Housing tenancy

@bryantaxwilliams you can pay 1 or 2 or 3 month advanced depend on honour. Most of them they are taking 1 month advanced

Based on our long-time experience in rental fields, tenants are normally required to pay 3 months' rent in advance. Additionally, the tenant must pay post-dated checks for the remaining 9 months' rent. The luxury residential complexes strictly follow this practice.

There is a common problem for the new people coming to Bahrain. To get a bank account will take a few weeks. However, most landlords will give time to the newcomers. The standard organizations are giving guarantees for that.

Thanks for your replies. We previously lived in Dubai, where for the most part, you had to pay 12 months in advance.

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Ignore this advice from an obvious property broker.  @samsproperties, you are dangerously close to violating the commercial promotion rule of the forums - keep it up and I will ban you.  As it is, I will remove one of your posts.

@bryantaxwilliams:   

First things first, this is NOT Dubai. 

Read this, the property section: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=885444

I penned this a while ago but the comments on the property market hold true.

Nowhere is like Dubai with all of the shenanigans that happens in that property market.  Remember, there is more supply in Bahrain than demand - this is the other way round in Dubai (not really but agencies, investors keeping buildings empty and pricing makes it seem that way).  Bahrain has been historically a tenant / buyer's market - rental yields / property appreciation are low.  On top, Dubai rentals, for a tenant, are bad because a lot of properties are managed by agencies who charge you stuff like administration charges for renewal as well while ensuring price controls.  This is not the case in Bahrain; agents take you to landlord and don't manage the property themselves in the vast majority of cases (it is quite common to be talking directly to landlords for renewals) - where they do manage directly, you hear things like "luxury residential complexes" and talk of 3 month advance and 9 month cheques .........read on to see what they really mean.

I have been here 10 years (moved from Dubai) during which time, I have rented and owned multiple properties.  You NEVER have to give more than one month's rent in advance and one month security deposit.  Bahrain property market is very weak compared to UAE and can't impose stuff like this.  Shady landlords and agents try this on you, saying 3 months advance rent plus one month security deposit,  just walk away and you will see them scramble.   At most, just pay one month rent in advance and one month as security deposit.........then monthly thereafter.

Similarly, I have never had to give ANY post dated cheques ever. Most landlords are fine with money being transferred every month into their bank accounts, electronically.   The cheque thing is again a mainstay of the UAE property market.   I mean the first cheque book I issued in Bahrain back in 2014, after moving here from Dubai, is still unused .  Bahrain is not a cheque based renting market........people use benefit pay and electronic transfers.

Ignore the comment on "luxury residential complexes"........there is no such thing and most times when people say this, they are referring to single owner small compounds (mostly in Saar/Hamala/Janabiyah) who exist in their own world, majority are unknown and / or are largely ignored by most people.  Or they are referring to flashy apartment buildings managed by property companies e.g. Fontana which you should avoid like the plague because for one, there are no sewerage lines in that area (tankers cart away waste and you smell it), it is not a family neighborhood (party central) and on top, you will have a massive issue getting a CPR card because of address.  The last suggestion these people will give you is "luxury areas" like Diyar Al Muharraq, Dilmunia, Marrassi etc............avoid........too far out........away from work and schools; most properties empty........just the buildings being new brings out the shady brokers.  And these are up and coming developments........can't be called prime locations yet.

You want luxury residential areas; look at Riffa Views (UAE equivalent is Springs / Meadows), Durrat Al Bahrain (Palm), Reef islands (Upscale Dubai Marina) etc......none of these localities have anything like this as you will deal with individual owners and not a single owner of a 7 villa compound who has self titled it as a "luxury residential complex" .  This is not Saudi (Bahrain is exactly like Dubai in housing i.e. you can live anywhere without worry) that you need to go into a special compound, put up with restrictive rental rules, fatten the pockets of agents and then don't even get half the services that you would get in a decent community like Reef, Durrat or RV. 

As a rule of thumb, NEVER EVER go with an agent who tells you 3 months deposit and 9 months post dated cheques - you are being taken for a ride.  This is fine for UAE with a booming property market but this sort of thing, for Bahrain, does not work.

Edit: Last point.  Any foreigner who is not of Arab or sub-continent origin is always taken for a ride by the broker.  They will quote you NAVY rates and terms.  US Navy is a big renter in Bahrain and they pay top rates...........way beyond what other tenants pay e.g. it is not uncommon for a navy tenant to be paying twice the amount of a normal tenant.  For that money, they have building safety requirements and also, a limit on naval personnel that can stay there. So when you come in as a western expat, the brokers will point to a building and say "Navy approved"............navy people here.........very safe........they are paying x amount but you can get a discount..........and the western expat sees other western faces and thinks this must be right.   And ends up paying twice of what anyone else will pay.

X Tang many many thanks for taking the time and for your extensive insight into the rental market. I can certainly attest to everything you said about the Dubai market, and the more I read from you and others, the more I am coming to the pleasant realisation that Bahrain is NOT like Dubai.

The process to get to Bahrain has taken it's time, which has allowed me to read through your various other posts, particularly on buying in Bahrain, which we would eventually hope to do. In the meantime, may I ask you another question? I note what you say about not accepting monthly rental figures from agents in US Navy approved areas, Does this apply to the whole of the rental market. For example, looking at Riffa Views, would the agents/landlord be open to offers there also?

1 month in advance before entering the apartment and a deposit that is returned at the end of the contract if there are no damages in the apartment. I have been renting like this for years in Bahrain. Personally, I like the Diyar area, everything is new, the community is pleasant, Marassi mall is wonderful, the beach, schools and with highway I have access to everything.