‘Single women can continue to rent apartments’

The Sharjah Media Centre has clarified that there are no legal or binding directives that prevent the leasing of apartments to single women in the emirate of Sharjah. The centre was referring to a news article published in an English language newspaper (not The Gulf Today) about the “lack of residential houses for single girls in the emirate of Sharjah.” Sultan Al Mualla, Director General of Sharjah Municipality, reiterated that no law has ever been issued in Sharjah that differentiates between women and men, and targets women specifically, with regard to rented apartments. He said single women in Sharjah can certainly continue to rent apartments according to their personal needs. Al Mualla said that a special area has been designated for housing single male workers in the industrial areas in order to preserve the comfort and privacy of residential areas for families and women. The Director of Sharjah City Municipality confirmed that no complaints or reports had been received to date from women regarding landlords’ refusal to lease apartments or the lack of clarity in the law of leasing for singles. Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Corporation, pointed out that Sharjah Media Centre, the communications arm of the Government of Sharjah, is always open to answering any queries from the media on behalf of governmental departments, institutions or agencies in Sharjah as part of its commitment to building communication bridges between the media and government officials in the emirate. A number of owners and managers of real estate offices in Sharjah conveyed their full understanding of the law of lease for singles, which does not differentiate between women and men. Jalaluddin Al Amin, Director of Al Nayli Real Estate Group, said his group that owns 24 buildings spread across the emirate of Sharjah, has a good understanding of the leasing laws for singles. He confirmed there are no binding regulations to prevent the renting of apartments to single women. Adding that his residential properties have leased several apartments to single women, he reaffirmed that his real estate group conforms to all routine legal procedures for leasing after confirming the personal identity of the tenant. However, he pointed out that there have been cases where people seek to lease an apartment for investment purposes and then sub-let the rooms to a larger number of people than what is authorised by the Municipality. In such cases, the real estate group does not permit the leasing of apartment to the concerned party.