Idlib – Samah Aloush
“I couldn’t sleep all night because of worry,” says Ahlam al-Hassan, expressing her frustration and anxiety after the landlord gave her a notice to either double the rent of the house she rents with her family or vacate it within a month.
Ahlam al-Hassan, a displaced person from the countryside of Maarat al-Numan living in the city of Idlib, was paying a monthly rent of $100, but it rose to $200 this month for a house consisting of three rooms and amenities with average finishes, which suffer from problems such as dampness and faulty electrical and plumbing installations, according to what she told Enab Baladi.
Several appeals have spread on social media pages related to Idlib, calling for solutions to limit the rise in rent prices in the city, aiming for fairness for both landlords and tenants by setting rent prices according to the area, quality, number of rooms, and floor.
Rent prices have recently increased significantly, nearly doubling, which does not align with the deteriorating living conditions of most families residing there, especially since most are displaced people and refugees whose homes and properties were destroyed, and they have been unable to return due to their inability to repair or rebuild.
Threat of Eviction
Amer al-Halabi, a young man living in Idlib, told Enab Baladi that the landlord gave him a deadline until the end of July to vacate the house, which is the end of the contract agreed upon between the two parties. The landlord claimed he would return from Turkey with his family and had no other place to live. Amer described the start of his struggle to find a rental home that fits his financial capacity.
Amer was paying $150 for a house with three rooms in the university district of the city, with good finishes. After searching through real estate offices, he could not find a house with the same specifications at that price; instead, he would have to pay $200 or more to get a house with acceptable and decent finishing.
Idlib Has the Lowest Rents
Although many displaced people previously returned to their towns and villages in Idlib after repairing their homes as much as possible, the return of a large portion of city residents who had emigrated abroad or lived in other provinces, along with their demands to evict their rented homes, caused a housing crisis in the city.
Residents faced two bitter choices, according to Rami al-Nimr, a displaced person from rural Hama: either prepare a room at minimal cost in his destroyed home to live in with his family of six and look for work locally — he works in a motorcycle repair workshop and is starting from scratch — or bear the high rental expenses and deprive his family of many necessities that have now become luxuries, such as some foods.
Khaldoun Badla, owner of a real estate office in Idlib, told Enab Baladi that rents have nearly doubled. After the economic opening and the return of some displaced people, especially residents of major cities like Damascus and Aleppo, who found rents there three times higher than in Idlib, some landlords became greedy, which led to price increases.
This was confirmed by Saberal-Haib, formerly displaced from Aleppo and now living in Idlib. After deciding to return to his city, he was surprised by the high rents. He was paying $150 per month for a three-room house in Idlib, with a contract renewed every six months by the landlord. However, in Aleppo, after continuous searching in various areas with different quality finishes, he found that the average annual rent was around $3,000 — a large amount relative to his income, as he works in plumbing and electrical installations. Therefore, he decided to stay in Idlib, accept the rent increase, and resort to borrowing to pay annual rents.
Some social media users have exaggerated property prices, intensifying the housing crisis in the city, according to Khaldoun Badla. He considered that inflating rental price demands created a market gap and increased the suffering of those looking for affordable housing matching their monthly income.
Rental prices in Syrian cities, especially major ones, continue to rise steadily due to various economic and living conditions.
Despite the relative improvement in the Syrian pound’s exchange rate against the dollar and the decrease in prices of some goods, the rental sector continues its upward trend.
This increase is attributed mainly to several key factors, notably the growing demand for housing due to the return of some Syrians after the fall of the regime, the scarcity of available apartments, and the inability of many residents to purchase property, according to observations by Enab Baladi. This has pushed many to rely on renting despite its high costs.
Rent values vary among neighborhoods within major cities, where factors such as geographic location, availability of basic services, and proximity to the city center play a decisive role in determining rents.
Rent Doubles in Idlib: Pay or Leave Enab Baladi.
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