Chartered companies in Abu Dhabi reported that real estate owners provided a number of facilities during the current period to reduce the burdens on companies, especially (small) affected by the consequences of Corona, and on top of that was postponing the rental checks, adjusting the collection dates, and rescheduling the annual payments to increase their number to five or more payments And change the contracts to monthly contracts, so that the rent is paid monthly without any increases.
Two officials of real estate brokerage companies told «Emirates Today» that there is great flexibility on the part of some landlords with tenants, taking into account the conditions of companies that were characterized by regular payment in the past, but they were negatively affected by the repercussions of “Corona”.
The owner of the building
In detail, the tenant, Nabil Nasr, the owner of a small commercial company, said that the owner of the building, where his company is located, agreed to postpone the check due last June, as a result of the commercial operations being affected by the repercussions of the Corona virus, explaining that there is flexibility on the part of a number of owners and an understanding The nature of the current exceptional circumstances, and the cooperation it imposes, especially for tenants who have been committed for years, to paying on time without delay.
The tenant, Hatem Nazih, head of a small commercial office, added that the landlord agreed to increase the number of rent payments from three payments to five payments annually, explaining that he had learned from him an understanding of the current conditions that forced successful commercial companies to reschedule their financial obligations as a result of the pandemic.
The tenant, Abdullah Madi, confirmed that the small company in which he works, opened an office in Abu Dhabi last March, and that the company paid only the insurance amount, and did not pay the rent until now, after the owner agreed to postpone the checks, indicating that the owner agreed to amend dates Collection and waiting until the end of August, until things are clear and the business gradually returns to normal.
The tenant, Hadia Malak, said that the landlord agreed that the small office in which she works would pay the rent monthly, and without increasing the rent due to the difficulty of paying the amount in three installments during the current period, pointing out that while there is flexibility and great response from some individual owners, except Other landlords are toughening and refuse to postpone the rent or divide the payments into a larger number.
Great flexibility
For his part, Nader Hassan, CEO of Skyline Real Estate Brokerage, said, “There is great flexibility on the part of a large number of owners in terms of postponing the collection of rental checks, and increasing the number of rent payments to five installments, compared to two or three payments previously, according to the contracts The current, acceptance of changing the contract and allowing payment on a monthly basis, without increasing the rent, instead of paying in two or three installments annually, ”indicating that there are also cases of exemption from paying rent for several months, but it is rare cases that are concentrated in specific cases such as closing the company, Her activity stopped and there were no dealings during her long period
Hassan pointed out that, although the individual owners in general appear flexible and understand the current conditions and have many options to assist the tenants of office space, who are going through difficult and temporary conditions, the main problem remains in the owners who have installments due to banks or their buildings are mortgaged to banks, where they do not They show similar flexibility, given the banks ’strictness and lack of agreement to grant them any facilities, especially delaying installments or dropping payments, which is reflected in their relationship with tenants.
He pointed out that the current year witnessed a decrease in commercial office rents since its inception, and before the escalation of the pandemic crisis, “Covid-19” ranged between 10 and 20% and reached 30% in some regions, as a result of a significant increase in supply, after investors resorted to establishing a number A large number of office towers in Abu Dhabi and Al Reem Island, indicating the high prices for office space on Al Reem Island, for example, compared to its counterpart in Abu Dhabi.
For his part, the head of the board of directors of Manabea Real Estate Company, Abdul Rahman Al-Shaibani, said that “owners have provided many facilities for companies and office space tenants, especially companies affected by the repercussions of (Corona), on top of which is the postponement of collecting rental checks and adjusting the collection dates and increasing the number of payments instead of two payments Or three payments to four or five installments or more and reschedule the payments, so that one check is divided into two installments, with a time difference, in addition to converting annual contracts into monthly contracts because the company is unable to pay a large amount of money, given its need for liquidity due to the current conditions ».
Al-Shaibani noted that the facilities focused on individual owners who have no obligations with the banks, while some owners are committed to loans and the dates of collecting checks with banks, as well as the banks that manage a large number of real estate and are afraid to give facilities to the owners, facing significant reductions in the collection, pointing out that Office rents in Abu Dhabi have recorded a decline, which has reached almost 10% on average since the beginning of this year, due to an increase in the supply and an imbalance between supply and demand.
Angel responded
For their part, the owners, Khamis Muhammad and Sultan Abdullah, agreed in the presence of a large response from the owners in general, towards the requests of the affected companies under government directives, to facilitate the affected people, especially the commercial companies that are obligated to pay, but faced difficulties due to circumstances beyond their control.
They explained that the owners' refusal of some requests from the rental companies is due to the financial obligations, especially for the new buildings, regarding the existence of bank installments due for the loans, and the banks are hard to pay them according to their scheduled dates, or the fact that some buildings are mortgaged to banks or are managed by banks.
Cooperation between owners and companies
The economist, general manager of "Truth Economic Consulting" company, Reza Muslim, said that "the (Corona) crisis has a major impact on some companies, and there is a need for cooperation between owners and rental companies in such circumstances", calling for the exemption of companies that closed a period and stopped their activities, From paying the rent temporarily, as a incentive measure for companies to continue the activity. He also called for a review of the fees imposed on real estate owners and fees on owners of companies such as temporary renewal fees in these difficult circumstances for a certain period.