of Law No. 4/2009, concerning the regulation of entry, exit, residence and sponsorship of expatriates, which states that the competent department at the Ministry of Interior may transfer the sponsorship of the expatriate labourer to another employer under a written agreement between the new and the previous employer after the consent of the competent department at the Ministry of Interior for the categories subject to the provisions of the Labour Law. Property Leasing Law No. 4/2008, concerning property maintenance, states that the landlord shall have the right to make urgent required maintenance to protect the rented property even if the tenant objected to that. In case the maintenance resulted in full or partial breach to the terms of the leased property, the tenant may, as the case may be, abrogate the contract, deduct or not to pay the rental value for the period of not utilising the property, or to extend the lease duration according to the period of non-utilizing of the property. Law No. 13 of 2000, concerning the regulation of foreign capital investment in the economic activity, states that foreign investor may invest in all sectors of the national economy, provided that they will have Qatari partner(s) of at least 51% of the capital and the company should have been established in compliance with the provisions of the Law.
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